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Isaac Asimov foundation series 6 books collection set -
Please Note That The Following Individual Books As Per Original ISBN and Cover Image In this Listing shall be Dispatched
Isaac Asimov Collection 6 Books
The Galactic Empire has prospered for twelve thousand years. Nobody suspects that the heart of the thriving Empire is rotten, until psychohistorian Hari Seldon uses his new science to foresee its terrible fate.
Prelude to
In a time before the Foundations, psychohistory s creator Hari Seldon is made to stand before the Emperor of the crumbling Galactic Empire to present how his scientific theory of predicting the future might be applied to the real world.
Foundation and
Faced with determining the fate of the galaxy, Golan Trevizehesitantly chose to hand over the rule of the galaxy to planet Gaia. Two mysteries now who has erased the records of Earth and why?
Foundation's
After a long war which saw the First Foundation emerge victorious, the Second Foundation is now believed to be extinct, and all records of planet Earth s existence have been erased.
Second
The First Foundation has been defeated, crushed by the formidable mental powers of the Mule. But whispers of the mysterious Second Foundation, the only hope of defeating the Mule, are beginning to spread…
Foundation and
The First Foundation survived two centuries of barbarism as the once-mighty Galactic Empire descended into chaos. Now it mist prepare for war against the remnants of the Empire as the Imperial fleet advances on their planet, Terminus.
Isaac Asimov Collection 6 Books
The Galactic Empire has prospered for twelve thousand years. Nobody suspects that the heart of the thriving Empire is rotten, until psychohistorian Hari Seldon uses his new science to foresee its terrible fate.
Prelude to
In a time before the Foundations, psychohistory s creator Hari Seldon is made to stand before the Emperor of the crumbling Galactic Empire to present how his scientific theory of predicting the future might be applied to the real world.
Foundation and
Faced with determining the fate of the galaxy, Golan Trevizehesitantly chose to hand over the rule of the galaxy to planet Gaia. Two mysteries now who has erased the records of Earth and why?
Foundation's
After a long war which saw the First Foundation emerge victorious, the Second Foundation is now believed to be extinct, and all records of planet Earth s existence have been erased.
Second
The First Foundation has been defeated, crushed by the formidable mental powers of the Mule. But whispers of the mysterious Second Foundation, the only hope of defeating the Mule, are beginning to spread…
Foundation and
The First Foundation survived two centuries of barbarism as the once-mighty Galactic Empire descended into chaos. Now it mist prepare for war against the remnants of the Empire as the Imperial fleet advances on their planet, Terminus.
- GenresFictionScience Fiction
402 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2016
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,365 books28.2k followersWorks of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles,
The Foundation Trilogy
(1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 21, 2021
Actually reviewing all SEVEN books in the Foundation series but Goodreads doesn't seem to have 'Forward the Foundation' as part of the set in its archives.
My Foundation books have sat on my shelves since I was young, read long ago, but awaiting a re-read along with many other classics. A discussion with my daughter's boyfriend a couple of years ago who was a big sci-fi fan (and Asimov in particular) drove me to dig out the books and read again, this time in chronological order of the story-telling. The length of reading long outlasted the boyfriend, I have to say (which was not a bad thing).
Asimov is, without doubt, in the very top pantheon of influential sci-fi writers. So brilliant were his Robot stories that the 'Rules of Robotics' have ceased to have any 'copyright' value and are more or less considered obligatory to follow for anyone writing fiction involving robots (assuming Terminator-style killer robots are left out of the picture). And as we have reached the cusp of AI genuinely becoming sentient and talks of legal rights for such robots are now being held seriously by both technology companies and governments, Asimov's 'Three Laws of Robotics' are very likely to be the ground on which ethical AI will be built in decades to come.
But Asimov didn't just write Robot stories. There are his 'Galactic Empire' novels including classics like 'The Martian Way', his non-sci-fi detective stories of 'The Black Widowers' and - arguably his rival to the Robot stories in terms of fame and adulation - the Foundation books.
Originally, Asimov wrote a trilogy looking at the end of the Galactic Empire where a lone mathematician, Hari Seldon, creates the Foundation, designed on a mathematical theory 'Psychohistory' which predicts how mass movements of people will behave and so how the human race will fall and rise again over thousands of years.
The books were relatively slim volumes and more like interconnected short stories rather than novels. They were also written in the early 1950s, just after both the end of WWII and the very clear collapse of the British Empire, although the very first story appeared in the fan-mag 'Astounding Science Fiction' in 1942, right in the thick of war. It must have all been a very scary time to be living. If there's one thing that sci-fi does, it is allows us to imagine our behaviours and responses to very real issues without frightening us. The original Star Trek TV series, for instance, is more or less entirely based around racism, xenophobia and other prejudices. There's a reason we see a black woman, a Russian and an Oriental on the deck of the Enterprise. Later series have continued the vein with 'enemies' almost always becoming allies eventually. Peace and reconciliation while breaking down prejudice is the main thrust of the Star Trek universe. These are just the kind of tensions and concerns we have today. In Asimov's time, it was the collapse of Empire and the struggle for control, which must have felt so terrifying at the time.
