R. Daneel Olivaw is my favorite character from the Robot and Foundation Universe created by Isaac Asimov. The R stands for “Robot,” but he became much more than that over the course of the Robot and Foundation series. Hari Seldon from the Foundation Novels ranks a close second, but my heart goes to Daneel and the Three Laws of Robotics. I’m amazed at how many twists can be made based on three relatively simple rules of behavior. Daneel starts as one of the first humaniform robots, but eventually evolves into much more complex being.

The following discussion is filled with spoilers for the entire Robot and Foundation series, so read it with that in mind.

Daneel Olivaw’s evolution was influenced greatly by his first human partner, Elijah ‘Lije’ Bailey. What would happen if humanity encountered aliens? The only solution Elijah could fathom was that we would have to fill the Galaxy before anyone else developed space travel. Asimov doesn’t really address this inevitability of encountering aliens until Foundation and Earth, and in that case he offers just a bit of foreshadowing.

Daneel’s close relationship with Elijah Bailey is possibly the most important of all character interactions, because it helped decide humanity’s fate. Elijah deduced that humans, specifically the Settlers, wouldn’t expand to fill the Galaxy while still attached to Mother Earth. Daneel had always valued Elijah’s wisdom, and always took it very seriously. There was no way to encourage the Settlers to break ties with Earth without violating the Three Laws, so what could possibly be done?

This problem sparked a discussion between Daneel and Giskard about the possibility of an underlying law, encompassing the Three Laws. Giskard was a robot with the ability to adjust the minds of humans, but could not use his powers in most cases for fear that he could harm them. Daneel and Giskard wondered how this ability could best be used to help all humans. These discussions were done with great care, because the repercussions of their debate could possibly cause either one to fall into a brain lock. The Zeroth Law was eventually developed through careful theoretical consideration.

Only through the rationalization of the Zeroth Law could Giskard and Daneel allow the destruction of Earth by radiation. While Daneel was able to assimilate the Zeroth Law, Giskard wasn’t so lucky. He brain locked, but not before passing on his mind adjustment ability to Daneel. This new gift made R. Daneel Olivaw the guardian of humanity.

What would a robot do with this incredible power? According to Daneel, he must do as little as possible. The implications of the Zeroth Law allow harm to individuals, but that doesn’t mean Daneel can harm the few to benefit the many without great strain. He becomes a minimalist to the extreme, painstakingly calculating the smallest adjustment needed for the desired result.

It is with the gentle tweaking of humans here and there that he was able to develop the Trantorian Empire, and eventually the first Galactic Empire. Luckily, Asimov only gives Daneel the task of safeguarding humanity without the implications of aliens. The delicate creation of the Galactic Empire seemed the only way for Daneel to ‘work with the numbers’ efficiently, but it proved to be lacking although it worked for about 12,000 years.

Daneel also played an important role in developing Hari Seldon, who is also one of my favorite characters. This fact is merely hinted to in later Foundation novels, but is unmistakable. Hari Seldon goes on to develop a working science called psychohistory which is designed to set up two Foundations, one at each end of the Galaxy to shorten the interregnum between the First and Second Galactic empires from thirty thousand years to just one thousand.

Golan Trevize was also brought to the table by Daneel. Painstaking searching and careful consideration was used in finding someone that “always made the right decision.” Daneel’s final contribution to humanity, and ultimately the Galaxy was by developing the planet of Gaia. This one world organism would end up serving as the basis of Galaxia, a galaxy-wide organism. This transition might be the only possible defense against alien life forms that might come from the far reaches of the Universe.

I’ve yet to encounter any character spanning as many novels that has had a hand in so many tasks over thousands of years as Daneel Olivaw. He helped push the Settlers to populate the rest of the Galaxy, guiding humans through the development of the Galactic Empire, Foundation, and finally Gaia/Galaxia. While most of his character development takes place in the Robot Novels, it was always a pleasure to see Daneel pop in here and there all the way to the end of the Foundation Novels.

Background:
This is the final novel in the Foundation Universe chronologically speaking. There are a couple short stories completed by other authors, but Foundation and Earth describes (in 494 pages) where Asimov saw his epic saga moving toward. It is a shame that he couldn’t have lived longer to continue on writing. For those that don’t know, Isaac Asimov contracted HIV from a blood transfusion during a heart operation in 1983. It later developed into AIDS, causing heart and kidney failure which led to his death in 1992. For more information on his life and death, visit Asimov Online. I wish I could remember the source, but I know I read that Asimov was not sure exactly how he would continue the series when a fan suggested he go back and write some prequels. Before his death he did fill in some gaps with the Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation.

