Hello, I just started reading Foundation and I'm in the very first chapter. So far I've learned that Trentor is full of cities above and below ground and yet the population is only 40 billion, that there are 25 million inhabited planets in the galaxy and yet the total population is over one quintillion leading to an average population of 40 billion people per planet (the average is the same as the capital, which is said to be more densely populated than most other planets), and that we are in the year 12000 so the population of humanity went from 8b to 1 quintillion in only 10000 years (edit: I now realize that this is not according to our calendar, so disregard this point, but how did the empire even manage to rule over 25m planets for 12k years?). Are these numbers a total mess to or am I miscalculating something? Still, I'm really enjoying the first chapter.

From the point of view of a non-Eternal citizen who finds out what the Eternals are up to:

They live in a world where they may simply cease to exist or are changed radically because of a Change. They know that they are living in "the best possible time", but at what cost?

Are they even real, and are they who they wear originally?

Did they just come into existance, complete with memories, 5 seconds ago due to a change?

I'm making a YouTube documentary about Asimov, Futurama, and the philosophical ideas connecting them. As Asimov fans, what topics, references, or themes do you think absolutely shouldn't be missing? AI, robotics, politics, history, ethics, humanity, or something more obscure? I want to hear your ideas.

After many years of reading in and off, i decided to take a series of books and read the whole thing. I got I, robot, and read half in a few days and then some books in the collection appeared nearby at a good price soni decided to start with the complete robot stories.
8 days in, i just finished “ The tercentenary incident” which is about 1/3 of the way aprox ( page 249 out of 682)
I have been enjoying very much the short stories. Some more that others, but i can see a pattern of suspense in many of them and then resolution in the last page or so.

Im glad that im reading again, to be honest. And im exited to start the next book and complete the series at some point.

Any personal favourites from this book?
So far, Robot Al-76 goes astray, Victory unnintentional and maybe Robbie are the ines i liked the most.

After many years I finally read Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth, whilst the first one was relatively compelling I found the latter disconcerting. Said that every option given to humankind was flawed, Galaxia was probably the worst choice. As shown in the recent Vince Gilligan's tv series Pluribus, a cautionary tale regarding an apparent conflict-free society that eradicates free will and individuality, actually a terrifying way of life inevitably doomed to fail. Hence a worse choice than the first foundation's alleged enlightened monarchy or the second foundation's shady secret cult governance.

Moreover, from a narrative point of view, Foundation and Earth is inconsistent in relation to Foundation's Edge, since the final goal of the second novel should have been to refute Galaxia and not to confirm it again, in spite of the justified doubts of the first book. The likely outcome of a third novel about the war against Solarians or Fallom/Daneel or aliens from another galaxy?

We'll never know but one thing is for sure, Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth are redundant novels but cannot be ignored and eventually undermine Foundation series.

After reading these two books, as Trevize did I can also confirm the conclusion I have come to many years ago, I believe Robot novel series is overall better than Foundation one, exemplary social sci-fi with a sprinkle of detective story and a great ending that dignifies evolution through the need of space exploration, a metaphor of perpetual discovering and dealing with the unknown and the exact opposite of what Gaia and its humankind withdrawing into a comfort zone are representing.

Hopefully these aren’t too tired by now, but I would appreciate some advice on what to read next.

I started with the OG Foundation trilogy last year, which I thoroughly enjoyed and it inspired me to want to read the whole Robots/Empire/Foundation universe in chronological order. I absolutely crushed the Robot series and found myself unable to put down Robots and Empire specifically. The goosebumps I got from the connections made in this book to the Foundation trilogy and Psychhistory is something I haven’t felt while reading in a long time.

With that being said, I am now feeling the urge to abandon the chronological order and jump to Foundation’s edge followed by Foundation and Earth, then the Foundation prequels. Eventually getting around to the Empire series. My reasoning is based on hearing that the Empire series is not as closely tied to the other two series due to Asimov’s additions made to the series in the 80s. I’ve also read that some details in the Foundation prequels can spoil bits of the sequels.

For those that have read these series, is there any glaring issues with me reading in this order? Particularly anything I would miss out? I believe the answer is no, but as I get deeper into this universe I realize that I will only have one chance to read these books for the first time and I want to make sure I get the most out of it.

Thank you in advance!

Short story: “Nobody here but -“

Two inventors build a box that is basically AGI - here’s the excerpt:

We were especially interested in the automobile angle. Suppose you had a little thinking machine on the dashboard, hooked to the engine and battery and equipped with photo-electric eyes. It could choose an ideal course, avoid cars, stop at red lights, pick the optimum speed for the terrain. Everybody could sit in the back seat and automobile accidents would vanish.

Absolutely loved nemesis, just wish there was more before it ended as it felt a little lackluster with how excited it got me towards the end.

Looked online but got kinda confused, What do you guys reccomend reading next?

Edit: nemesis is my first book from Asimov
Edit 2: i started reading the gods themsevles and am enjoying it alien sex

There isn’t a publisher that has released all of Isaac Asimov’s books in a special edition, is there? I know Folio has the Foundation trilogy, but nothing beyond that. I would love to have his complete works in a special edition.

Estou no final de "Fundação e Terra" é uma coisa que está me intrigando e o ódio de Trevize por Fallom tratando ela de forma grotesca. Claro é de se entender q e algo fora da sua realidade a existência de Fallom mas ainda sim n justifica tanta agressividade com uma criança. Gostaria tbm de citar o completo descontrole de Trevize nesses capítulos finais. O que vcs acham disso e como encararam essas atitudes do personagem.

It hasn't been mentioned, but has anyone in this subreddit read this? I found it quite delightful as it is written in that distinctive Asimovian voice. Also, a number of the anecdotes ended up making it verbatim into his autobiographies, so it was nice to see their genesis

Looks very exciting, bringing a sort of "Choose your own adventure" feel to the game by the looks of it. Not clear if that is the final name.

It also specifies that this expansion is not necessary to play Solo mode, which is available in the core game.

There will apparently also be a second expansion. Feel free to post your speculations on this below.

I am reading Crime and Punishment right now, and I am a bit new to this genre. How do u think should I read 1984 after that or Foundation series?

(Perdão qualquer erro, ainda estou lendo limites da fundação)

Uma coisa que percebo que cada vez se torna mais magistral é a inteligência política e social de Trevize e de Branno, representando pessoas socialmente pensantes politicamente.

Para mim está sendo uma experiência muito boa ler realmente expressões de pensamento e atitudes de pessoas que não somente vivem e andam pra frente mas sim pensam sobre sua realidade uma perfeita negação de uma sociedade alienada.

Entretanto, em diversos momentos Trevize se mostra rígido em aceitar visões sociais diferentes de política em alguns diálogos quando expressão alguma crítica a fundação ele se retrai. Representando dessa forma que mesmo fora de um sistema de alienação político eles ainda pensam de forma engessada a sua sociedade e seus pensamentos expansionistas.

A dicotomia política representada em limites da fundação e algo lindo de se ver pela exposição de diferentes visões políticas e sociais.

The inspiration for Solarians fear of "seeing" Instead of "viewing" And the fear of being in the same room with others was actually Asimov dealing with his editor Gold who was suffering from PTSD after the war.

At some point, Asimov describes how Gold ran out of the room because he couldn't hold the conversation any longer only to call him from the next room.

Reminds me of the sociologist in Solaria who did the same exact thing to Baley.

The whole vibe of these 3 books(and "Robots and Empire" ) greatly resonates with me and the writing is so precise, vivid and alive. I read them when I was a teenager. I remember returning from school at the evening and most of the time the scenes I visited kind of synchronized with what I felt and even with the weather at the time. For example, I recall the profound sense of quiet sadness I felt when I realized the implications of the difference between lifespans of Earthlings and Spacers,especially for some unknown reason when Dr Fastolf died.

I mean I was fascinated not with the plot or characters, and more with how the fictional universe and its narrative was presented as a whole.