The final novel of the trilogy was published in 1957 and the books became canon for all sci-fi lovers. But Asimov was persuaded to return to the series in 1982. The world had changed since then and so had writing styles. Asimov would write a further four books (two prequels and two sequels), all twice the length of any of the original three and now with a much grander scheme. Knowing, perhaps, that he wasn't going to live for very much longer (Asimov died in 1992), he want to consolidate his sci-fi books together into one universe. Hence, for better or for worse, one could say that the Foundation series as a whole is now the melding of the Robot and Galactic Empire stories together and all the books are, in fact, one series.
It's a great idea and it almost works although my feeling is that, by the end of the last book, we've somewhat lost the whole idea of the Foundation itself. I came away with something of the feeling that the whole Hari Seldon thing was pointless. Nevertheless, for me, aging as I am, it was a delight to go back over these old, neglected friends and, this time, do them in the proper chronological order (I read the original trilogy in the 70s, long before Asimov was persuaded back). It was fascinating to do so.
The first two books ('Prelude to Foundation' and 'Forward The Foundation') give us the man himself - Hari Seldon - and read really well as a cross between action adventure and mystery solving. Indeed, mystery was really Asimov's key strength. All his stories contain some aspect of unknown or impossible situation which has to be solved.
The next three ( 'Foundation', 'Foundation and Empire' and 'Second Foundation') are the original stories dealing with just the first 500 years or so after Seldon and the collapse of the Empire. They read like a strange mix of connected short stories and longer parts which make up a novella - particularly the storyline of 'The Mule'. This is a bit all over the place, starting halfway through the second book, after some short stories, but not concluding until a third of the way through the third book - which then continues with short stories. Despite the historical importance of these novels, they are the ones which have aged the most and are least satisfying.
The last two books ('Foundation's Edge' and 'Foundation and Earth') deal entirely with one storyline circling around Golan Trevize and his companions as he seeks to find the mythical planet of origin - Earth - and find out who's really pulling the strings of the universe, including both Foundations. If you've read all the previous books, you will almost certainly figure out what's coming, but it is still quite delightful. Again, these latter books are better written than the originals, but not as well as the two preludes which were, perversely, the last Asimov wrote of the series.
Overall, Asimov is Asimov, and he should be respect as such as a brilliant mind and enjoyable writer. Like H.G. Wells and Jules Verne et al, the stories have aged and preoccupations then are not necessarily preoccupations now. Nevertheless, this is intelligent fiction which is for the likes of those who enjoy conundrums - Sherlock Holmes in space, in some ways - without getting too bogged down in deep philosophical efforts. The Foundation series is certainly a must-read for sci-fi fans, but it isn't necessarily going to be life-changing today the way it was for me in the 70s and was for most readers in the 50s.
My Foundation books have sat on my shelves since I was young, read long ago, but awaiting a re-read along with many other classics. A discussion with my daughter's boyfriend a couple of years ago who was a big sci-fi fan (and Asimov in particular) drove me to dig out the books and read again, this time in chronological order of the story-telling. The length of reading long outlasted the boyfriend, I have to say (which was not a bad thing).
Asimov is, without doubt, in the very top pantheon of influential sci-fi writers. So brilliant were his Robot stories that the 'Rules of Robotics' have ceased to have any 'copyright' value and are more or less considered obligatory to follow for anyone writing fiction involving robots (assuming Terminator-style killer robots are left out of the picture). And as we have reached the cusp of AI genuinely becoming sentient and talks of legal rights for such robots are now being held seriously by both technology companies and governments, Asimov's 'Three Laws of Robotics' are very likely to be the ground on which ethical AI will be built in decades to come.
But Asimov didn't just write Robot stories. There are his 'Galactic Empire' novels including classics like 'The Martian Way', his non-sci-fi detective stories of 'The Black Widowers' and - arguably his rival to the Robot stories in terms of fame and adulation - the Foundation books.
Originally, Asimov wrote a trilogy looking at the end of the Galactic Empire where a lone mathematician, Hari Seldon, creates the Foundation, designed on a mathematical theory 'Psychohistory' which predicts how mass movements of people will behave and so how the human race will fall and rise again over thousands of years.