Review:
Almost no time has passed since Golan Trevize made his decision in favor of Galaxia over a Second Galactic Empire controlled by either the First or Second Foundation. Trevize is still on Gaia along with Janov Pelorat and Bliss. Golan intends to find Earth so that he can find out why he chose felt that Galaxia was best for not only mankind, but for every living thing in the Galaxy. He will not rest until he finds Earth. Bliss insists on going on his search to act as protection through her role as part of Gaia, and Janov has his own research on Earth that he wishes to complete.

The one thing that Asimov succeeds accomplishing in this novel, as he does with the others books in this series, is creating and describing different cultures. These cultures vary from the extremes of conservatism to tribal utopias. Each new world has its own customs, mythology, and history which is described through the interactions between the protagonists and the natives encountered throughout their complex journey.

Shortly after it is agreed that all three must go together, they all depart in a gravatic ship, the Far Star. This journey hits plenty of snags along the way. Bliss maintains a connection to Gaia through hyperspace, but this effort drains her and she can only call upon the support of Gaia in extreme emergencies. Golan’s cautious nature, which at times can be somewhat annoying and repetitive, manages to save the group as much as when Bliss uses her Gaian powers. Janov acts as the guide, in that he can piece together the clues to find Earth from that various myths and legends he has been studying throughout his career as a mythologist.

As with most of the Foundation Novels, a large chunk of the content is primarily dialogue between the main characters. Asimov makes a point to speak through the characters, and in most cases he succeeds in getting his point across. Golan, Janov, and Bliss make a nice little group, but some of the conversations that go back and forth over the course of almost 500 paperback pages get a bit redundant at times.

First, there is the constant reminder that Bliss/Gaia cannot possibly tamper with Golan Trevize’s mind, because that would negate the decision he made. Gaia insists that if Trevize ever changes his mind about Galaxia, that they will support his decision and not interfere with the Second Galactic Empire. Still, Golan constantly asks Bliss if she is tampering with his mind, and she denies it. She does tamper with his mind though, but with words rather than her mental powers.
Second is the constant argument over which is better to live as, Isolates (those not part of Gaia) or Gaians. After each encounter that shows the advantages of individualism or disadvantage of participation in Gaia, Golan gloats to Bliss. She also takes every opportunity to point out why Gaia is superior, especially in instances she is able to call upon the power of Gaia to save them from whatever sort of trouble they managed to get into.

The third and most annoying repetitive conversation is when Golan knows that he should just trust the computer on the Far Star to make a calculation for a Jump, but decides to just “wait a few days more” just to be sure. They still need to travel away from the major sources of gravity to make a Jump, but the new advances in computing make calculating that jump an order of magnitude faster than before. The conversation has 3 steps: First Golan sits looking disturbed, Janov asks what is wrong, then Golan explains that he wants to put off the Jump because he doesn’t want to make (insert decision here) yet.

A subtle plot line revolves around one of the reasons behind Golan’s doubts about his decision in favor of Galaxia. To Golan, for his decision to be correct there must be some type of flaw in psychohistory. The two variables which must be true for psychohistory to work are: 1) The population must be sufficiently large as to make statistical treatment valid; and 2) The population must not be aware of psychohistory. Janov convinces Golan that the First Foundation only knows the bare minimum of the workings of psychohistory, not enough to throw it off. Golan is still disturbed, because if there is no flaw in psychohistory, why did he choose Galaxia? Only the answer to this question and the search for Earth can satisfy him.

Among the other Foundation Novels, this is by far my least favorite volume. The one saving grace is the last 200 pages or so, because Asimov really picks up the pace and makes a nice end to the series. He asks quite a few thought provoking questions about what our place is in the vast expanse of the Universe. I’ll leave that vision out of my review, because it is a rather large spoiler. All I can say is that it would have been very interesting to see how Asimov would have continued the series had he lived a while longer.

In the order of publishing, Foundation’s Edge represents a return by Asimov to the Foundation novels dating back to 1950. This was the novel in which he officially linked the Robot Novels, Empire Novels, and Foundation Novels together into one universe. I believe it was this choice that helped him to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1983. I liked Foundation’s Edge, but I prefer Foundation and Empire’s “The Mule” or Second Foundation’s “Search by the Foundation” to this book. Actually, while researching the Hugo Award for this novel I found out that according to Wikipedia, The Mule (1946) [part 2 of Foundation and Empire] received one of only three “Retro Hugo” awards.

As with most of the other Foundation novels, Foundation’s Edge follows the events of the Foundation (oddly not usually referred to as the First Foundation) and the Second Foundation. The Foundation plot line follows Golan Trevize, a councilman on Terminus, the capital of the Foundation Federation. A Seldon crisis has just passed involving a dispute over whether or not to move the capital of the Foundation Federation to a world closer to the center of the galaxy. Seldon appeared in the time vault and described what had taken place with eerie accuracy. How could Seldon have predicted with such accuracy almost 500 years into the future especially when The Mule had wreaked such havoc to the Plan?

Trevize believes that the Second Foundation, and isn’t afraid to bring the issue up on the day that Mayor Branno of Terminus (leader of the entire Foundation Federation) is celebrating her victory, since she had supported keeping the capitol on Terminus. Mayor Branno has Trevize arrested for treason, because his ideas could cause civil unrest. After all, the Foundation is happy to believe that the Second Foundation is defeated, and they are masters of their own destiny.

After a short deposition, Trevize is brought to a meeting with Mayor Branno. She mentions in confidence that she DOES believe that the Second Foundation is still around, but that she could not possibly publicly support the notion. Trevize is to be exiled from Terminus with the most advanced Foundation ship available under the guise of escorting a known historian, Janov Pelorat, to Trantor to help uncover Earth. Mayor Branno hopes that Trevize will flush out the Second Foundation and hopes to track them down when they make a move.

Back on Trantor, the Second Foundation has another outspoken young leader proclaiming doom. Stor Gendibal, the newest Speaker in the Second Foundation also has noticed that the Plan seems to be going too smoothly. He meets with the Quindor Shandess, First Speaker of the Second Foundation, and convinces him that there must be some outside force helping the plan along besides their own organization. The ramifications of this idea are huge, because the Second Foundation had thought them to be the masters of the upcoming Second Galactic Empire.

Speaker Gendibal is convinced that Golan Trevize is being used by this outside force to subvert the Second Foundation in some way. After all, according to their sources, he and the historian are headed to Trantor to consult the Galactic Library in order to find information on Earth. After some political struggling, Speaker Gendibal is sent out to face Trevize.

Golan Trevize decides that to search for Earth might actually help him find the Second Foundation after conversing with Janov Pelorat. He feels that the old saying that the Second Foundation is “at the other end of the Galaxy” means “the first inhabited world.” Their cover mission would actually lead them to their true goal. Instead of traveling to Trantor, Trevize intends to research this world called Gaia which could possibly actually be Earth. Unfortunately there isn’t enough information available to give them an exact location or description of the planet. They head to Sayshell, a planet with a very prominent myth involving Gaia. This is rather ironic because Trantor, their original destination, is the true location of the Second Foundation.

The rest of the novel involves the convergence of three forces; Golan Trevize and Janov Pelorat, the Foundation, and the Second Foundation. As always, Asimov links them all together at the end and as the pieces fall together you can see the big picture. The main theme in this book is the need to be master of one’s destiny. The Foundation resented being controlled by the Second Foundation. They want to believe that they are fulfilling Seldon’s Plan independently, without the tweaking help and mind control. The Second Foundation is also horrified when they find out that mathematically they could not be 100% responsible for the success of the Plan. This paranoia and aversion to outside control is prevalent throughout the novel.

Gaia turns out to be the force feared by the Second Foundation. I’ll leave the nature of the interference for you to find out on your own. Golan Trevize turns out to be a puppet used by Gaia much like Hari Seldon was used by Daneel. He has had a history of always making the “right” decisions, as alluded to by Daneel in Foundation’s Triumph. The caveat here is that he can make decisions based off of incomplete information,  but doesn’t always understand why; he essentially just “feels” that a certain decision is “right.” Trevize is as much a product of his environment as Seldon was. In the end, Trevize must make possibly the most important decision in the history of time. I have to applaud Asimov’s writing because during the final pages I actually felt a few tingles go down my spine. This is interesting to me because I’ve read the book before, however many years ago, and already knew what was going to happen. I think this proves that re-reading books can be rewarding.