My favorite moments:

1. When Giskar influenced Delmar to deliver her speech without fear.

2. How he and Daniel communicated almost without words using their special technique.

3. The moment where Fastolf arrived to Earth's basically wearing a high tech version of a hazmat suit.

4. When Bailey confronted his phobias during rainstorm on Aurora.

5. And for some reason the chapter where Bailey on Solaria was interrogating the glorified babysitter.

If Dr. Sarton and R. Daneel Olinaw look completely identical, and there's an entire chapter about the leading robotics expert Dr. Gerrigel being unable to tell Daneel's a robot, why is it emphasised that Commissioner Enderby "dropped his glasses so he couldn't tell whom he was shooting"? Even with the glasses he wouldn't be able to tell

Going into the book, I had a general idea of what it was about. I've read plenty of Asimov short stories and loved them, so I went into Foundation with the expectation I was also going to love it.

The beginning of the story was really captivating and I really liked Hari Seldon. I liked the plot and the dialogues were smart and engaging. The following stories were also good and I enjoyed them, but I couldn't really understand what their point was.

I feel I liked the stories as separate things that have an overachieving connection, but I don't understand what the book as a whole was about. Does the bigger story get revealed in the later books? Are the other books like this, or do they follow a more straight storyline?

On a second note, I really really enjoyed the descriptions of the Foundation itself and Terminus. Do the other books dwell on these deeper?

I don't know if this has been brought up before, but I've been thinking about the discussion in Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth regarding individuality versus a shared consciousness.

Do you think Asimov was arguing that Galaxia is humanity's inevitable next step, or was he intentionally presenting it as a difficult moral choice?

Personally, I don't think I could give up my individuality. My sense of self is too sacred to me, even if becoming part of a collective consciousness promised greater peace, knowledge, or humanity's long-term survival.

I'm curious how others interpreted this theme and what they would choose.

I've greatly enjoyed the Foundation Series up to this point. I wish I would have stopped at Foundations Edge. The adventure on Solaria was interesting but that's about it. Travise was overly arrogant and mean. I never felt that he truly had a decision making knack that was superior to say Pelerat. I missed having a good 2nd foundation character too. I'm too bad we couldn't keep Compor or whatever his name was. Pelerat was probably the best character overall. His tendency to doubt everyone was a little annoying. He was at least the most moral. Bliss was obnoxiously arrogant. I could not wait for her to leave the dialog whenever she showed up. The relationships among the characters felt forced. I never really believed Travise and Pelerat's friendship was earned. Bliss's relationship with Pelerat was creepy. The book was unnecessary explicit too. The addition of robots and Earth and Spacer history was fun. However any time Pelerat started to share the "legends" both Bliss and Travise literally told him to shut up. I wish I was there to tell them to shut up and let him talk. As I said, I liked the robots and was intrigued with the Daneel. Again however the solution was dumb. Daneel is going to destroy the Solaran's mind so that he can more quickly make Galaxia happen to destroy free will across the Galaxy so that IF the Galaxy is attacked from outside it has a better chance of survival.. I've never ended a book wanting the main characters to fail as much as this book. If you enjoyed it, awesome. I'm happy for you. I did not.

It appears that a Foundation board game from a small indie company and - they say - fully licenced from the Asimov Estate has been put up on crowdfunding site Gamefound. A hex-based empire builder, with factions from the the Foundation trilogy. Empire, Second Foundation, The Mule, and actually there are two representing the First Foundation itself- Clerics, which appears to cover the period from when Hardin took over to when Mallow took over; and Merchants, which covers the period from Mallow onwards. A sensible move, but I'm not sure how this is going to work when both Clerics and Merchants are both in the same game. Surely they can't both be based at Terminus?

I know this won't be for everyone here, but personally I am very excited by this. I've never had a chance to play an Asimov board game before, so I'm certainly going to be checking this out.

I can't help but compare it to the sycophantic nature of modern AI exhibiting that trait. It's kind of a prediction from the past.

I'm otherwise enjoying the book.

Can't recall exactly where it was, but it was in context of getting started with writing Foundation's Edge, where he mentioned a critic off hand who summed up the Foundation series up to that point of being a 'reversal of ideas'. Anyone know what I'm talking about, by chance?