Second Foundation (Foundation Novels)
by Isaac Asimov

List Price: $7.99
Our Price: $3.98
You Save: $4.01 (50%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Book Summary Information

• ISBN13: 9780553293364
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Book Reviews of Second Foundation (Foundation Novels)

Book Review: A Thrilling Game of Chess
Summary: 4 Stars

If you've read the first two books in the series, you know that there was a man named Seldon who had a plan to save our future society from a long cold winter of discontent. Then came along an unpredicted rogue element, the mysterious Mule, the perfect monkey wrench to foul up Seldon's works.

In the first novella of this book, the Mule uses his emotion-controlling abilities to search for the Second Foundation. This section is very tightly plotted and there are enough well placed zigs and zags along the way to keep you addictively turning the pages.

The second novella deals with the search by the First Foundation for its shadowy twin. Here Asimov introduces Arkadia Darell, a precocious 14-year old girl who has the ability to out-wit most of the adults around her. I only wish Asimov had spent more of the story with her, because I thought she was probably the most interesting character in the book, along with the Mule. The tightness of plotting in this second novella is probably twice that of the first. The suspense and tension just builds and builds until you don't think you can take it much more. If you're a slow reader, like I am, you'll find that the need to find out what happens will make you into a fast one.

I don't think "Second Foundation" is a perfect book, so I hesitate to give it five stars, but it definitely is a very good, very entertaining book. Having read the entire original trilogy now, I'd say most of the same strengths and weaknesses apply to all three books. Asimov is clearly a master of "the great idea". I love the whole concept of Psychohistory and the Seldon plan and the Seldon crises. He's an excellent story-teller in terms of knowing how to turn the tuning pegs of his plot until the strings are so tight that they sing every time a light breeze blows through.

I'd say Asimov's one weakness is in the writing of his characters. It's sort of ironic that in this trilogy all about the psychology of human motivation there would be relatively little psychological subtext to the characters. We never get to know many of the characters much more than from skin-level. I felt I never really identified with any of the characters in a truly human way.

I don't mean to be overly critical of this one aspect of the trilogy. I still think they're very very good books and in fact feel that Asimov's purpose was to draw attention away from the individual characters. As Seldon himself repeatedly says, there's no accounting for indiviudal behavior. I think Asimov knew that his strengths were in analyzing and commenting on humanity as a whole. He's brilliant at that, and his ideas and concepts are terrific. He paints on a wide enough canvas here that the dance of ideas he presents can be appreciated in much the same way that the fine dance of human emotion might be appreciated in the works of other great authors.

This trilogy is a must-read for any lover of science fiction, psychology, or great ideas. It's also good reading for any chess players out there.

Summary of Second Foundation (Foundation Novels)

Literature & Fiction Books

• Subjects > Literature & Fiction
• Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction