Foundation
by Isaac Asimov

Number of Pages: 296
Published 1951
Published by: Bantam Books
Genre: science fiction

Foundation is written by Isaac Asimov. The story is of an off world outpost on the edge of the galaxy called Foundation. One man who could read the future through his mathematics could see that the Galactic Empire is dying. He sets a plan of huge magnitude into action that is to stop a dark age from lasting over thirty thousand years to only one thousand.

Heri Seldon is determined to preserve all the knowledge of mankind in an encyclopedia but also cannot give away his real plan until he is long dead or else everything will fall apart. Seldon was just the beginning; all the leaders that follow him have to be as smart and cunning if they even hope to stand a chance. The two brilliant men that succeed Seldon are Salvor Hardin and Hober Mallow both of which win over the hearts of the people of the foundation.

Asimov has created a few crises that seem the impossible but each and every one of them is solved in an equally creative way that was ingeniously thought of. Each crisis is beat using totally different plans that are mostly unknown to us until they are actually executed surprising everyone. Everything from religion to knowledge to trade will be used in the plans to hold back the enemy hordes from the small barely self sustainable planet that the Foundation was forced to.

One very surprising idea in the book was the fact that Heri Seldon created a way to look into the future. Unlike any other book I’ve read he did it using math as he is a mathematician. He made a formula that when was made simple enough could tell the probability of things that were to happen in the future. This is how he forces the Foundation along with his plans.

There are many different short stories that take place in order to form the whole book. With as much as fifty years between them. This is the one thing that brought this book down because as soon as you begin to like one set of characters they are suddenly replaced with some different ones that you don’t know anything about.

 The novel is exciting and leaves you curious to read more. It’s a great sci-fi that has sucked me into finishing the whole series. Will the Foundation survive and beat aside its many great conflicts with the barbarian’s every time?

Bookhooks report by James V. of Puslinch, Ontario
James V. rates this book: 4/5 - Highly Recommended
Word Count = 405 words
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Emotional Impact: This book left James V. feeling curious!