Foundation and Earth |
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| Title: | Foundation and Earth |
| Author: | Isaac Asimov |
| Publisher: | Spectra |
| Type: | Book / Mass Market Paperback |
| Publication Date: | 31 August, 2004 |
| ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0553587579 / 9780553587579 |
| List Price: | $7.99 |
| Amazon Price: | $7.99 |
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This book is also available, brand-new, from 3rd-party marketplace sellers at Amazon.com, from $4.24.
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Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
The fifth novel in Asimov's popular Foundation series opens with second thoughts. Councilman Golan Trevize is wondering if he was right to choose a collective mind as the best possible future for humanity over the anarchy of contentious individuals, nations and planets. To test his conclusion, he decides he must know the past and goes in search of legendary Earth, all references to which have been erased from galactic libraries. The societies encountered along the way become arguing points in a book-long colloquy about man's fate, conducted by Trevize and traveling companion Bliss, who is part of the first world/mind, Gaia.
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Customer Reviews:
• Foundation And Earth: Falls Flat
15 February, 2010
Title: Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov.
Pages: 494.
Time spent on the "to read" shelf: 3 years.
Days spent reading it: 4 days.
Why I read it: I started reading the Foundation series a few years ago. I made it through the first 4 books and this was the next book in the series (in order of copyright).
Brief review:
Let me start off by saying, I LOVED the first 3 Foundation books, especially the first one (simply called Foundation). Isaac Asimov creates interesting situations that his characters must resolve, and they usually do so with interesting insights. Asimov wrote the first 3 books as a series of short stories, and they were later compiled into what became the Foundation trilogy. I would highly recommend those to anyone who enjoys a truly unique story.
Having said that, books 4 and 5 were different. Instead of being short stories, they were true novels. They stayed with the same characters the whole time. I personally think the characters are flat and boring. Asimov's strength is not characters but dilemmas. Unfortunately book 4 (Foundation's Edge) does not have enough dilemma in it, and almost turned me off from the rest of the series. I also really did not like how it ended. However, Foundation and Earth returned to Asimov writing more in short story format, even though he stays with the same characters, the story is revealed as they leapfrog from planet to planet in search of Earth.
I will not give away the plot, but it would say it was a decent story. Not the best in the series, but not as disappointing as Foundation's Edge. The conclusion felt a little awkward and forced. Asimov did some strange things with this series as it progressed forward. I think he wanted to make it seem like his writings as a whole were more planned out and connected than he originally intended. In the end it seems gimmicky. I'm sure there are some Asimov fans who enjoy the connections, but I would not number myself among them.
Overall, I would recommend this book to the fans of the Foundation series, but slugging through Foundation's Edge along with Foundation and Earth means reading nearly 1,000 pages of frankly sub-par Asimov. For reader's interested in something truly unique--check out Foundation, it really is superior. But realize that the first book (which is awesome) is the best it gets.
Stars: 2 out of 5.
Final Word: Flat.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Probably The Least Interesting Foundation Book
10 June, 2009
Really, this concluding novel of the Foundation series seems to belittle the original books in the series by trying to tie the Robot Universe with the Foundation.
The writing is excellent, and the book is really quite interesting when taken as a stand-alone work... but it wasn't the grand end to the "Foundation" series that I had been hoping for.
- Amazon Customer Review
• At Last!!!!
12 July, 2009
Asimov fan for over 30yrs., and never been able to find this book! Not only got it at a GREAT price, but was also in near-new condition! Idle thought to check for it on Amazon turned into a long-time wish fulfillment! THANX!!!
- Amazon Customer Review
• The Other Side Of The Coin
01 March, 2010
This novel doesn't work very well as a standalone; you have to be familiar with the Trilogy, not only in terms of plot, but to get the proper emotional impact, because is the moodiest of all Asimov's novels.
Trevize is looking for Earth, so he is examining the oldest planets in the galaxy. Most of them have been positively presented in other novels; here we see them in decay, in different ways. Baleyworld/Comporellon was once mankind's newest world and a promise for the future; now it's the oldest inhabited world, lost in the past, and obsessed with wondering what went wrong. Aurora, a utopian world, has not only lost its human population but its ecology has gone feral. The Solarians have gone from being eccentric to basically turning inhuman, etc.
In Foundation you kept hearing about the decline of the Empire, but it was mostly a matter of plot. Here you FEEL the decline.
Things on shipboard aren't much better. Bliss and Trevize spend the first half of the novel arguing over ideology, and the last half arguing over Fallom; only their shared love and respect for Pelorat holds them together.
It's almost as if Asimov sensed death approaching and let the story reflect the loss of zest and life.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Great Potential, But Gaia Killed This Series . . .
04 November, 2009
Very disappointing. Sure, it's readable, but also laughable. The story of finding Earth should have been fantastic, but instead meandered all over the place and seems to be a waste of time. There are a few good parts, mostly for those readers familiar with the Robot series, but the entire book is sadly a disappointment. This decline started with the introduction of Gaia in the previous book, when the whole series got derailed and never got back to what it was.
Spoilers ahead!
Who else was absolutely convinced that Golan Trevize would turn out to be a robot? For most of this book, that seemed to be the great 'mystery' that would be unveiled. It turned out to be false, but Trevize's ability to merge perfectly with the ship and his basic wooden personality had me willing to bet he was definitely, positively a robot. The guy was unreal. He did not respond at all to the nubile girl on board the ship, he let the old guy have her. Er, not likely, especially as he constantly referred to how horny he was and how long it had been, ect. . .
The series officially jumped shark with the introduction of the planet Gaia and never recovered. How could the search for Earth be so pointless? They spend most of the book running from one planet to another and barely escaping alive from each one - it gets a little repetitive. When they finally achieve their goal, it's very disappointing! And none of the larger issues are resolved. What happens at the end of 1000 years? Did the two Foundations achieve their purpose? Apparently, Asimov lost his way and we never find out if the Foundation was effective or not. The story of finding Earth had great potential, but the reader is left hanging at the end wondering what will happen at the 1000 year mark, the point at which the Foundation was supposed to prevent the Dark Ages extending to thirty thousand years.
This book was mostly fluff and the silly interactions between the nondescript Trevize and the silly lovers: Gaia girl and the old librarian. This part of the story seems to have been a fantasy of Mr Asimov's . . . The 'surprise' at the end was a total rip off and an excuse not to carry the ideas begun in the first book to their final conclusion. Instead we are left with Gaia on a galactic scale . . .
- Amazon Customer Review
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