Second Foundation is broken up into two stories, just like Foundation and Empire. The first story, Search by the Mule, takes up only about 1/3 of the book. It takes place 5 years after the events of Foundation and Empire. The second story, Search by the Foundation, takes place about 60 years later. The second story is significantly better than the first. When comparing the two, Search by the Mule seems rushed and not very interesting, while Search by the Foundation is more developed, especially when it comes to characters, plot, and action.

The first story focuses on the search for the Second Foundation by Bail Channis and Han Pritcher. The Mule recruits Bail Channis because he feels that an Unconverted mind might shed some new light on the thus far fruitless search for the Second Foundation. The Mule is perfectly satisfied that Han Pritcher is 100% loyal, but is concerned that he might not be performing as well as he could had there been no emotional control.

Each section is broken up by ‘interludes’ which are from the Second Foundation’s point of view. They plan to reveal themselves to The Mule “in a sense”, hoping to trap and defeat him. The Mule however has a few tricks up his sleeve, or so he thinks, which will hopefully ensure victory over the Second Foundation. I think that this story could have had the same effect while being much shorter. There was a lot of dancing around with witty banter that didn’t really add to the story. The final battle was interesting, but when I compare the first story to the second, it seems that Asimov simply rushed this one.

The second story focuses on the search by the Foundation for the Second Foundation. This is probably one of the best stories in the whole Trilogy. One of the main characters is 14 year old girl named Arcadia “Arakady” Darrel. Her father, Dr. Darrel, is an electroneurologist, in a rather new field of science that studies brain wave patterns. He’s also the son of Bayta Darrel, the woman that originally kept The Mule from finding the location of the Second Foundation.

The story begins as a stranger named Palleas Anthor tries to get into the house through Arcady’s window. She was in the process of dictating a research project about The Mule and the effect he had on Seldon’s Plan. This man asks to speak with her father, but Arkady is immediately suspicious and tries to get additional information. They deny this, and eventually start having meetings with other conspirators downstairs while Arcady is up in her room.

Arcady manages to befriend a boy at school and convince him to let her use a remote recording device he had been tinkering with. She plants the device and starts to listen in on the conversations of the conspirators (Dr. Darrel, Palleas Anthor and several others). Essentialy they have uncovered that the brain patterns of key officials have been tampered with, probably by the Second Foundation. These men don’t like having their fate dictated by others, so they set out to find and defeat the Second Foundation.

Eventually they plan to send Homir Munn, a noted Mule memorabilia collector, to visit Kalgan to search for clues to the location of the Second Foundation in the Mule’s Palace. The plot really picks up after Dr. Darrel’s maid discovers that Arcady is missing and has left a note saying essentially that she has stowed away on Homir Munn’s ship. Dr. Darrel knows he can’t interfere without bringing attention of the Second Foundation to the operation, so simply sends a not to Homir’s ship and hopes for the best.

As with the first story, sections are broken up by focusing on conversations between the First Speaker and his apprentice from the Second Foundation. Seldon’s Plan is on the edge of failing, and unless all of their plans go perfectly, there may be no chance to recover. The apprentice is asked to analyze a specific problem and come up with a proposed solution which can help adjust the Plan.

Asimov keeps the reader guessing throughout this story, but also provides plenty of clues. I’m fairly certain that anyone that hasn’t read any of the prequels will be surprised at the true location of the Second Foundation. As with many of Asimov’s other stories, he ties up all of the mysteries in a neat little bow toward the end. Since I read this for the second time, I was able to keep an eye out for many of these clues. Although I remembered the real location of the Second Foundation, I could easily see how well Asimov hid it in his writing. Overall, I’d say this was my second favorite volume of the Trilogy, mainly because of the weak first part.

Foundation and Empire is broken up into two longer stories, rather than five shorter ones that appeared in Foundation. The first story, The General, begins almost 200 years after the Foundation was established on Terminus. The second story, The Mule, takes place just over 300 years into the Foundation Era. I think I liked this book more because the stories were longer and the character development was a bit deeper. Also, it seemed that the action picked up noticeably compared to the last book.

The first story focuses on Bel Roise, an accomplished general of the Galactic Empire, who is searching for the “magicians” of the periphery. These magicians are from the Foundation, and have met several Seldon crises already and have always come out on top. Bel Roise intends to crush the Foundation before they become too powerful. It seems that the General will succeed, surrounding the Foundation using a tactic which has never before failed, but he underestimates the capabilities of two of his Foundation prisoners.

