- Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: HarperTorch; Reprint edition (Jun 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0061056391
- ISBN-13: 978-0061056390
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 10.8 x 2.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 920,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Foundation's Triumph
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Isaac Asimov's 1951-53 "Foundation" trilogy is a rough-hewn classic of far-future SF, honoured with a unique 1965 Hugo for Best All-Time Series. It begins with "psychohistorian" Hari Seldon mapping the best possible course for humanity's next millennium, after the fall of the doomed Galactic Empire. Late in life Asimov revisited the series and awkwardly linked it with his popular robot stories--introducing vast conspiracy theories to explain the Empire's total lack of visible robots.
Asimov's estate authorised three SF notables to fill out Seldon's life in the "Second Foundation Trilogy", which David Brin here wraps up after Gregory Benford's Foundation's Fear and Greg Bear's Foundation and Chaos. Chaos is the new keyword because chaos theory seemingly makes nonsense of psychohistorical prediction. Whole planetary populations can lapse into chaotic rebellion despite secret mind-controlling agencies behind the scenes. So Seldon makes his last interstellar journey, harried, lectured and even kidnapped by the warring factions of robots and not-quite-robots that have long manipulated humanity. The robots' dilemma:
"We are loyal, and yet far more competent than our masters. For their own sake, we have kept them ignorant, because we know too well what destructive paths they follow, whenever they grow too aware."
Brin does his best with Asimov's overcrowded legacy, skilfully steering Seldon to an insight about the much-foretold future that satisfies both the old man and the reader, with a spark of human free will and constructive chaos shining through the greyness of predestination. Asimov would have approved. --David Langford --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Product Description
'As for me, I am finished.' With these words, a frail, dying Hari Seldon completes his life's work. The old man has just recorded messages for the Time Vault of the First Foundation. Psychohistory's Seldon Plan is unleashed, propelled by the ponderous momentum of destiny. Younger hands will now take up the task. For the first time in his life, Seldon is no longer watched, nurtured and guided by robots and he retires to a corner of the Imperial Park to garden. The Seldon plan has three possible outcomes. None of them fills him with joy but he is consoled by the thought that any of the three is better than the chaos that would have happened without him. But the future still holds some surprises for Hari Seldon...
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
"As for me... I am finished." Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
"As for me... I am finished." Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Brin's third book in this series was by far the best of the three, but I cannot help thinking that the whole endeavor was a mistake. Brin had a much greater appreciation, and knowledge of the previous Asimov writings and he kept(generally) within the framework of the Foundation/Robot writings. One glaring exception was his placement of the inception of the Gaia group on Eos 500 years before Foundation's Edge. According to Foundation's Edge (my favorite book in this series) and Foundation and Earth, Gaia was founded 12,000 years earlier by robot- accompanied refugees from Earth. A minor detail perhaps but it seemed to me that throughout this series the 3 B's played loose and fast with the "facts". All three books were very interesting and all three authors are excellent writers, however, it was perhaps a judgement error for them to get involved with this project. Benford was by far the worst, as he seemed to be making things up as he went along. Wormholes may be better science than hyperspace, but it isn't science alone, it's science fiction. A central tenet of Asimov's writings was that humans created robots and robots discovered hyperspace. Where these wormholes suddenly appeared from is a mystery and I am glad that Bear and Brin toned them out of importance. Greg Bear is a wonderful writer, but much too dark for this series. All in all the whole series was much too depressing. As any historien knows, 20 thousand years is enough for any civilization to completely have forgotten its past, why invent the amnesia theme? Personally I felt the Caliban series was much closer to the Asimov ethos. One idea I really liked of Brin's was that Hari Seldon's invention, his pride and joy, was the First Foundation alone. The Second Foundation and Gaia were forced on him. I hope Brin alone will continue these stories (and I hope he clears up the Gaia inconsistency).
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Having read all the Asimov Foundation and Robot series and all three prequels/sequels, I think this is by far the best - the most Asimovian in the style of writing. Brin is excellent
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
It was pure delight to read the manuscript of this novel. With much of the action taking place in the deep past, with covering the last months of Hari Seldon's life and with a visionary glimpse of the future of the Foundations and Galaxia this book finally gives explanations to all the questions even Asimov shied from answering. Run and grab it!!!
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