The books were relatively slim volumes and more like interconnected short stories rather than novels. They were also written in the early 1950s, just after both the end of WWII and the very clear collapse of the British Empire, although the very first story appeared in the fan-mag 'Astounding Science Fiction' in 1942, right in the thick of war. It must have all been a very scary time to be living. If there's one thing that sci-fi does, it is allows us to imagine our behaviours and responses to very real issues without frightening us. The original Star Trek TV series, for instance, is more or less entirely based around racism, xenophobia and other prejudices. There's a reason we see a black woman, a Russian and an Oriental on the deck of the Enterprise. Later series have continued the vein with 'enemies' almost always becoming allies eventually. Peace and reconciliation while breaking down prejudice is the main thrust of the Star Trek universe. These are just the kind of tensions and concerns we have today. In Asimov's time, it was the collapse of Empire and the struggle for control, which must have felt so terrifying at the time.
The final novel of the trilogy was published in 1957 and the books became canon for all sci-fi lovers. But Asimov was persuaded to return to the series in 1982. The world had changed since then and so had writing styles. Asimov would write a further four books (two prequels and two sequels), all twice the length of any of the original three and now with a much grander scheme. Knowing, perhaps, that he wasn't going to live for very much longer (Asimov died in 1992), he want to consolidate his sci-fi books together into one universe. Hence, for better or for worse, one could say that the Foundation series as a whole is now the melding of the Robot and Galactic Empire stories together and all the books are, in fact, one series.
It's a great idea and it almost works although my feeling is that, by the end of the last book, we've somewhat lost the whole idea of the Foundation itself. I came away with something of the feeling that the whole Hari Seldon thing was pointless. Nevertheless, for me, aging as I am, it was a delight to go back over these old, neglected friends and, this time, do them in the proper chronological order (I read the original trilogy in the 70s, long before Asimov was persuaded back). It was fascinating to do so.
The first two books ('Prelude to Foundation' and 'Forward The Foundation') give us the man himself - Hari Seldon - and read really well as a cross between action adventure and mystery solving. Indeed, mystery was really Asimov's key strength. All his stories contain some aspect of unknown or impossible situation which has to be solved.
The next three ( 'Foundation', 'Foundation and Empire' and 'Second Foundation') are the original stories dealing with just the first 500 years or so after Seldon and the collapse of the Empire. They read like a strange mix of connected short stories and longer parts which make up a novella - particularly the storyline of 'The Mule'. This is a bit all over the place, starting halfway through the second book, after some short stories, but not concluding until a third of the way through the third book - which then continues with short stories. Despite the historical importance of these novels, they are the ones which have aged the most and are least satisfying.
The last two books ('Foundation's Edge' and 'Foundation and Earth') deal entirely with one storyline circling around Golan Trevize and his companions as he seeks to find the mythical planet of origin - Earth - and find out who's really pulling the strings of the universe, including both Foundations. If you've read all the previous books, you will almost certainly figure out what's coming, but it is still quite delightful. Again, these latter books are better written than the originals, but not as well as the two preludes which were, perversely, the last Asimov wrote of the series.
Overall, Asimov is Asimov, and he should be respect as such as a brilliant mind and enjoyable writer. Like H.G. Wells and Jules Verne et al, the stories have aged and preoccupations then are not necessarily preoccupations now. Nevertheless, this is intelligent fiction which is for the likes of those who enjoy conundrums - Sherlock Holmes in space, in some ways - without getting too bogged down in deep philosophical efforts. The Foundation series is certainly a must-read for sci-fi fans, but it isn't necessarily going to be life-changing today the way it was for me in the 70s and was for most readers in the 50s.
August 2, 2022
Recently had to spend some time 'resting' from injuries and wanted a book to 'take me away' for a week or so. This series is totally amazing and I can't stop reading the entire 6 books. Considering when it was written, it's millenium ahead of sci-fi/fantasy times. Wonderful concept and unique characters!
Read
August 10, 2024I try understand "Foudation" history , ideas books " inside" Asimov. And exploring Bible , book Exodus founded that idea ...religion is dying in Egypt and rising in Israel after exodus. What I think. Sorry. In the that time borne scientology, L. Ron Hubbard. That new religion practice inside US for new answers . In that time going to communists invasion in the world and old religion uninspired a people. "Foundation" a near scientology spirit.
Read
March 12, 2023have read whole series multiple times.... amazing panoramic broad view of future history...
May 24, 2024
This is a book, I think this book is fhayniit is better tpsreas.
December 18, 2024
Foundation series is unparalleled. Makes you think about the future of civilisation and the path forward. Reminds you that there are setbacks/dark-ages
February 4, 2021
Isaac Asimov gives a fascinating glimpse into a very distant future, yet despite being mega-aeons ahead, some of his (then) predictions are happening. And on the flip side, some of the technical equipment mentioned could be described as retro - a bit like the computers in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, when viewed in 2001. But they don't detract from the Foundation series. And Asimov has the ability to occasionally introduce scientific theories and make them understandable to ordinary people. Like me. A series of books I return to every five or six years and still enjoy.
Read
August 21, 2018I didn't really this specific edition of the books but over time I did read them all.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews