--- product_id: 85889202 title: "Foundation" price: "€ 4.28" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 7 url: https://www.desertcart.at/products/85889202-foundation store_origin: AT region: Austria --- # Foundation **Price:** € 4.28 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Foundation - **How much does it cost?** € 4.28 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.at](https://www.desertcart.at/products/85889202-foundation) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description desertcart.com: Foundation (Audible Audio Edition): Isaac Asimov, Scott Brick, Random House Audio: Audible Books & Originals Review: A classic - dated in style, substance, and sensibility - but still worth reading - If you have arrived at this page, you have some reason to ask whether you want to read this book. The answer is yes. A more difficult question is whether you want to read it on Kindle; I’ve read it both ways, and this Kindle version is perfectly fine. There are plenty of other reviews, so I’ll just add my reflections on the book, three-fourths of a century after Asimov wrote it, and almost fifty years after I first read it. The style is basic pulp fiction. Asimov did not try to write well-crafted prose – he typed out a rough draft and then he typed out a final draft. He wanted clear, fast, easy-to-read prose. Asimov’s choice of psychology as the master social science seems an odd choice today. If he were writing in the 1960s, he probably would have chosen sociology; if in the 1980s, economics. Interestingly the book appeared just before a group of scholars (mostly economists) began to develop deductive theories of politics, though the indeterminacy central to those theories would have frustrated a determinist like Asimov. Asimov’s implicit theory of social science resonates well with both deductive agent-based modeling and inductive “big data” approaches today – probabilistic, based on the behavior of large masses of people and not on the behavior of any individual. Indeed, Hari Seldon’s abstractions from individual behavior is one feature of his psychohistory that makes Asimov’s focus on psychology seem misplaced today. That’s all the more strange because Asimov’s view of politics relies on “great men” – always men – who solve the puzzles that history poses them at key moments. They do this by breaking rules and, in the end, acting as benevolent dictators. In actual social science and history, focusing on the choices of key individuals introduces a lot of indeterminacy into your analysis. That would throw a big monkey wrench into Seldon’s plans and, as it turns out, that’s exactly what happens. Last but not least, it’s a remarkably sexist book. Asimov’s skills as a futurist did not extend to imagining moves toward greater gender equality. Review: A good story overall if a bit light on the science (no spoilers) - Like many others, I was recommended this book as the greatest creation of the legend that is Isaac Asimov, the grandfather of science fiction. I went in expecting elaborate and exciting words created with copious technology and futuristic ideas thrown left and right. After all, the short stories that I have read by Asimov, such as the Last Question, have pointed this way. In short, I was left disappointed... but only on that front. Let me explain. The science and futurism in this book are so thin it may as well not exist. Truly the setting is in a gigantic galaxy wide empire with nuclear gadgets and funky glowing things galore. However these are merely interestingly named trinkets without much importance to the major story regarding their function. This does not mean, however, that this is a bad book. Far from it in fact. Foundation is a great book when you consider it fiction based upon history, psychology, sociology, and politics. Now this may sound gag inducing to my fellow science nerds out there, but it is so much better than I make it sound. Each "part" of the book follows at least one resident strategic genius who works to manipulate very powerful people or groups of people to align with the grand narrative plan laid out in the very beginning of the story. The result is a massively satisfying payoff as chaos flakes away to resounding success. That should be a recipe for an easy 5 star review. After all, I consider most books worth reading to be 5 stars. As you've probably guessed by now though, I hesitate to put the "worth reading overall" tag to this book. As great as the general premise is, there are two major flaws that I found when reading it. The First is the ambiguity of the "grand narrative plan" that I explained earlier in this review. Avoiding spoilers, this plan is set out fairly early on in the book. Middle to end of Part 1 I'd say. However, the idea is that the meat of the plan is hidden from the reader, and revealed slowly in important bits of the story as it progresses. This works initially, very well in fact, to create suspense in the story. After a couple parts though, it starts to become stale and formulaic. The golden rule for recurring suspense inducing plot elements is that they must be used with enough variety to remain entertaining. I cannot say that this held near the end of the book. My Second problem links in with the first part, and is the general formulaic nature of some of the parts, and the treatment of some characters due to it. The challenge with the format of this book is to constantly introduce a large number of characters that are important, interesting, and unique. This is rather easy for the first few parts, but you can see that Asimov struggled to not repeat earlier story patterns in later parts. Some characters start to seem like poorly constructed clones of previous characters. As a side note, you will be introduced to a certified badass by the name of Gaal Dornick in Page 1 of the book. He gets a lot of really nice character building and becomes a great foundation (lol) for a main character. You won't see him past page 46. Neither of these have to be deal breaking flaws. After all, it doesn't take long to read anyway, so you won't "waste" much time if you end up disliking it. ## Images ![Foundation - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91lB9bNl2IL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A classic - dated in style, substance, and sensibility - but still worth reading *by A***E on October 19, 