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Foundation and Empire

By Isaac Asimov

(110)

| Mass Market Paperback | 9780553293371

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Book Description

The Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov are one of the great masterworks of science fiction. Unsurpassed for their unique blend of nonstop action, daring ideas, and extensive world-building, they chronicle the struggle of a courageous group of men and women to preserve humanity’s light aContinue

5 Reviews

*** This comment contains spoilers! ***

Nice book, although the first part is a bit disconnected from the second and the identity of "the mule" has been evident since the beginning. Now I am curious about the other "Foundation" books

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why_137 said on Jan 24, 2011 about the Audio Cassette edition | Add your feedback

As for 'Foundation', ... and I have discovered I am missing 'Second Foundation', cavolino!

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gio said on Sep 23, 2009 | Add your feedback

Second book in Foundation series.

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Jikoaite said on Aug 28, 2009 about the Others edition | Add your feedback

*** This comment contains spoilers! ***

"Foundation and Empire" by Isaac Asimov

The second book in the original Foundation trilogy, this book basically picks up where the first book left off. The book consists of two parts, each part originally being two separate short stories. The first part continues in the tradition of the first book, presenting a 'Seldon crisis' and resolvi ... (continue)

The second book in the original Foundation trilogy, this book basically picks up where the first book left off. The book consists of two parts, each part originally being two separate short stories. The first part continues in the tradition of the first book, presenting a 'Seldon crisis' and resolving it by the end. Here, we are presented with an Empire general who seeks to conquer the Foundation; due to the political instability of the falling Empire, however, the conquest proves impossible. By the time we reach the second part of the book, the Empire has basically fallen; yet we are presented with a mutant character known as The Mule. The Mule is the most fascinating character in the book: he can emotionally manipulate the people around him - making him a very powerful general. By the end of the book, we see that Seldon had never put the possibility of a powerful mutant into his equations, and the Foundation falls to The Mule (willingly, through his emotional manipulation). The Second Foundation, however, remains hidden from the Mule.
I found the idea of controlling people through emotional manipulation to be very thought-provoking. In certain ways (although not in the same manner as The Mule, of course) people are being controlled emotionally all the time. I have read elsewhere that The Mule was loosely based on Hitler and WW2 - although I think this is only a 'worst-case example'. Things like advertisements, patriotism, and religion are always exploiting human emotions. If we think back to the first Foundation book, even the Foundation itself was protecting itself by controlling the surrounding kingdoms by creating the religion of science.
In part two of the book, there is also this instrument called the Visi-Sonor which is just plain awesome. It is this instrument which seemed to combine the music with this intense visual experience. The descriptions of its effects were beautiful and mind-blowing. Awesome stuff.
Perhaps not quite as good as the first Foundation book, but a great continuation of the series nevertheless. If you've read the first one, I recommend continuing with this one.

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Scott said on Jun 7, 2009 | Add your feedback

The first part of the book was pretty dull, then came The Mule. Unfortunately it's pretty easy to determine who he his.

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darkwalker said on Feb 12, 2008 | Add your feedback