Foundation and Earth
by Isaac Asimov
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Book Reviews of Foundation and Earth
Book Review: The downward spiral continues
Summary: 2 Stars
Aismov continued the Foundation series reluctantly under pressure from fans and his publisher in "Foundation's Edge," which precedes this novel. "Edge" is a disappointing book and "Earth" falls even shorter. The plot is very slow, the characters are only mildly interesting, the dialogue is wooden and the ideas just don't materialize in the end. I find the Gaia concept (which was introduced at the end of "Edge but plays a prominent role throughout "Earth) to be extremely far-fetched, and Asimov sinks to new literary lows as a writer here--gratuitous sex, a planet of hermaphrodites, and a planet where the women are topless. The lack of taste only makes things worse. There was very little substance in this book and it is a dismal way to end the "Foundation" trilogy, which is the best sci-fi series in history in my opinion. I do not recommened except for those who must have their curiousity to see how it all ends satisfied, but be warned this book is nothing like Asimov in his prime, some 30 years prior.Book Review: Not up to standards
Summary: 2 Stars
If you're an Asimov junkie like me, you'll buy and read this book no matter what anybody says. But if you were thrilled with the first three books in the series, ecstatic over the addition of Prelude to Foundation, and slightly less than pleased with Foundation's Edge, then you'll be disappointed with this one.
I felt Isaac was preaching at me in some sort of new age galactic godspeak rather than entertaining me with a good story. Maybe that's the danger of writing so many good adventure books: eventually you want to advertise your beliefs. I don't know if that's true or not, but I do know that this book was a terrible letdown for me in an otherwise brilliant series.
The ending didn't gather together the threads of the story, but only seemed to serve as a steppingstone for books that were never to be written. The Foundation Series is a grand adventure, standing up for the most part over forty years after some of the volumes were written. Well, five out of six of them do, at least.
Book Review: worthy sequel to the original trilogy
Summary: 5 Stars
it has been more than 10 years since i read this book and foundation's edge. as far as i can remember when i read this book, i immediately noticed that these books were written by a much mature hand than the ones which wrote the first three - asimov apparently wrote these two almost 20 years later. and afaicr i enjoyed these two more than its predecessors - i still remember the character gendiball. the comparison between hobbit and the lord of the rings with the original foundation trilogy and these two books would not be totally unjustified. these are much more complete and professionally written novels than the original foundation trilogy.
btw one reviewer has compared gaia with the communist utopia. but such a comparison is totally off mark. gaia is the greek philosopher plato's spiritual vision of the universe. it is that which asimov clearly referred to.
great reads - this and "foundation's edge".
Book Review: A different style book in the series
Summary: 3 Stars
Another good book in the series, Foundation and Earth tells the story from the moment Foundation's Edge left off, detailing Trevize's quest to find the origin of mankind.
This book, though enjoyable, was more of a Gulliver's Travels type of format as we hop from world to world meeting variations on human settlement. There is less of the mystery/intertwining plot intrigues I enjoyed in earlier Foundation books.
Book Review: asimov is a genius.
Summary: 5 Stars
Anyone who hasn't read about Hari Seldon and Psychohistory needs to. Though it's a fictional science in the book, I wouldn't be suprised if someone wasn't studying it today. Asimov's writing is compelling ... not too full of sci-fi babble which often sounds odd to readers 40 years later, and that makes it pretty timeless. Many older books constantly irritate me in this manner.