#52 in Classics
Foundation
- 240
- Pages
- about 4.5 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Foundation” is better approached as a thought experiment than as a novel: five linked stories follow, across generations, a project to safeguard the best of civilisation once a galactic empire collapses. The idea is the star, and each episode’s pattern, a clever man talking his way past stronger opponents, strikes some readers as predictable yet satisfying. Expect almost nothing but dialogue and a nearly all-male cast that betrays the book’s 1951 origins.
Worth knowing The book collects stories Asimov wrote for Astounding Science Fiction from 1942, plus a new opening section, and Gnome Press published it in 1951. He modelled the fall of the Galactic Empire on Gibbon’s history of the decline of Rome. In 1966 the trilogy won a one-off Hugo for best all-time series, ahead of The Lord of the Rings. Asimov added prequels in 1988 and 1993, but many readers still start here. The Apple TV+ series (2021) takes broad liberties.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Foundation is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov. It is the first book in the Foundation Trilogy. Foundation is a cycle of five interrelated short stories, first published as a single book by Gnome Press in 1951. Collectively they tell the early story of the Foundation, an institute founded by psychohistorian Hari Seldon to preserve the best of galactic civilization after his predicted collapse of the Galactic Empire.
Reading order · Foundation series
Full order & progress →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.2 across 2,948 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 95% of the weight and the score stays at 8.2 — the Classics average of 7.7 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.2 | 306 | 10% |
| Hardcover | 8.2 | 2.6K | 90% |
Frequently asked
How long is Foundation?
It has 240 pages — shorter than 88% of the ranked books in Classics.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Classics — with scores between 8.1 and 8.2, closest to this book.
