Hi everyone 👋.

Isaac Asimov is widely regarded as one of the greatest science fiction authors of all time, and I’m curious about his thoughts on Frank Herbert’s Dune. The Dune saga is one of the most influential and celebrated works in science fiction, known for its critique of tropes from the Golden Age of the genre. I’ve heard that Herbert, in part, wrote Dune as a response to Asimov’s Foundation series.

Given this connection, I’d love to know how Asimov viewed Herbert and his groundbreaking Dune saga. Was he a fan of it or did he not like it? Thanks in advance!

I am looking for a story (doesn't need to be a short story, could be an excerpt from a novel or something) that has the same idea as Asimov's "Feeling of power" in regards to how technology can hinder one's (or humanity's) capacity of doing simple math or how we can rely on technology so much that we forget to do things manually. It doesn't need to be a text by Asimov.

I am a teacher and it's for one of my classes. I was going to use "Feeling of power" but there is a suicide in the end of the story and that is one of the blacklisted topics in school, so I can't use that short story.

Any help is appreciated.

Sorry for any English mistakes, it's not my first language.

Hey all! I've been diving into classic scifi novels and I am currently consuming everything Asimov. I have decided my next venture to be reading his robot stories (I've read the Foundation and Galactic Empire series).

I'm trying to understand which books I need to purchase as it seems like these stories have been in several different anthologies over different decades.

My question here is, if I buy the following, will I have most/all of the robot stories from this foundation universe?

The Complete Robot, The Robots of Dawn, The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, and Robots and Empire

I've just finished Foundation and earth and I'm quite disappointed by how the saga has ended. I found the conclusion too rushed and anticlimactic. Even if the psycohystory has failed, should I read the prequels anyway? Are they worth reading even if I already know that psycohystory is going to fail?

Hey guys! I just finished Second Foundation and something caught my eye, which did not on my first read. Spoiler alert!

On the last pages when Turbor is with the Fleet, they capture Preem Palver because he wants to go to Terminus. Turbor SOMEHOW recognizes his name and demands the admiral to speak with him. He asks Palver who the girl was he "abducted".

Maybe I am just dumb :D or missed something but how did he recognize his name and how did he know that Palver abducted Arcadia or anybody at all.

His knowing about Palver seemed strange to me.

Currently rereading The Foundation series and just started Second Foundation. Is it just me or does the Mule seem like he would of been a rather benevolent leader in the grand scheme of things? He seemed like he preferred to avoid open battle as much as possible. Only killed when an extreme necessity or in the case of Batya when harm might come to someone he cared for.

I've just finished novel robots of dawn, wondering of his prophecy regarding interaction between AI and human. This interactions among Daneel Olivaw, Giskard, and Elijah Baley highlighted an intriguing dynamic where AI serves as both a complement to and a reflection of human intelligence. Asimov envisioned AI not as a replacement for humans but as a collaborator for providing logical reasoning, efficiency, and problem-solving while requiring the creativity, and emotional depth that only humans can provide. So, this couple (Elijah+Daneel and then Giskard) is a wonderful one to make significant impact. It’s not about humans versus machines but about how we design, interact with, and adapt alongside these creations.

I've seen the Follio Society have what I call a posh set of the trilogy for 150 quid but that way out of my budget. Is there any nice old edition that can be easily found. With some nice artwork. I have paperback by Harper Voyager with nice cover but spine is all jacked. Wanted something more fitting given his quality of work ?

I had finished the original foundation series recently, and to me there is a very specific aspect I liked about those stories, which was seeing a civilisation/country grow from a small settlement and expand into an empire, and the way it was done was extremely creative, every step of expansion the foundation takes uses something unusual, like religion, diplomacy, technology, trade, etc. rather than the overdone (expansion through military conquest), and since finishing the trilogy I’ve been looking for something similar but all the “stories similar to foundation” posts or articles I find have stories that are similar to the series in other aspects, like political drama in a sci-fi setting etc. but none that’s similar in this regard, if you have any recommendations, even if outside the sci-fi genre, please enlighten me

Has anybody read "The Super Runner" by Asimov ? It was published in the magazine "Runner's World" in October 1982. I have been trying to read it but, I could not find it anywhere online.

When does i read it in the reading order

Laws of robotics: 0- A robot can not humanity to be injure, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm(emergency override) 1- A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2- A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3- A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

I found a tv show from Russia based on Isaac asimov's robot story's. I don't know the name: 'last of us' or 'one of us' Were love & protect a family can overrides law #1

How is that possible?

I read the reading order stuff I'm just curious if I read the foundation prequels before or after foundations edge and foundation and earth

So, i need a quote to put in front of my master thesis and i was thinking of something from asimov, my idea was a quote from "The gods themselfes", i remember that two characters were talking about solvibg the problem created by the energy spurce and one said something like "people don't want a solution, they want an answer that don't change their way of living" i am making it up but the concept was this, can you help me find the quote or tell me more or less where is in the book? I will have to find the italian version and i have the italin book, any help is welcome.

So I would like to go back and never have bought the foundation. Not because they are bad quite the opposite but they are so good. I have family, a life, a job now they must all play second fiddle to this. I just finished foundation and its been too long that I've found a book that I cannot put down. I even hold in a pee. I'm totally awash with story it's great because unlike other authors in scfi looking at you William Gibson who builds a world in two pages and demands you take notes Asimov doesn't seem to care. So yeah there spaceship but what about diplomacy and culture and role of religion in society. I know people online slander the writing it actually put me off from reading till recently. But sod writing story is what's amazing here. I'm going to absorb myself in this fun. I plan on the machete style reading. Foundation, Robot , Foundation. Maybe go back to Galaxy. Anyway just wanted to share with like minded people my love for this.

One of Asimov's short stories, but I can't find the title.

I am looking for a short story about this politician and a rebel. When the rebel is captured, and the politician tells him what his intentions are. Does anyone know the title?

I've been reading through the Empire and Foundation series lately, filling in the last books that I've never been able to get to before.

As I was reading, a question came up, regarding the history of Trantor and the Galactic Empire: Was there ever a stage in Trantor's political evolution when it could have been considered a republic? Or did Trantor go straight from kingdom ("Royal Trantor") to empire (the "Trantorian Empire" and later simply the "Galactic Empire")?

I vaguely remember reading something, somewhere, about a "Trantorian Republic". But I can't for the life of me find the source. And I can't remember if the source was one of Asimov's stories, or simply a fan theory.

I know that Foundation was inspired in large part by The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and that the Roman Empire itself went through a "republican" period. But is there any evidence that the same is true of the fictional Trantor?

I'm reading the Multivac stories and I discover the story "Question" but I can't find the story.

Does anyone know why it is difficult to find and where I can read it?

">! It is not as though we had the enemy already here and among us."

And he did not look down to meet the brooding eyes of Fallom-hermaphrodite, transductive, different-as they rested, unfathomably on him. !<

What does this mean? Is it just meant to be left open ended or does this inply anything?

One particular Doctor Who story- written by Douglas Adams, called "Destiny of the Daleks"- is regularly stated to be partly inspired by an Asimov story.

The apparently borrowed conceit is of two armies, each reliant upon a battle computer which was logically unable to outwit its counterpart and therefore trapped in a stalemate. This does sound Asimovian at least!

Is this an element in an Asimov story? Can anyone name it- I presume a lesser known short story as I don't recall it from my own readings? That its borrowed is stated as fact but nobody seems aware of where from -I'm also totally open to it being apocryphal, but it would be good to know one way or another!

I discovered Asimov as a kid through the movies "I, Robot" and "Bicentennial Man," and since then, I've always been curious about his work. I've always been interested in robotics, AI, space, time travel, simulations... (Matrix, Animatrix, Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Serial Experiments Lain, Evangelion, Star Wars...) But I never got around to reading Asimov.

That changed when I met a coworker who loved Asimov, a Rastafarian fond of 420, who passionately discussed his works, always without spoilers, and encouraged me to read them.
He suggested I start with "I, Robot" if I liked robotics, and from there, I couldn't stop reading.

Here's the order I followed, based on a visual guide from u/Sataaa:

Spoilers Ahead!