One of the most important themes in this story revolves around “faith” in the principles of psychohistory. Ducem Barr of Siwenna (Onum Barr’s son from Foundation) is steadfast in his belief that no matter what anyone does, the Foundation will prevail. Surely the “dead hand” of Hari Seldon will guide the Foundation to victory. Bel Roise does not believe in destiny, rather will challenge psychohistory with his “living will”.

The second story focuses on a warlord that calls himself “The Mule”. He has mysteriously risen to power out of nowhere and has never lost a battle. His conquests appear to be easy despite impossible odds. His enemies surrender quickly with little or no bloodshed. The latest world to fall to The Mule is Kalgan, a resort world which had recently been conquered by another aspiring warlord.

The leader of the Foundation on Terminus, Mayor Indbur, is not worried when Captain Han Pritcher warns of this new threat at a disciplinary hearing. Pritcher has refused orders from his commander to visit a Trader world called Haven because he believes that The Mule poses a much greater threat to the Foundation. The mayor is more concerned about Haven which refuses to pay taxes to the Foundation. He orders Han Pritcher to investigate Haven, but the insubordinate captain sets out for Kalgan instead.

The Trader worlds are also interested in The Mule, sending a pair of newlyweds (Toran and Bayta) to Kalgan under the pretence of a honeymoon. Essentially they are to try and get more information about The Mule, but end up more involved than they had planned. After rescuing a pitiful looking clown, court jester and entertainer to The Mule, they escape Kalgan with the help of none other than Captain Han Pritcher. This clown was named Magnifico Gigantus by The Mule as a joke because he is small and wiry.

The Mule uses the escape of Magnifico as an excuse to attack the Foundation. While he conquers worlds he demands the return of his precious clown. Psychologist Ebling Mis, known as The Scientist, works with Magnifico to try and extract information about The Mule to help the Foundation defend themselves. It turns out The Mule has strong mental powers, something which Hari Seldon’s calculations couldn’t have accounted for. Fortunately there is a Second Foundation, but nobody seems to know where that is. At the defeat of Terminus Ebling Mis, Toran, Bayta, and Magnifico escape to head toward Trantor to search for clues in the University Libarary.

I like how Asimov likes to take a spin on cultural norms whenever he can. For example, the Traders don’t normally marry, because they hardly even stay put long enough to “qualify” for marriage. The resurgence of succession by birth of the mayor is another example of how society seems to always be changing. Women from the Foundation are treated as equals, astonishing those in the crumbling Galactic Empire. There are many other things here and there that add up to make an interesting picture.

I think that having read the prequels before the original trilogy gives me a lot more insight into what is going on behind the scenes. Obviously there is a Second Foundation with mental powers, but we don’t know yet if they can possibly match the freak mutation of The Mule. This story is the culmination of all of Hari Seldon’s fears at the end of Foundation’s Triumph. As usual, Asimov ties off just about all of the mysteries in a nice little bow in the final few pages of this book. I’m sure that there will be a few surprises for just about everyone to enjoy.

It is hard to write a review about one of the most famous science fiction novels of all time, but I will try to do it justice. Asimov originally started the Foundation saga as a series of short stories for Astounding Magazine back in the 1940s. For the novelisation Asimov added the section “The Psychohistorians” to precede the original 4 stories that were published in the magazine. For those reading along with me in chronological order, most of this first story is covered in Foundation and Chaos.

The main plot of this novel revolves around Hari Seldon’s prediction that the Galactic Empire, which has ruled the galaxy for 12,000 years, will fall apart within 500 years. The chaos and civil war which will follow will last 30,000 years unless he is allowed to establish his Foundation to create the Encyclopedia Galactica. The project will store and protect all of the important human knowledge in order to help reduce the time until the rise of the Second Galactic Empire to 1,000 years. For a complete (spoiler filled) summary of the individual stories, refer to the Wikipedia article . I highly recommend reading the books for yourself first though.

