I have mixed feelings about this book.

It’s about the search for the hidden and secretive Second Foundation. First the Mule tries to find it, then after his death the restored First Foundation tries to find it.

It’s understandable that the First Foundation should be curious, but in fact the First Foundation seeks the Second in order to destroy it. Both Foundations were established by Hari Seldon and are essential elements of his Plan. Shouldn’t the First Foundation be willing to accept that?

Apparently not. It expects and receives help from the Second Foundation, but then ungratefully tries to destroy it. Perhaps this is indeed the way humans behave, but I don’t like it.

So I don’t really enjoy the search for the Second Foundation. Furthermore, in this book Asimov started a habit that he continued in other books, of presenting and justifying a series of wrong answers to a mystery, until eventually we get the right answer. I suppose there’s a sort of cleverness to it, but as a reader I find it rather tedious and irritating.

However, there are two things I do enjoy about the book: the parts of the story told from the Second Foundation’s point of view, and the creation of Arkady Darell: one of Asimov’s more memorable characters, and a teenage heroine from a time when teenage heroines were unusual (and most of his characters were male). I suspect that Asimov based Arkady on a girl he met in the real world; at the time of writing he was about 29 and married, but had no children yet.

I’m impressed by the user interface of the Prime Radiant, as described in Chapter 8. It’s a remarkable feat of imagination, considering that it was written in the late 1940s, at which time there were only a few very primitive computers in the world. We still couldn’t implement all features of the Prime Radiant today, but I suppose that with effort and expense we could make an inferior imitation. It’s much easier to imagine now than it was then. ( )

Después de mucho tiempo me he decidido a terminar esta saga. Este último ha sido mi favorito, aunque en general el mayor pecado de esta saga es partir de una idea increíble, pero desarrollarla a través de personajes (la mayoría) poco memorables. Además de la omisión de todas las batallas y guerras.

Pero en general la idea del plan Seldon es de las cosas más geniales que he leído. ( )

Well, I liked the first half immensely and then it just got....blah. That's the only word I can really find to describe it. It is almost like Asimov lost his ability to communicate through characters and had to have these cheesy expositions instead.

A good book, but definitely not better than the first two of the "trilogy". ( )

Rereading one of the most influential book series on young me after 20 years:

I wish I could say that this just more of what Foundation and Foundation and Empire was, but I feel like Asimov's obsession with reveals really takes over here. I don't think this aspect works on a first read either because dramatic irony can be much cooler and there are a lot of things that would be much more interesting to be shown in detail but it certainly doesn't work when you remember where the Second Foundation is. One of the characters even admits it's not very well hidden. Still a pretty cool book continuing to expand on the ideas of the previous books and has some cool moments though.
The strange contradiction of this book is that while it's all about going back to the status quo, it's also the first book to talk about how all this is not just about restarting the same empire, it's about making a better society. It's just a few sentences but I really appreciated that. ( )

Really good, as per usual for Asimov. I enjoy the way he can build a whole universe while barely giving descriptions of planets or ecosystems. ( )

When you have a lot of 'to reads' to choose from, the relationship to an unpicked book is interesting: for all you know certain books in your collection could be the best you're ever set to read (if the goodreads scanner and ratings used when purchasing gems from oxfam bookstores are reliable, that is), but there they sit, waiting, til the fateful powers of the universe deem it time for your decision to actually read them advance further than skimming across the blurb. The Foundation novels were of this ilk; fittingly so since predestination is one of the main theme of the series. There they sat for four years, beguiling, masterful works of fiction that lay dormant, a state incongruous with the value I now attributed to them now read. They are almighty.

I'd bought the first two installments of the trilogy in a second-hand shop in Stafford about 5 years ago, but due to my bibliophilic tendencies, I'd constantly picked other books before them from my 80-odd, fattened 'to read' section of the bookshelf. Then, after a double dose of Russian literature and 'Invisible Monsters' by Chuck Palahniuk, it seemed time to plunge into Asimov's heavily heralded works.

Psycho-history (the psychology of mathematically predicting future events of populations on a galactic scale) is the creation of Hari Seldon, a man who mathematically discovers the future decline of the galactic empire into years of barbarism and devolution. Using his psychological construct, Seldon plots the path of two Foundations at either end of the galaxy, which are to serve as insurance of a new, improved empire and limit the babaric years to a single millennium. Throughout the course of 1000 years, Seldon's plan follows its predicted path, but with the psycho-historian long dead and the probability of the plan's success somewhat delicate to the seemingly unpredicatable nature of the future, the population of a galaxy must journey through predicted and unpredicted crises to a destination many of them will not even see. A long cast of characters decorate the chessboard of the plan, wittingly and unwittingly maintaining the correct trajectory. Yet as the centuries tick by, the probablity of success invariably weakens, none more so when an unfathomable variable rears a mule-shaped head.

