Our ongoing series reviewing audio adaptations of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror works. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.
By John J. Joex
Book Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 Stars
Audio Book Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
The Foundation series of books is a seminal work of Science Fiction literature by Isaac Asimov, one of the most recognized names from the genre, that takes place thousands of years in the future during the age of a galaxy-spanning Empire. The original trilogy of books (which this review covers) focus on the legacy of a mathematician/prophet named Hari Seldon who has devised a numbers-based means of predicting the future known and psychohistory. This works on very large populations (such as a galactic Empire) and can predict general trends and directions that this population will follow over many year’s time. In the first book of the original trilogy, Foundation, Seldon predicts the dissolution of the Empire and sets up two “Foundations” which will help avert what he believes would be a dark age that would last 30,000 years. The first Foundation survives the turmoil that results from the rapid decline of the Empire and actually begins to flourish and become an important force in the galaxy. In the second book, Foundation and Empire, a mutant known as the Mule causes Seldon’s predictions to go awry and ultimately results in the Foundation succumbing to the new Empire under the Mule’s control. In the third book, The Second Foundation, the Mule seeks the hidden the Second Foundation that Seldon established which turns out to be in the least likely of places.
Asimov’s Foundation series originally appeared as a series of short stories all set in the same universe and inspired by some of the ideas that Edward Gibbon explored in his seminal historical work The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. After they first appeared in Astounding Magazine in the 1940’s, the stories were collected into the three books that made up the original Foundation trilogy. Asimov later added two more sequels and two prequels to the series and also tied this universe in with his Robot series as well as several other stories he had written like Pebble in the Sky.
Just this past year, I have seen Asimov’s Foundation series appear on a “Best Of” list of Science Fiction books as well as a “Worst Of” list. And I can understand the inclusion on both. The Foundation books, particularly the original trilogy, are very important to Science Fiction literature for their sprawling, epic scope and intelligent approach toward the future direction of human civilization. The learned Asimov had a good grasp on history and he applied this, as well as his scientific knowledge, toward a “what if” exercise on how humanity would exist in a galaxy-wide Empire. Much of what he suggests about the political and social direction of this Empire rings true and has precedent in our own history.
However, as a writer, Asimov leaves much to be desired. He approaches his material with a scholarly attitude yet wraps up his intellectual extrapolations in derivative, genre formula. And his work tends to be very talky, and generally revolves around two characters at a time carrying on a dry conversion focused on scientific, philosophical, and/or sociological principles. His ideas are definitely interesting, but the delivery is often tedious and dispassionate. Still, on the bright side, his books are much more interesting than a science text book and explore much more profound, far-reaching concepts. And even if you may not care for Asimov that much as a writer, you can’t ignore him because of the scope of his fiction and his sheer intellect. Even though the Foundation books may be somewhat laborious to tackle, they have their high points and never completely bore the audience, and they still count as a must-read (or listen) in Science Fiction literature.
The audio versions of the first three books are read by genre audio book warhorse Scott Brick (who has narrated other Asimov works as well, including I Robot) and his somewhat dry, monotone style fits the books perfectly. You might think that his style of reading would make an already tedious book even more snooze-inducing, but on the contrary he succeeds in drawing the listener into the material and giving it just the right mix of scientific discourse and story-telling. And I would say that audio book is the perfect way to encounter this series if you have never read it before. You can keep it going in the background and let your attention fade in and out depending on what’s going on, and then you can refer to the Wikipedia summaries on the books to keep track of the finer details. There are definitely some essential Science Fiction concepts covered in this series that all fans of the genre should experience firsthand, even if you don’t necessarily dwell upon each word in all of the stories. You can find them for under $20 per audio book at Barnes and Noble and the eMusic.com, Audible.com, and BooksFree.com services also have them as well. Or you can check your local library which is where I managed to pick up the CDs for all three books.
