Name: Second Foundation
ISBN: 9780553900361

Second Foundation

After years of struggle, the Foundation lay in ruins -- destroyed by the mutant mind power of the Mule. But it was rumored that there was a Second Foundation hidden somewhere at the end of the Galaxy, established to preserve the knowledge of mankind through the long centuries of barbarism. The Mule had failed to find it the first time -- but now he was certain he knew where it lay. The fate of the Foundation rests on young Arkady Darell, only fourteen years old and burdened with a terrible secret. As its scientists girded for a final showdown with the Mule, the survivors of the First Foundation began their desperate search. They too wanted the Second Foundation destroyed... before it destroyed them.

What Hacker News says

dmbcheSep 2026

Maupassant, Appartion et autres comptes d'angoisse (very good)

Becky Chambers, the long way to a small angry planet (very good)

Asimov, Second foundation (just finished, not as good as Foundation but good still)

Maybe Knut Hansun, The last joy (Nazi sympathizer, might just put the book down - and book not blowing my mind)

Edit0: writing this and seeing Hansun was a Nazi collaborator - putting the book down

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flopsamjetsamDec 2025

Dune: re-read the first time since I was a teenager. Mostly to compare my memory of it against the films.

Foundation and Second Foundation: for much the same reason.

Both very enjoyable reads, but quite different from the modern interpretations.

"How Life Works: a users guide to the new biology" by Phillip Ball. Really extended my understanding of where biology is now.

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benreesmanJan 2024

It’s a bit of a cliffhanger whether the zeroeth law as interpreted by R. Daneel Olivaw and culminating in the choice of Gaia’s governance instead of either the First or Second Foundation is going to go well, but he died within months of writing that far.

I’m not any kind of official or recognized Asimov scholar, just a fan, but I’ve read his prodigious catalog repeatedly and love a good “some is wrong on the Internet babe”.

You seem to feel differently about the end state?

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orwinNov 2021

The only books he wrote in the 80s i did not like are "prelude to Foundation" and "Forward the Foundation", and "Foundation and Earth" was pretty disappointing too.

And having re-read the originals (and not the translation) recently, with my new outlook and all the books i've read since, i'd say that even those are written better than the two first Foundation books (that i love). I'd say the "Cave of steel" was the best written of his books from the 50s, a bit better than "Naked Sun" and "Second Foundation", or at least better paced. But his best books are either "Foundation's edge" or "Robots and Empire", at least to me.

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idDrivenFeb 2019

I would start with the Foundation trilogy first (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation). Foundation for me was a perfect book. I don't remember if I finished the robot series though, and the books looking at Wiki, have a ton of content continuing on the original universe. I mean if I started at episode I of Star Wars I never would have made it to episode IV. One of my favorite things about Asimov in general is that he is overall optimistic about the future, some of his short stories are really good too, a time-traveling Shakespeare one stuck out for me.

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smacktowardMay 2015

I just read it for the first time ever (I know, right? I'll turn in my nerd card at the door) a couple of years ago.

I thought the original trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation) was amazing.

I also thought Asimov really, really, really should have stopped there.

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