The Foundation Series: Prequels (2) — Forward The Foundation

As Hari Seldon struggles to perfect his revolutionary theory of psychohistory and ensure a place for humanity among the stars, the great Galactic Empire totters on the brink of apocalyptic collapse. Caught in the maelstrom are Seldon and all he holds dear, pawns in the struggle for dominance. Whoever can control Seldon will control psychohistory and with it the future of the Galaxy.Among those seeking to turn psychohistory into the greatest weapon known to man are a populist political demagogue, the weak-willed Emperor Cleon I, and a ruth less militaristic general. In his last act of service to humankind, Seldon must somehow save his life's work from their grasp as he searches for its true heirs a search that begins with his own granddaughter and the dream of a new Foundation.

So I am reading these books in the order hence this is the second book of the foundation series. Man! what a story it is... and what an ending, you will feel a little sad after reading the book after might not have a night sleep.Asimov is simply one of the best writers I have ever read.

Isaac Asimov is my favourite science-fiction writer and his seven Foundation novels are my favourite science-fiction books. So I was naturally very happy to see this book on Amazon India. “Forward the Foundation” is the last of the more than 500 books that Asimov wrote. It was published posthumously in 1993. (Asimov died in 1992.) The book forms the second volume of the seven that comprise the Foundation series.It tells the story of Hari Seldon’s final years, in which he consolidates his work on psychohistory with the help of collaborators like Yugo Amaryl. But while psychohistory is blooming, Seldon has to watch the sad fading of his life, waning of the empire, and passing of his few friends—Eto Demerzel, Cleon I, and Dors Venabili. My eyes welled up while reading the epilogue, which describes Seldon's passing away. I have read somewhere that the Seldon in this book represents Asimov himself. That makes “Forward the Foundation” particularly poignant for Asimov admirers.I highly recommend the book to everyone! (Just one piece of advice: read the Foundation books in the order in which they were published.)The only reason I give this a four-star rating is that I really hate the quality of this paperback. It looks and feels cheap. The cover is gaudy and the paper is low-grade. (The whole thing reminds me of the Hindi-language paperbacks they used to sell on railway stations!) Volumes 3, 4, and 5 of the Foundation series are available in a beautiful hardback Everyman’s Library edition. Volumes 1, 6, and 7 are available in sober paperback from HarperCollins. Just volume 2 has had the misfortune of remaining stuck in thus ugly packaging.

had this book long time back, typically logical, good assimove book

The logic in the scientific details

Great story

I had ordered all seven of the Foundation series novels from Amazon. The items arrived in a staggered manner.Amazon's service- I give 1 star to Amazon's methodology of dealing with same series items such as these Foundation series. For customers' benefit, Amazon should have packaged and sold all books from one vendor. This way we could save shipping cost. Some of the books were eligible for free shipping while others were not. Also, I did not get the feeling of reading from 'one set'. (1) Foundation, (2) Foundation's Edge, (3) Second Foundation and (4) Foundation and Earth were from 'Voyager' while (5) Prelude to Foundation, (6) Forward the Foundation and (7) Foundation and Empire were from 'Bantam-Spectra'. The quality of Voyager was below par while Bantam-Spectra were OK.Foundation Series- The series in itself is mind blowing. Independently I give the series 5 stars. You can find that almost all Hollywood science fiction movies have been inspired by ideas originating in these seven books written by Asimov. I could go on and on but any science fiction lover must read the entire series to appreciate that a great depth of thought has gone in producing this masterpiece series. I can't wait to order the 'Robot' series and other standalone novels by Asimov.

Excellent! Only Asimov could do it.

Following the life of Hari Seldon, the fall of the empire and the beginning of the foundation develops. A story that takes place in one planet but defines the future of the empire crosses through decades of political challenges. Asimov skillfully takes us through all this being careful not to overwelm us in details, but carefully describing the line that guides the story

Typical Asimov work: absolutely amazing. Like all classical books, the language quality is excellent. A great way of cultivating the mind while enjoying a good read.

from one of the masters of Sci-Fi. Don't miss the opportunity of reading it.

I puristi sostengono che il ciclo della Fondazione corrisponda alla trilogia iniziale e che i 4 libri aggiunti siano meno importanti. In generale le aggiunte ad un successo sono quasi sempre operazioni commerciali, ma in questo caso il Maestro Asimov è riuscito ad integrare la parte che a tutti i fan della Trilogia della Fondazione mancava, ovvero lo sviluppo della psicostoriografia e del personaggio di Hari Seldon. Imperdibile.

This book is honestly.. pretty bad compared to the rest of the series and especially it's predecessor Prelude to Foundation. It has 4 parts which are really all over the place. Some parts are overly long, where Asimov creates a lot of narrative tension but it's never really resolved. Other parts are very short and you can't help wondering what he is trying to achieve. There's a lack of flow. Persons are often introduced almost willy nilly, like a deus ex machine just popping up to provide the main character with some new problem to solve. The later parts especially are very sad and depressive, with Seldon withering away physically and mentally in a way that's honestly hard to take serious. The writing is unfortunately downright sloppy sometimes, with two huge continuity errors popping up later in the book. Of course we know that Asimov was not doing well when he wrote this and it was published posthumously. In all fairness, I think it would have been better to leave things at the Prelude and not wedge another novel in between.