Foundation

My Take

I first read Foundation about ten years ago, in Chinese translation. To be honest, the opening, with Seldon arriving on Trantor, didn't do much for me. I kept going anyway, and the further I read, the harder it was to stop. I read the entire Foundation series in one go, then went looking for every Asimov novel I could find. About two years ago I reread the whole saga from start to finish, and that is when I found out about the TV series and started following it.

What stayed with me from that first read was the scale. In both time and space, Foundation builds an enormous world; to me it is a science fiction epic without equal. And psychohistory fascinated me from the very first pages.

— Jason Guo, editor

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How the Book Is Built

Foundation is not a novel in the usual sense. It is five linked stories covering about 150 years, and each one jumps forward in time with a new cast. Four of them first appeared in Astounding Science Fiction between 1942 and 1944. The fifth, the opening section, was written for the 1951 book edition to explain how it all started.

• The Psychohistorians (year 0; written for the 1951 book): Gaal Dornick and Hari Seldon
• The Encyclopedists (about 50 F.E.; Astounding, May 1942, as "Foundation"): Salvor Hardin
• The Mayors (about 80 F.E.; June 1942, as "Bridle and Saddle"): Salvor Hardin
• The Traders (about 135 F.E.; October 1944, as "The Wedge"): Limmar Ponyets
• The Merchant Princes (about 155 F.E.; August 1944, as "The Big and the Little"): Hober Mallow

Knowing this helps with the book's quirks. Each story re-explains the setting a little, because magazine readers needed it. Characters rarely carry over. And the pace is set by conversation, not action: almost every crisis is resolved by someone talking, bargaining, or waiting.

What to Watch For

The obvious move. Every section's hero wins by seeing what the situation actually demands while everyone around them argues about something else. Hardin notices that the Board of Trustees is waiting for a rescue that will not come. Ponyets notices that a greedy official can be bought. Mallow notices that no one on Korell can fix a broken appliance. Asimov's point is that Seldon's crises are solved by the only reasonable choice, and it takes a clear head to see it.

The Time Vault. Seldon's recorded appearances are the book's heartbeat. Each time the vault opens, the reader gets to check the characters' reasoning against Seldon's, and the gap between what people feared and what Seldon calmly expected is the source of much of the book's quiet humor.

Power without violence. The Foundation moves from science to religion to trade, and never really to war. "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent" is not just Hardin's line; it is the book's method. Notice how often a threatened battle simply does not happen.

The Empire offstage. Trantor dominates the first section and then almost disappears. By the last story, Mallow has to go looking for evidence that the Empire still exists at all. That shrinking is the fall of the Empire, told from the edge.

Where It Fits and Who It's For

In publication order, this is where you start: Foundation came first, and the later books assume you know what psychohistory is and why Seldon matters. In chronological order, which is how I read the saga, it comes right after the two prequels, and Seldon's trial reads as the payoff of everything before it. Either way, if you enjoy the problem-solving and the dry wit, read on into Foundation and Empire, where the formula is tested to destruction. If you want character-driven drama and big action, expect to be patient; the payoff of this book is the idea, not the people.

It is short (about 250 pages) and quick to read. The most common stumbling block is the constant reset of characters; it helps to treat each section as its own story about the same institution.

On Screen

The Apple TV+ series draws on this book's names and outline rather than its plots. Season 1 uses the Psychohistorians and the Encyclopedists as a skeleton: Gaal, Seldon's trial, the exile to Terminus, Salvor Hardin, and Anacreon. Season 2 borrows Poly Verisof, Hober Mallow, and Korell. Almost everything else, including Seldon's murder, the Vault's mysterious field, and the cloned emperors, is new.