It's been an incredible journey. It was sad to finish the robot saga and think that there wouldn’t be any more about robots in the empire or foundation series, but I was happy to be wrong.

The robot series is perfect for me; I can't add anything, but with the Foundation series, I did find some books a bit weaker for my personal taste, though maybe "weaker" means I'd give it a 9/10 instead of a 10/10. For instance, I didn't like how the first Foundation book was structured, but I loved the underlying story. However, what I never expected was how great "Foundation and Empire" would be; it's definitely my favorite. "Second Foundation" felt a bit weaker, but "Foundation's Edge" and "Foundation and Earth" are two books I really love, not so much for their development but for their conclusions—Edge ties together so many threads, and Earth has a fantastic ending. "Prelude" and "Forward" are not bad either, and I continue to love the lore that Asimov set up to conclude his works.

I still have "The Gods Themselves" to read from Asimov, but I'll probably take a break and dive into LOTR.

Cheers to all the eternals who have read this!

Yeah, yeah, I loved the story. Daneel is Hummin and Demerzel (once I saw an art of Daneel with the title Olivaw/Demerzel and didn't think much about it until I started Prelude, now I definetly know nothing of Forward). But Hari and Dors... My man is living the dream. It should have been me, not him. IT'S NOT FAIR!

Apologies if this has been discussed before. I just finished F&E and I of course came to the conclusion that Fallom was the extragalactic life that Trevize was referencing. However, since Daneel watched Solaria grow and mature over the course of 20,000 years, what if Trevize was referring to himself as the "alien", and he had just realized it? Fallom catches on that's the reason She is staring at him.

Just a thought.

I read the original Foundation trilogy in the early eighties when I was a teenager and loved it. I've never forgotten the Mule, which is my namesake, and the concept of preparing for a downfall of society has always been an interesting for me. It drove a lot of my thinking as I wrote my own unpublished stories.

When my wife and I watched the Foundation TV series on Apple TV, I knew it was time to revisit the books. I knew it was dramatically different than the books but wanted to explore that universe again.

I listened to all seven books as audiobooks, wrapping up with the two prequels. I just finished Forward to Foundation. Perhaps it's because I listened to them as audiobooks while I walk, but I was often left frustrated about the story. I love the Foundation universe and the concepts behind it. I loved the anomaly of The Mule. The original trilogy sat with me pretty well but the two sequels and two prequels left me both interested and frustrated (sometimes angry) at the same time.

I think a lot of it has to do with character development, which overall seemed to be somewhat weak. With the original series, individual characters didn't seem to be around for a long time since there are different snapshots in time. The sequels and prequels spent much more time with individual characters, which really showed me what I think are some of the flaws in Asimov's writing. I ended up feeling like he would drive a character arc forward even at the sacrifice of a more realistic world around the character.

Two notable examples are Dors Venabili and Golan Trevize. Dors was a great character at first but as the prequels progressed, she became less and less interesting as her abilities eclipsed all reality at some point. For example, I felt like the security of the Imperial Palace was weaker than that of today's middle schools when she was just able to walk in ten years after Hari was first minister. Seriously? I feel like Asimov was saying that Dors would do anything to protect Hari, but it just got silly at some point. There was a lot beyond Dors that bothered me in that book as well like no pre-vetting of gardeners and the ability to just walk in with blasters. WTF.

I felt the same about Golan Trevize, who is one of the least likable protagonists that I've ever experienced. His "luck" and "intuition" became a joke to me after awhile. How he became the one person that could determine the future of the galaxy just caused me to cringe by the time I was done with Foundation and Earth. I liked Bliss and Janov though, so it's not always about the characters.

I really wanted to love this entire series because the original trilogy had such an impact on me when I was a teenager. I appreciate that Asimov expanded the series to include both the sequels and prequels but I felt there were just a substantial number of issues within the story. They didn't necessarily detract from the original trilogy but I just feel like they made the overall universe a bit weaker for me as a whole.

I don't know what I'm trying to say. I guess it's just that I was expecting something good or great and I didn't feel like it happened, which leaves me a little sad.