2020* If you have arrived at this page, you have some reason to ask whether you want to read this book. The answer is yes. A more difficult question is whether you want to read it on Kindle; I’ve read it both ways, and this Kindle version is perfectly fine. There are plenty of other reviews, so I’ll just add my reflections on the book, three-fourths of a century after Asimov wrote it, and almost fifty years after I first read it. The style is basic pulp fiction. Asimov did not try to write well-crafted prose – he typed out a rough draft and then he typed out a final draft. He wanted clear, fast, easy-to-read prose. Asimov’s choice of psychology as the master social science seems an odd choice today. If he were writing in the 1960s, he probably would have chosen sociology; if in the 1980s, economics. Interestingly the book appeared just before a group of scholars (mostly economists) began to develop deductive theories of politics, though the indeterminacy central to those theories would have frustrated a determinist like Asimov. Asimov’s implicit theory of social science resonates well with both deductive agent-based modeling and inductive “big data” approaches today – probabilistic, based on the behavior of large masses of people and not on the behavior of any individual. Indeed, Hari Seldon’s abstractions from individual behavior is one feature of his psychohistory that makes Asimov’s focus on psychology seem misplaced today. That’s all the more strange because Asimov’s view of politics relies on “great men” – always men – who solve the puzzles that history poses them at key moments. They do this by breaking rules and, in the end, acting as benevolent dictators. In actual social science and history, focusing on the choices of key individuals introduces a lot of indeterminacy into your analysis. That would throw a big monkey wrench into Seldon’s plans and, as it turns out, that’s exactly what happens. Last but not least, it’s a remarkably sexist book. Asimov’s skills as a futurist did not extend to imagining moves toward greater gender equality. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A good story overall if a bit light on the science (no spoilers) *by D***V on March 2, 2017* Like many others, I was recommended this book as the greatest creation of the legend that is Isaac Asimov, the grandfather of science fiction. I went in expecting elaborate and exciting words created with copious technology and futuristic ideas thrown left and right. After all, the short stories that I have read by Asimov, such as the Last Question, have pointed this way. In short, I was left disappointed... but only on that front. Let me explain. The science and futurism in this book are so thin it may as well not exist. Truly the setting is in a gigantic galaxy wide empire with nuclear gadgets and funky glowing things galore. However these are merely interestingly named trinkets without much importance to the major story regarding their function. This does not mean, however, that this is a bad book. Far from it in fact. Foundation is a great book when you consider it fiction based upon history, psychology, sociology, and politics. Now this may sound gag inducing to my fellow science nerds out there, but it is so much better than I make it sound. Each "part" of the book follows at least one resident strategic genius who works to manipulate very powerful people or groups of people to align with the grand narrative plan laid out in the very beginning of the story. The result is a massively satisfying payoff as chaos flakes away to resounding success. That should be a recipe for an easy 5 star review. After all, I consider most books worth reading to be 5 stars. As you've probably guessed by now though, I hesitate to put the "worth reading overall" tag to this book. As great as the general premise is, there are two major flaws that I found when reading it. The First is the ambiguity of the "grand narrative plan" that I explained earlier in this review. Avoiding spoilers, this plan is set out fairly early on in the book. Middle to end of Part 1 I'd say. However, the idea is that the meat of the plan is hidden from the reader, and revealed slowly in important bits of the story as it progresses. This works initially, very well in fact, to create suspense in the story. After a couple parts though, it starts to become stale and formulaic. The golden rule for recurring suspense inducing plot elements is that they must be used with enough variety to remain entertaining. I cannot say that this held near the end of the book. My Second problem links in with the first part, and is the general formulaic nature of some of the parts, and the treatment of some characters due to it. The challenge with the format of this book is to constantly introduce a large number of characters that are important, interesting, and unique. This is rather easy for the first few parts, but you can see that Asimov struggled to not repeat earlier story patterns in later parts. Some characters start to seem like poorly constructed clones of previous characters. As a side note, you will be introduced to a certified badass by the name of Gaal Dornick in Page 1 of the book. He gets a lot of really nice character building and becomes a great foundation (lol) for a main character. You won't see him past page 46. Neither of these have to be deal breaking flaws. After all, it doesn't take long to read anyway, so you won't "waste" much time if you end up disliking it. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review *by F***X on July 26, 2023* Ao reler mais uma vez Fundação, eu fiquei com uma impressão estranha de que acabara de reler Baudolino, de Umberto Eco. Talvez a fantasia fantástica num panorama de um mundo mergulhado nas trevas da ignorância após a derrocada de um antigo império. Talvez a abundância de religiosidade patética e misturada ao poder secular. Talvez o paralelo entre protagonistas anti-heróicos que desejam apenas escapar da grande confusão em que se meteram, e usam de uma criatividade inesperada para o mundo onde vivem. Talvez a sabedoria oculta no conhecimento. Talvez nada realmente, só um delírio meu. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.at/products/85889202-foundation](https://www.desertcart.at/products/85889202-foundation) --- *Product available on Desertcart Austria* *Store origin: AT* *Last updated: 2026-05-07*