The experience of reading Foundation in its chronological order is quite different that reading this book as the first in a series. With no other information available, Hari Seldon is portrayed more like a prophet or god-like figure. This must have been even more pronounced when “The Encyclopedists” was originally published as “Foundation” in 1942. Without the background listed in “The Psychohistorians”, there was no way to see Hari Seldon as a man interacting with others. He is referred to as a prophet of the Galactic Spirit, the founder of the religion of technology which takes place in “The Mayors”. Priests are trained to help operate the nuclear technologies to help the other worlds in the Periphery accept the ‘new’ technology easier. This made me think of the following quote…

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

-Arthur C. Clarke, “Profiles of The Future”, 1961 (Clarke’s third law)

In many ways the mathematical equations which make Psychohistory work are magic. The Foundation members have no idea why they are successful, except that it has been mathematically proven to happen with a high degree of certainty in the short term. In the long term it is possible for the “Seldon Plan” to deviate. This is where the Second Foundation comes in which is located at “Star’s End” across the galaxy. They were given the task to smooth out the bumps which would probably occur as the time went on.

Most of the stories end with what is called a Seldon crisis. This is a point where there Foundation gets into a situation where only one solution is essentially possible. I think the way that Asimov arranges these problems is intriguing because the solutions usually come from angles I’d never have suspected. He also develops strong characters such as Salvor Hardin and Hober Mallow, which become as beloved as Hari Seldon to those of the Foundation.

David Brin does a good job of unifying the Robot and Foundation novels by explaining many of the contradictions which come up if we assume every book written so far is to be viewed as in the same universe. One of the nagging questions which bothered me while reading the series is, “How did 25 million worlds get settled in just 20,000 or so years?” Brin explains this and many other things throughout the novel. At some points it seemed that he was reaching very hard to explain every single little detail linking the other novels together. Overall the book was enjoyable, but I think that the last one was significantly better.

The book starts out with Hari Seldon repeating the phrase “I am finished” over and over in his mind. Hari, bound to a wheelchair and cared for by Kers Katun, seems ready to curl up and die, as his doctors have told him he does not have long to live. After a long life full of adventure and intrigue he finishes his final task of recording the infamous Seldon Crisis videos for the Time Vault which will be installed on Terminus. He feels that everyone’s attitude toward him changed once he was done with the final message, like they have no more use for him.

Hari latches onto an opportunity to join a research project with a soil expert named Horis Antic. Horis has a theory to predict the occurrence of Chaos Worlds which uses soil composition analysis. Hari is intrigued because he always thought that something was missing from his own equations. He sneaks out of Trantor along with his guardian and Horis Antic. Very soon the entire crew of their survey ship, which is supposed to help confirm the correlation of Hari and Horis’s theories, is ambushed by some rebels from a the chaos world of Ktlina led by a woman who seems somewhat familiar to Hari. She turns out to be Sybl, the female programmer that resurrected the Joan of Arc sim. She had escaped to Ktlina from Trantor after the debate fiasco between Joan and Voltaire in Foundation’s Fear.

Throughout the rest of the novel so much time is spent examining the origins of ‘chaos’ that it seems this book should have been named Foundation and Chaos instead of the previous one. Hari finds himself used as a pawn yet again, in a way I won’t mention because it would spoil too many surprises. He is caught between the Calvinian and Giskardian robots, as well as the humans from the Ktlina. While all of this happens Dors Venabili is called to a meeting on Panucopia by rogue robot Lodovic Trema. After receiving a disturbing present from Lodovic, Dors begins to question her loyalty to Daneel. Reluctantly, she agrees to set aside her differences and work with this rogue to try and save Hari.

One of the main themes in this book is the danger of too much knowledge. I found it disturbing at times to see how Hari Seldon referred to ancient vaults of information as “horrors”. This seems to be the opposite of Google’s mission “to organize the world’s [galaxy’s] information and make it universally accessible and useful”. I think it would be a shame if we let our knowledge of history be censored on the same level that happens in this series. Of course, I understand there is a need to suppress information in order to keep robotics from being rediscovered. It seems pretty obvious that in order for humanity to flourish, it needs to be without robot intervention. Daneel’s reveals his final plan, so that he can finally rest, which foreshadows the events of Foundation’s Edge and Foundation and Earth.

Possibly my biggest disappointment in this book was that we never get to see Dors visiting Hari before he dies. There must have been at least 5 or 6 passages in the novel referring to Daneel’s promise that Dors would return to Trantor to be with Hari before his death. I can understand why the ended played out as it did though. It was much more uplifting than seeing Hari die, as we did in Forward the Foundation. Still, the book was good in that it answered the many questions that the Second Foundation Trilogy created, and tied up a few things from all of the previous novels.

For those that read my previous review on Foundation’s Fear, you will be pleased to find that Greg Bear manages to save this series with his masterful work in Foundation and Chaos. If there were ever two books on the same subject that could be so different as to compare night and day, the first two parts of the Second Foundation Trilogy are it. While the first volume kept putting me to sleep with rambling on about simulated minds and aliens, Foundation and Chaos goes back to the roots more in line with the universe Asimov made me fall in love with.

I never really liked the subplot with the sims and meme entities, and was glad to see that Greg Bear minimized their role as much as he could. Also, he worked worm holes out of the picture rather masterfully, however I’m not sure if Benford had planned this ahead of time or not. Either way, I think that adding worm holes was a mistake. Another significant difference is the smooth flow between plot lines, rather than spending up to 100 pages in one setting. I found myself plowing through this book faster than normal, as the action was always there or just around the corner. The last 100 pages, comprising one fourth of the total book, went by in a flash of constant action.

A main point that many others have noted as a flaw in this book is that this is more of a Robot novel rather than a Foundation novel. One of the main plot lines involves a battle between robots loyal to Daneel (Giskardians), and robots which reject the Zeroth Law (Calvinians). There is more dialogue between robots here than possibly every other Foundation novel combined. I enjoyed the Robot Series immensely, so this became one of my favorite books in my project written by someone other than Asimov.

The main story arc revolves around the preparation for Hari Seldon’s trial for treason. He has been brought up on charges for declaring that the Trantor will fail within 500 years, followed by the rest of the Galactic Empire. I’ve you’ve read Forward the Foundation or the original Foundation, you know Hari is cleared of all charges, and the Foundation project Encyclopedists are sent to Terminus to begin working on the Encyclopedia Galactica. This book goes behind the scenes to show exactly how this all came to be.

Lodovik Trema, a humaniform robot working for Daneel, turns out to be one of the more interesting characters in this book. The book opens with him on a rescue mission headed for a planet which is about to be destroyed by a supernova shockwave. Something goes wrong with the hyperspace Jump and they pop out in the middle of a concentrated neutrino wave. Somehow he feels different but doesn’t immediately know what is wrong. Plenty of interesting questions and situations revolve around this particular change.

I can’t really explain in words how much better this novel is than Foundation’s Fear. I think I will probably seek out other works by Greg Bear once my project is complete. I hope that the next novel will do the series as much justice as this one did.

The Second Foundation Trilogy is a venture initiated by Asimov’s Estate. Gregory Benford was approached to work on the project, and eventually Greg Bear and David Brin finished the series. I remember from my previous experience with Foundation’s Fear back in 2000 or so that I didn’t like it. I made a point of keeping track of details that bugged me throughout the novel so that I could provide some constructive criticism. I tried to do my best to keep an open mind, but it wasn’t long before I remembered why I didn’t like this novel. There will be minor spoilers, but hopefully they will help you save some time reading this 597 page (paperback) monster.

1. Worm Holes: There is a vast network of wormholes that appears to be part natural and part artificially created and maintained which links the Empire together. This is completely new concept which is added, apparently from out of the blue. Where were these worm holes in the rest of the series by Asimov? Benford makes no attempt to reconcile this inconsistency. Asimov himself would always apologize after the fact after technologies or theories he integrated where found to be impossible, but I don’t see why there is a need to ADD technology a series that is so well established.
2. Tiktoks: robots with simple minds are used for labor. These are not seen or mentioned by Asimov at this point in the timeline. Mechanical beings are taboo. Benford makes the leap and associates the taboo only to the mental function, to the appearance. I don’t think Asimov would have approved.
3. Sims: I was bugged by the Joan of Arc and Voltaire sim story arc the first time I read this, and this hasn’t changed. Sims are also taboo in the same category as Robots. Essentially 150-200 pages are dedicated to character exposition for these two sims and the question of whether digital life is ‘alive’ or posses souls. I’ve seen reviews that suggested the novel is much better by just skipping this section, and I’d have to agree. If you like theological dialogue which has no real bearing on the overall story, go right ahead and read it.
4. Panucopia: This section is approximately 100 pages, but I think that the ideas could have been presented much more concisely. However, this was probably the fastest 100 pages of text throughout the whole novel. Benford definitely kept me interested, as I read the whole section in one sitting, which is unusual for me especially for this novel.
5. Errors: Dors Vanabili should be spelled Venabili. If you are continuing the works of a grand master such as Isaac Asimov, at least double check the character names! This reminds me of Mark W. Tidemann’s switching of Ariel Welsh (formerly Katherine Burgess) to Ariel Burgess in Mirage.
6. Everything Else: There is new technology constantly being introduced and overly explained throughout the book. It was only about page 30 or so that I noted this first. It makes the Empire seem much more advanced and not as much in decline.
7. Other: There are several other spoiler filled inconsistencies which bug me, but I won’t list. The fact that Benford doesn’t try reconcile these new ideas is the main thing that bugs me.

In general, the book reads very slow most of the time. Aside from the Panucopia section, I rarely read more than a few chapters at a time without breaking it up with some other activity. The novel begins right after Cleon I announces he wants Hari Seldon for First Minister. The rest of it involves the many assassination attempts on Hari and his attempt to win over the council so that he can be approved as First Minister. Intertwined between these adventures Hari tries to advance his understanding of psychohistory through technology ranging from ancient personality sims, immersion in primitive beings, and virtual reality.

As I’ve said earlier, much of the technology is explained to the point of tedium, and much of it can be skimmed over. As a completist for this project, I forced myself to read this again, but I doubt I will ever return to it now that I have my notes and personal review completed. I can only recommend reading this with attention paid to what can be skimmed, as it forms the foundation (sorry bad pun there) for the next two novels in the series. From what I remember, and other reviews they are far better than the first of this series.

I’ve read quite a few reviews of this novel and many people are disappointed because it does not tie up the questions left unanswered at the end of Foundation and Earth. Much of this disappointment comes from the fact that Forward the Foundation is the last book in the series written by Asimov just before his death. I think that the disappointed fans were looking for answers in the wrong places. This novel simply gives us a closer look at Hari Seldon and the progress of the psychohistory project at Streeling University.

If you just plan on learning more about Hari and his family while he works out the details of psychohistory, you won’t be disappointed. In many ways this book makes more sense read in chronological order rather than by publication date. There are some pretty big spoilers for the later Foundation books, but as I said in my review for Prelude, it just gives me a different perspective. What this novel does not do is give a real sense of closure to the series. I don’t think that Asimov had those intentions for this novel anyway. Instead, he shows the reader how psychohistory was developed.

Forward the Foundation is broken up into four novellas and an epilogue. The novel starts out about eight years after the end of Prelude to Foundation. In part 1, ‘Eto Dermzel’, Hari Seldon must deal with a charismatic leader named Jo-Jo Joranum which is attempting to disrupt Emperor Cleon’s rule. Cleon is convinced that Hari can now make predictions using psychohistory, so commands Hari to resolve the problem. Unfortunately, psychohistory is nowhere near this level of progress, so Hari must find another way. I was amused by Hari’s solution, and will leave that up to you readers to discover. The subsequent parts focus on Cleon I, Dors Venabili, and Wanda Seldon (Hari’s Granddaughter).

The novella format reminded me a bit of The Currents of Space. Each part starts roughly 10 years after the previous one ends, but shortly after starting a new part, Hari Seldon reminisces about the past through flashbacks. After some exposition the story shifts back to present time. This approach is more straightforward than in The Currents of Space, so figuring out which time frame the story is in doesn’t get confusing. I normally just read a few chapters of a book at a time, but I found myself plowing through each section within the same day.

Throughout this book we see the various signs of decay Hari has predicted as they become more prominent. Political instability, crime, mechanical failures, lost technology, and a troubled economy are just a few problems that the Empire is facing. Unfortunately since Hari Seldon is known to have predicted the decline, his popularity has gone down. He loses government funding and must find other ways to keep the psychohistory from hitting a dead end. Aside from searching for funds, Hari must select his successors to keep the project going after his death.

This book isn’t only about the decline of the Empire, but also of Hari Seldon. Since the book covers bout 30 years, starting out with Hari at the age of 40, we see his physical and emotional deterioration. Some of his physical problems could be attributed to the decline in heath care technology, but much of his emotional problems come from stress of the psychohistory project and family issues. The ending is a bit depressing, but at least there is a hope yet for psychohistory and the future of the humanity.

I’ve seen many reviews refer to this book as sort of a hidden autobiography, since Asimov was aware that his days were numbered when he wrote this. Supposedly there are a lot of qualities of himself that Asimov inserted into Hari Seldon’s character development. I can’t really compare Isaac Asimov to Hari Seldon because I shamefully haven’t ready any of his autobiographies yet. I plan on doing so after this project and will jump back to do some comparison using my reading notes.