The scope of the trilogy is huge - not just the overarching plot but also the sub-plots involving various characters of each significant event as the plan progresses through its actualisation; they too are complex, well-written and perceptive narratives. How Asimov threaded the multitude of happenings and invention into a coherent, plausible, scientifically congruent and unpredictable story is astounding. In a way, the reader is sent on a predetermined journey in much the same way that the populations and individuals in the books are sent by Hari Seldon.

As well as the fantastically rich narrative, the nature of his books (and more so of 'psycho-history') evokes and indulges the reader in huge questions about life in our own galaxy. Is psycho-history actually possible? May we predict what will happen to our world as it ages? Are we free in our decisions about our lives? Are we handicapped by our lack of understanding of ourselves and the way we communicate?

This is an amazing series, one that has sat waiting on my bookshelf for four years, unbeknownst to me that it was to be one of the 'great'reads of my lifetime. Perhaps I was always meant to read these books now, write this review so that you could read it. Do our individual actions contribute to a bigger plan? Are we free? I repeat, it is almighty. ( )

While everything seems lost for the Foundation after Mule gains the upper hand the mysterious Second Foundation reaches out and finally delivers the Foundation (first one). But now aware that they are not the one and only Seldon's legacy, fear and conspiracy slowly creeps up and Second Foundation starts to be treated as a true threat that tries to subdue the technocratic First Foundation.

I find myself cheering for the technocratic society of the Foundation and presence of almost-invincible and mentally supreme 2nd Foundation acting from the shadows is truly disturbing news. Are they benevolent guides or just puppeteers remains to be seen - qui custodiet ipsos custodes (those Latin guys truly came across almost every type of political issue eh :))?

All in all excellent novel in the series. Highly recommended to all fans of SF and thrillers. ( )

Well this final chapter in the original trilogy is a profound. As a whole, the 675 page trilogy works, earning its place in Top 5 Scifi lists, but individually they do not. Additionally, Asimov builds up each book until a big, dramatic ending, which is not very compelling. ( )

A bit of poetry from the usually prosaic author---"As the rate of magnification slowed, the stars slipped off the four ends of the screen in a regretful leave-taking. At the rims of the glowing nebula, the brilliant universe of stars shone abruptly in token for that light which was merely hidden behind the swirling"---is concluded with "unradiating atom fragments of sodium and calcium that filled cubic parsecs of space." [p. 28] ("Unradiating" seems to be a new word that hasn't made it into common usage.)
Women, who do not feature prominently in the trilogy, become more significant here. (It turns out that the series continues both backwards and forwards; I haven't read the rest of it.)

El que mas me incomodo de la trilogia, el solo pensar que en un futuro es posible el control de esa manera es perturbador ( )

Two stories. In both of them two unlikely bed-fellows hare off across the galaxy in search of the Second Foundation. They’re not too bad. The first one is particularly snappy. The writing’s mostly ok, with occasional outbursts of writing so bad you just wonder how it could have happened. The themes of manipulation and deceit are picked up again for the first time since the first half of Foundation and there’s one particular element that Asimov was going to pick up and run with when he came back to the series years later. I can’t help feeling it’s too little too late. I get the impression that this original trilogy has been ill thought out by an inexperienced writer. Even here in the conclusion both stories with the same basic set-up, though they’re quite different in other ways. You could entirely do away with Foundation and Empire. What this series needs is another book to bring it to a satisfying conclusion. ( )

The conclusion of the epic sci-fi Foundation trilogy and the 13th in what can be seen as the "extended" 15 book Foundation Series. Here we see the 2nd Foundation revealed and also the whole of the Foundation Series falls into neatly into place at the exciting conclusion. ( )

this was boring in the middle and i stopped reading it, but the ending had many satisfying twists ( )

The whole book is pretty much just "very clever men" standing around out-thinking one another. A lot of 4D chess style strategic shenanigans revealed as exposition does not make for a good tale. And the conclusion to the antagonist from the previous book was super anti-climatic. Definitely taking a break from this series for a while before I move on to Foundation's Edge, as it's one of the Hugo winners, so I do plan on reading it, despite my declining interest in the Foundation series. ( )

Still short and sweet. Still very good. Keeps improving. ( )

A saga da fundação continua, agora da perspectiva da segunda fundação, a equipe de psicólogos que deverá ajudar a formação do novo império, servindo como guardiões ocultos da boa civilização. Mas há problemas, e o reinado da Mula não estava de fato previsto. De modo que na primeira parte o livro narra o embate tático entre o governador supremo mutante e a segunda fundação, enquanto que a segunda parte lida com as intrigas crescentes de uma fundação contra a outra. Pois é necessário que a segunda permaneça oculta para que os cálculos do plano possam funcionar. De toda forma, o que é interessante, aí emerge a busca e esperança de um império iluminado, da boa vida, e não simplesmente um gigante civilizacional centralizado.

