Foundation & Earth  (English, Paperback, Isaac Asimov)

Foundation and Earth is the fifth and final novel in the Foundation series of science fiction novels by Isaac Asimov.

Summary of the Book

To try and find some justification of his idea of a collective mind, Councilman Golan Trevize begins an expedition to find the legendary planet Earth. He must wade through nearly inexistent records of its location, treading carefully as he tries to ascertain where it stood on the emptiness of space. This final book in the Foundation series returns mankind to its navel, the planet it once left behind in search of the great beyond.

About Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov was an American novelist, short story writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. He is best remembered for his science fiction novels, including I, Robot, Foundation and Empire, Foundation and Earth and The Robots of Dawn.

Considered one of the pioneers of the Science Fiction genre, Asimov also wrote under the name of Paul French. A long-time member and vice president of Mensa International, he was awarded the Hugo Award and the asteroid 5020 Asimov, a crater on the planet Mars, and a literary award are named in his honor.

Philosophical Significance of the Series

The Foundation series sits heavily on the themes of a seemingly infallible empire’s rise and fall. It was originally inspired by Edward Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Asimov devoted his story to analysing how an empire grows and ultimately meets its decay at the hands of its own progress. The series also examines the themes of individualism and a sense of rationalism so strong that it eats away at moralization, which Asimov called psychohistory.