'Foundation and Empire' is the story of first contact between the two Foundations and Hari Seldon.
Foundation (Publication Order) Series
This epic saga spans millennia in the distant future as humanity has colonized the galaxy. It follows the fate of a disgraced scientist who foresees the inevitable fall of a galactic empire and establishes a foundation to preserve human knowledge. The series explores themes of history, sociology, and the impact of individuals on vast civilizational processes.
Recommended Reading Order
- 2
- 3
Second foundation
- 192 pages
- 7 hours of reading
SECOND FOUNDATION One man understood the shifting patterns of the inhabited cosmos. This was Hari Seldon, the last great scientist of the First Empire. The mathematics of psychohistory enabled Seldon to predict the collapse of the Empire and the onset of civilisation in the shortest possible time, Seldon set up two Foundations. The First was established on Terminus in the full daylight of publicity. But the Second, 'at the other end of the galaxy', took shape behind a veil of total silence. Because the Second Foundation guards the laws of psychohistory, which are valid only so long as they remain secret. When the First Foundation was conquered by a force Seldon had not foreseen - the overwhelming power of a single individual, a mutant called the Mule - the Second Foundation was forced to reveal its existence and, infinitely worse, a portion of its power. But so far its location, its most closely guarded secret of all, has been kept hidden. So far. The Mule and the remnants of the First Foundation will do anything to discover it. This is the story of the Second Foundation. "One of the most staggering achievements in modern SF" THE TIMES
- 4
Foundation's Edge
- 432 pages
- 16 hours of reading
Interplanetary intrigue, hyperspace pursuit, and future technology combine with a desperate search for the planet Earth.
- 5
Golan Trevize, former Councilman of the First Foundation, has chosen the future, and it is Gaia. A superorganism, Gaia is a holistic planet with a common consciousness so intensely united that every dewdrop, every pebble, every being, can speak for all—and feel for all. It is a realm in which privacy is not only undesirable, it is incomprehensible. But is it the right choice for the destiny of mankind? While Trevize feels it is, that is not enough. He must know. Trevize believes the answer lies at the site of humanity's roots: fabled Earth . . . if it still exists. For no one is sure where the planet of Gaia's first settlers is to be found in the immense wilderness of the Galaxy. Nor can anyone explain why no record of Earth has been preserved, no mention of it made anywhere in Gaia's vast world-memory. It is an enigma Trevize is determined to resolve, and a quest he is determined to undertake, at any cost.[ Original description here: Горстка смельчаков пытается найти прародину человечества - Землю, чтобы получить разгадку тайн истории Галактики. = A handful of brave souls trying to find humanity's ancestral home—the Earth, to get answers to the mysteries of the history of the Galaxy.]
- 6
Prelude to Foundation
- 464 pages
- 17 hours of reading
In PRELUDE TO FOUNDATION, what happed in the many centuries before the events made famous in Asimov's other Foundation novels - hitherto only hinted at - is now revealed.
- 7
Forward The Foundation!
- 432 pages
- 16 hours of reading
For more than forty years, Isaac Asimov thrilled millions of readers with his bestselling Foundation series, a spellbinding tale of the future that spans thousands of years and dozens of worlds.
It is the story of the Galactic Empire, crumbling after twelve thousand years of rule. And it is the particular story of psycho-historian Hari Seldon, the only man who can see the horrors the future has in store: a dark age of ignorance, barbarism and violence that will last for thirty thousand years. Gathering together a band of courageous men and women, Seldon leads them to a hidden location at the edge of the galaxy where he hopes they can preserve human knowledge and wisdom against all who would destroy them. Asimov went on to add numerous sequels and prequels to the trilogy, building up what has become known as the Foundation series, but it is the original three books, first published in the Forties and Fifties, which remain the most powerful, imaginative and breathtaking.
For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future -- to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save mankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire -- both scientists and scholars -- and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the Galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for a future generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation. But soon the fledgling Foundation finds itself at the mercy of corrupt warlords rising in the wake of the receding Empire. Mankind's last best hope is faced with an agonizing choice: submit to the barbarians and be overrun -- or fight them and be destroyed.
Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation: Introduction by Michael Dirda
- 664 pages
- 24 hours of reading
This hardcover edition compiles Isaac Asimov's influential Foundation trilogy, a landmark series in speculative fiction that explores themes of psychohistory, the rise and fall of civilizations, and the interplay between science and society. The trilogy delves into the efforts of a group of scientists to preserve knowledge and culture in the face of impending societal collapse, making it a profound exploration of human behavior and the future.
The Foundation trilogy is a saga of humaity's struggle against darkness played on the the grandest possible scale - is one of the corner-stones of modern science fiction. It is the story of the Galactic empire, crumbling after 12,000 years of rule, and the story of psycho-historian Hari Seldon, the only man who can see the horrors the future has in store..
Die Psycho-Historiker. Die berühmte Foundation-Trilogie. Übertr. v. Barbara Heidkamp
- 887 pages
- 32 hours of reading
