has anyone read all of the "Foundation" series?
 

I got myself engrossed in Asimov's Foundation series a while back. I started with "Foundation," worked my way through "Foundation and Empire" and "Second Foundation," and have just recently finished "Foundation's Edge." I haven't read any other of Asimov's books.

I really liked the first three books, especially "Second Foundaion". I couldn't stop there, so I picked up "Foundation's Edge." Am I wrong to have been completely let down by this book? I suppose I was a little skeptical, given the 30 year or so gap in authorship. But Asimov seems to have forgotten the themes and ideas that made the series so good, and then had the gall to replace them with the equivalent of advertisments for some of his other novels. I thought Asimov was just being eclectic, but then I read the afterword, in which he explains that all the random stuff going on in the book are references to his to his other novels. I felt raped. (ok i'm laying it on thick).

So now I'm wondering whether I should invest in the rest of the series. I really, really want to find out how the Seldon Plan turns out, but is it worth it? Are the first three novels the only good ones of the series? Also, are the ones written by those other authors any good? Any comments (without spoilers please) from people who've read the series would be appreciated.

I read them all and thought they were excellent.

Anything after the original three is a waste of time.

He tries to converge the Foundation series with the Robots series, both of which were completely different.

Mr Mephisto

I agree with Mephisto. I read all of them, well, up until Foundation and Earth, which I threw away halfway through. The first three are still the best - buy them, read them, love them.

read one of them late in the series where he starts talking about some kind of idiotic Gai/Mother Earth shit and I about chucked that book right there.

Hmm... well, I guess I'm off to start something else then.

Has anyone gotten through the books by Bear, Benford, and Brin (I think those are the names)?

Bear and Brin are excellent.

Now, I hardly ever read fiction any more, especially science fiction. I'm reminded of the famous comment by Ray Bradbury when asked by a reporter why he wrote SF when 90% of it was crap. "Yes" replied Ray "but 90% of everything is crap."

How true.

In the SF genre I would say Brin's "Uplift" books are amongst the good stuff. Bear is quite good too. One of the best though, in my humble opinion, is still William Gibson.

Another excellent book is A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. Mind boggingly entertaining. Talk about big ideas...

I don't like Hamilton's stuff though. Can't remember his full name, but he wrote a cross genre SF-horror trilogy. Good idea, but poor dialogue. Speaking of poor dialogue, I think this is the bane/weakness of most SF writers. There really are very few writers who can write believable dialogue; SF or not.

Well, that's the end of my rant!

Mr Mephisto

PS - Pick up some non-fiction. Feed your brain, increase your knowledge and broadened your horizons. Start with something by Richard Dawkins, Studs Terkel, Shelby Foote, Simon Schama, Oliver Sachs...

:)

Seconded. But don't read the description on the back cover to see if you'd like it, because it makes the book sound like a lame space opera.

And after you read that, go to A Deepness in the Sky, the prequel which was written afterward. Very little overlap, but you should read them in the order they were written.

Just stick with the first 3 foundations. The rest just seemed kinda, i dont know, cheap. I didnt really get anything from reading them.

All the Vinge books are great. And the first half of the hamilton naked god series is good. then it gets bad.

If you go to the fantasy side, check out the george martin song of fire and ice series. It will expode your head.

As it turns out, that was Theodore Sturgeon.

The "3 B's" books in the latter-day Foundation series aren't quite worth picking up, with all the other good stuff out there. If you haven't checked them out already, I recommend Harlan Ellison, Alfred Bester and Philip K. Dick.

Unfortunately, the <i>Foundation</i> series penned by Asimov never comes to a satisfying conclusion, and the "3 B's" books don't further the story. If you don't want the series to leave a bad taste in your mouth, I recommend ending with <i>Prelude to Foundation</i>.

I've just finished the First book, and I'll be starting the next as soon as I can find a little time.