Prelude to Foundation

Boring. Having read the five main Foundation books, this one just seems unoriginal. Maybe that's to be expected? Still, everything feels so bland and colorless. The technology isn't particularly exciting or bold. Hari Seldon is unconvincing as a protagonist. I really don't get why this is rated so highly...

What a twist!

I don’t really know that this book is necessary. Yes, the plot twist that Hummin and Demerzel were both Daneel was pretty cool, yes it was cool getting to know Hari, and yes Hari and Dors’ relationship was nice but… most to the plot truly did not matter. The different Trantorian sectors were cool, but all they did was allow Hari to realize something that wasn’t truly that profound, and we didn’t really learn anything new.

While reading I feel it was a 3/5 but the ending rephrased everything that I had to bump it to a 4/5. The fact that Hummin was Demerzel AND Daneel was crazy and changed the way you read the book. Further on, it's even crazier that Dors is a robot as well! It also explores the idea of robot-human romantic relationships and I hope Forward the Foundation continues on their relationship as well as Daneel. It's really interesting to finally get more story on what Daneel has been up to; it seems that the Zeroth Law is really hard to work with. His inability to intervene constantly and his limitations still allow for human agency in this world. Even if Trevize was guided by Daneel in the previous books, Daneel is not omnipotent and can not predict everything. It seems that the establishment of psychohistory and Gaia by Daneel were contingency plans to give him options rather than making sense out of chaos. Perhaps the idea is that the Foundation would go on to establish the Second Empire 500 years after Foundation and Earth but in the far far future Galaxia would be established. Trevize's choice was not about denouncing psychohistory but rather maintaining it as Seldon would have wanted.

Seldon was alright in this book. He was unconfident and scared throughout most of it and nothing like he was in the beginning of Foundation #1. He starts to become like that throughout the book and gets more confident, especially with the Mycogenian Aerie plan and eventually deducing that Hummin/Demerzel is Daneel, which supposedly nobody was able to figure out in 20k years. I guess it shows how smart he is.

It was interesting exploring different sectors within Trantor. It felt similar to Foundation and Earth by exploring different societies. Asimov really does a great job in exploring different cultures without having to bring in aliens; he makes very different societies out of just humans. The most interesting thing to me of course, were the Mycogenians who were the descendants of the Aurorans! So we ultimately found out what happened to the Aurorans and Solarians (from Foundation and Earth). Asimov's contention seems to be that regardless of how old a civilisation might be or how strong it is, it will eventually form a new civilisation. This might tie in with my idea that a culture is formed from both the positives and negatives of what happens to a people; losing a war is just as influential to a people as winning a war.

I hope Forward the Foundation will be a great book ending these 15 books that took me 2 or so years to get through.

Really well written prequel, but it's a hard transition from Seldon the founder/ideal to Seldon the man. It's hard to not feel like his actions are out of character from the first 5.

Age range: 16+
Very little mature content, but there are complex philosophical themes throughout that would be incomprehensible to most younger readers.

Dune who?

Je suis content d'avoir découvert Fondation par l'ordre de publication plutôt que par son ordre chronologique, car je ne pense pas que j'aurais accroché à la série en commençant par ce Prélude. On y découvre un Hari Seldon extrêmement maladroit voir carrément exaspérant à beaucoup de moments, et la première moitié du livre a été extrêmement compliquée à lire pour moi.

C'est à environ 70% que j'ai enfin atteint un stade classique que j'avais eu jusqu'ici avec Asimov : l'impossibilité de lâcher le livre. Ces 30 derniers pourcents viennent rattraper une partie de la pénibilité de la première moitié et suffisent à me donner envie de lire L'Aube de Fondation, mais je n'ai pas retrouvé dans ce premier tome la magie du cycle original ni sa subtilité.

J'ai aussi eu énormément de mal avec beaucoup de remarques lascives voir extrêmement sexistes qui émaillaient inutilement le récit mais je ne saurais dire si elles étaient aussi présentes dans l'oeuvre originale et que c'est mon oeil qui a changé avec le temps ou si c'est une particularité de ce tome.

En soit donc un prélude très en deça de la série originelle que j'ai adoré et qui au final apporte très peu sauf dans ses ultimes pages.

I remember really liking this book when I first read it 15 years ago. I tried again recently, and I just did not like it at all. Boring characters. Implicit sexism. Barely any plot. Blah.

Overview: A hugely influential classic of Science Fiction written in an approachable and easy style that asks the reader to question the nature of social norms through the medium of a drawn out chase through the world-city capital of a Galactic Empire (Asimov was there before Star Wars by the way).After reading for the 20th time: OK, I've read it 20 times (at least) so I think that is review enough, really - clearly this is a book that still is enjoyable and thought-provoking after 20 reads and nearly three decades (I originally paid for the book in a mountain of saved-up small change. I don't think the cashier liked me).Is this a classic? Yes, for the concepts and ideas that have influenced countless other works.Is this entertaining? Yes, possibly the most entertaining novel out of Asimov's more famous adult-targeted SF. This is a chase/mystery novel which, unlike most of his work, actually has some action scenes. It's not quite Jackie Chan-level, though Mr Chan would make a great Hari Seldon.Is this well-written? Now we come to the rub. The answer is yes and no. Is this a classic of poetic-fiction like the works of [a:Ursula K. Le Guin 874602 Ursula K. Le Guin https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1244291425p2/874602.jpg] or [a:Arkady Martine 13803582 Arkady Martine https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1517495486p2/13803582.jpg] (both of which everyone should read)? Absolutely not. Yet it works. When I read Asimov I feel like I'm sitting in a comfortable chair while a friend with a good sense of humour regales me with a fascinating tale. Asimov has a set number of words to use and he uses them strategically, investing heavily in plot and ideas along with a fine seasoning of well-placed humour, he does not allow excess baggage. You will not find flowery Tolkien-style word-portraits, but you will find it easy to slide into the story and focus on the story and the ideas that are the central point.To put it another way, in writing style this is the mirror opposite of Dune.Will I read it again Yes. Every time I read this book I get something new. This time around I was reminded of the importance of knowing history if you want anything to change, or as the character Dors puts it: “You're naive, Hari. Or not a historian, which is the same thing.”I love this book.

I though a good idea to read the prequels to Foundation, but this was a very boring book. I think there is a whole chapter dedicated to Seldon being stranded in a dark desert-like landscape.