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Foundation Series

Introduction

Probably one of the most famous series of books in science fiction is Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. Originally published in the 1940s and 1950s, Asimov was 'forced' to add new books to the series in the 1980s and 1990s where, to his amazement, they went on to become bestsellers.

What is the Foundation series about? Its basic idea is simple: in the far future, when humanity has occupied all of the Milky Way galaxy, the mathematician Hari Seldon developes the science of Psychohistory which allows the action of huge masses of humanity to be predicted.

Using Psychohistory, Seldon discoveres that the vast Galactic Empire that has ruled for thousands of years is decaying and humanity will be plunged into an era of barbarism for the next twenty thousand years. To shorten the barbaric period, two Foundations were established: one based on the physical sciences, the other on the mental sciences (and hidden). In one thousand years, Hari's calculations tell him, the two Foundations will build up a new empire that would endure.

Based on this premise, Asimov weaves tale after tale, descibing the trials and tribulations that the Foundations go through. By the time the first three (original) Foundation books were written, Asimov had only covered about a quarter of the thousand year saga and was already fed up with it: he wanted to move on to other things. In the 1980s, the cries of "continue the Foundation saga" were too strong and Asimov wrote a further four covering both ends of the Foundation saga before he died.

But the story does not end there. Three authors, Gregory Benford, David Brin and Greg Bear (the 'killer Bs') plan to continue the series. Out now is Benford's Foundation's Fear and Bear's Foundation and Chaos with the last one expected in a few years.

What is it about the series that attracts people? IMHO (in my humble opinion), it is probably due to Asimov's idea that the actions of large numbers of people are predictable, but not those of a single person. This tension between individual free will and mass determinism are in constant conflict in the series and resolving this in various situation allows for a rich set of plots and characters.

How to read the Foundation series

How does one read the series? Well, I believe the best way to read the series is in the order they were published or written. Others may suggest you read them in chronological order but I believe this is a bad idea. When Asimov wrote the Foundation books, he did not do so with any set plan or 'future history' in mind. He wrote each Foundation story based had already happened in previous stories. As such, it makes more sense to read them in the order he wrote them. Reading them in a 'linear fashion' would force you to read newer books before older ones (this is explain in the chronology below), making some things confusing and you would be introduced to some characters and situations that do not make sense in the light of events that chronologically happened later in the series but were written by Asimov earlier in the series (I hope that was clear).

Of course, you may choose to read the series in chronological order. You can read the opinions of other people who feel the Foundation series should be read in chronological order.

Written order of books in the Foundation series

Due to the possibility of accidentally putting in spoilers for those of you who have not read the books yet, my opinions on each book will be placed on a separate page (will be available later). What follows is only the titles of the book in the order they should (IMHO) be read:

Foundation
Foundation and Empire
Second Foundation
Foundation's Edge
Foundation and Earth
Prelude to Foundation
Forward the Foundation
Foundation's Fear (written by Gregory Benford)
Foundation and Chaos (written by Greg Bear)

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