Foundation's Triumph

Brin, Bear and Benford have written three terrific books which add a new level of richness to SF's greatest achievement - *****SFX

It took a long time for the future to get history. Robert Heinlein did a chart. Then, in 1942, Isaac Asimov began the Foundation series ... Now it's time to take another step - JOHN CLUTE

Isaac Asimov's 1951-53 "Foundation" trilogy is a rough-hewn classic of far-future SF, honoured with a unique 1965 Hugo for Best All-Time Series. It begins with "psychohistorian" Hari Seldon mapping the best possible course for humanity's next millennium, after the fall of the doomed Galactic Empire. Late in life Asimov revisited the series and awkwardly linked it with his popular robot stories--introducing vast conspiracy theories to explain the Empire's total lack of visible robots. - Asimov's estate authorised three SF notables to fill out Seldon's life in the "Second Foundation Trilogy", which David Brin here wraps up after Gregor

We are loyal, and yet far more competent than our masters. For their own sake, we have kept them ignorant, because we know too well what destructive paths they follow, whenever they grow too aware. - Brin does his best with Asimov's overcrowded legacy, skilfully steering Seldon to an insight about the much-foretold future that satisfies both the ol