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Foundation
By Mary Eisenhart,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Influential sci-fi has mature themes, drinking, smoking.
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What's the Story?
In FOUNDATION, tens of thousands of years in the future, humans have colonized planets throughout the galaxy, and the colossal Empire reigns supreme. Foreseeing that the Empire will soon collapse under its own weight, leading to millennia of chaos and misery, scientist Hari Seldon develops a plan to minimize the damage and bring about a restored Empire in a relatively short period. Part of this plan is gathering the Empire's knowledge into the Encyclopedia Galactica by what becomes known as the Foundation on the planet Terminus. Another part of the plan involves a mysterious Second Foundation, location unknown. In the centuries following Seldon's death, he periodically appears as a hologram to advise leaders of their proper course; meanwhile, patriots, opportunists, warlords, religious zealots, and entrepreneurs look for ways to guide things for their own benefit as the Empire disintegrates.
Is It Any Good?
Young readers may find Foundation long on talk and short on action or intriguing characters. But science fiction is the turf of big ideas: Author Isaac Asimov, with a genius IQ and a broad range of interests, had more big ideas than most, many of them on display here. Is it possible to predict and/or manipulate the future? What about free will? What's the relationship between science, religion, politics, and money? Who's really in control here? Who should be? The downside is that characters, many of whom appear only briefly, are almost exclusively defined by their wise sayings and long speeches and don't so much develop as tenaciously hold their positions as events unfold.
Hugely influential, the Foundation Trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation) received science fiction's Hugo Award for Best All-Time Series in 1966, the only year the award's ever been presented.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about why Foundation is regarded as such a classic of science fiction. How does it compare with other science fiction you've read? Can you see its influence in any more recent books, movies, or TV shows?
There are no significant female characters in the book. Why do you think that is? How does it affect the story?
What was the world like when Asimov wrote these stories in the 1940s? How do the issues of his day influence futuristic tales?
Book Details
- Author: Isaac Asimov
- Genre: Science Fiction
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy , Adventures , History , Science and Nature , Space and Aliens
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Spectra
- Publication date: April 29, 2008
- Available on: Paperback, Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Audiobook (abridged), iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: June 25, 2015
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