Livro ganhador do prêmio Hugo 1966, por melhor série de livros. ( )

I read the three books of the foundation trilogy in such quick succession that I cannot separate them in my mind. So...

This is a trilogy with grand scope. The great galactic empire is falling, and the great psychohistorian, Hari Seldon, is the only one who knows how to shorten the period of chaos that will engulf the galaxy until a second empire is established. To this end, he establishes two Foundations to serve as the seeds of the new empire. This is their story.

As with much older science fiction, this series has its flaws. Although Asimov does have some strong female characters, the world they live in is one that assumes that all positions of power -- politicians, scientists, etc. -- are held by males. There is a scene where two women rush to the bathroom to buy some time before talking to the police. Apparently there were no female officers. The technology, as always, was not as impressive as it probably seemed at publication time, but Asimov saves himself from sounding too dated by not providing too much detail. Also, as some people have pointed out, the assumption that history is subject to statistical prediction of the future is less plausible given findings of the mathematics of chaos theory.

But despite all that, the Foundation novels have stood the test of time quite well. I really enjoyed the series (although it would have made more sense if I had know that it was originally printed as semi-independent stories; that would have made the repetition of background info and abrupt switch between story lines make more sense). ( )

This was a satisfying end to the story line started in book 2. I liked it. ( )

Second Foundation brings the Foundation Trilogy to a fitting climax. There are plenty of twists and turns demonstrative of Second Foundation mental manipulation, and it would be hard to guess the ending in advance. A very satisying conclusion to the series. ( )

Asimov, Isaac. Second Foundation. 1953. Foundation No. 3. Bantam Spectra, 2004.
Like Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation is a book constructed of two magazine novellas. In the first, the Mule, a mind-controlling mutant dictator, sends two men on a search for the rumored second foundation set up by Hari Selden. The Mule has defeated the Foundation military and taken over its territory, but he is afraid that the Second Foundation may be plotting his overthrow. The second novella tells of a search conducted by the first Foundation. Selden’s original psychohistory was based on a complex algorithm that allowed him to forecast large-scale historical trends. The later novels in the trilogy shift the focus to mind-control techniques. In abandoning the development of Selden’s original idea, Asimov may have pitched the baby out of the bathtub, as he seems to cave in to a “great man” theory of history in the Mule and the unlikely use of the paranormal control of historical events in the cabal that runs the Second Foundation. In the end, the cobbled together novellas don’t make a coherent group of novels. I much prefer other works by Asimov—Caves of Steel, Pebble in the Sky, and The End of Eternity—to name a few. 4 Stars. ( )

A decent and worthy conclusion (or not) of the trilogy (now a decalogy, sort of? Or, to paraphrase [a:Douglas Adams|4|Douglas Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1189120061p2/4.jpg], a trilogy in ten parts), this one held together a touch better, if only because it didn't jump around as much as the last two volumes.

But it suffers from the fact that, like most older SF, it simply comes across as dated, from the tech, from the dialogue, from the characterizations. That's fine. It's somewhat expected.

Worse, though, is Asimov's need to have each character one-up the other. I beat you! No, I beat you, because I outsmarted and out-thought you. Ha ha! No! I outsmarted, out-thought, and out-maneuvered you!

Or the almost eye-roll worthy end: I know the true secret of the Second Foundation. No, you're wrong, I know it! No, you're both wrong, I know it!

For better or worse, I'm now halfway through. Let's see if it gets better, shall we? ( )

Part 3 of the Foundation trilogy. I wasn't as emotionally attached to some of the characters in this one as the others, but at least the ending payed off. ( )

Started well but got a bit snarled up in the 'found the 2nd Foundation game'. It's interesting how it has dated - referencing TV and videos - but most of all the transcriber, voice recorded straight to writing on paper and you have to start again if you make a mistake! What jarred the most was the casual import and export of wood and potatoes around the galaxy. Published 1953 and hugely influential, and still readable. ( )

Read in Portuguese. Awesome trilogy.

These Asimov's books has earned a special place in the sci-fi genre and it's well deserved. It's a Masterpiece! But it is not for all kind of readers. It's "Like it or leave it!" kind of book. I don't recommend it for those people who like to read something quickly and full of action. To fully enjoy Foundation you need to read this book without today's perspective, I mean, it's been written in the 1950's, and inspired so many writers that the ideas about the future in these books aren't fresh and new anymore. And you need to read all three because the Foundation series gets better with each succeeding book. I think Asimov is a writer's writer. You can see in his books inspirations that may have impacted others people's works.
I recommend it only to people who really love reading science fiction books.

( )

Una obra maestra ( )