When the First Foundation was conquered by a force Seldon had not foreseen - the overwhelming power of a single individual, a mutant called the Mule - the second Foundation was forced to reveal its existence and, infinitely worse, a portion of its power. One man understood the shifting patterns of the inhabited cosmos. This was Hari Seldon, the last great scientist of the First Empire. The mathematics of psychohistory enabled Seldon to predict the collapse of the Empire and the onset of an era of chaos and war. To restore civilization in the shortest possible time, Seldon set up two Foundations. The First was established on Terminus in the full daylight of publicity. But the Second, "at the other end of the galaxy", took shape behind a veil of total silence. Because the Second Foundation guards the laws of psychohistory, which are valid only so long as they remain secret. So far the second Foundation's location, its most closely guarded secret of all, has been kept hidden. The Mule and the remnants of the First Foundation will do anything to discover it. This is the story of the Second Foundation.
WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST ALL-TIME SERIES The Foundation series is Isaac Asimov's iconic masterpiece. Unfolding against the backdrop of a crumbling Galactic Empire, the story of Hari Seldon's two Foundations is a lasting testament to an extraordinary imagination, one whose unprecedented scale shaped science fiction as we know it today.
Isaac Asimov''s Robot series - from the iconic collection I, Robot to four classic novels - contains some of the most influential works in the history of science fiction. Establishing and testing the Three Laws of Robotics, they continue to shape the understanding and design of artificial intelligence to this day.
Could a robot ever show true creativity? Is it wise to trust self-driving cars? Will robotic body parts transform human beings into machines? Will organic technology allow robots to become human?
The Complete Robot combines the stories in I, Robot and The Rest of the Robots with many more found only in this collection - including one of Asimov''s masterpieces, the Hugo and Nebula award-winning novella ''The Bicentennial Man''.
Featuring Dr. Susan Calvin, Donovan and Powell, and the detective Elijah Baley, hero of the Robot novels, this is the ultimate collection of short stories from a genius of the genre.
Isaac Asimov''s Robot series - from the iconic collection I, Robot to four classic novels - contains some of the most influential works in the history of science fiction. Establishing and testing the Three Laws of Robotics, they continue to shape the understanding and design of artificial intelligence to this day.
What happens when a robot begins to question its creators? What would be the consequences of creating a robot with a sense of humour? Or the ability to lie? How do we truly tell the difference between man and machine?
In I, Robot, Asimov sets out the Three Laws of Robotics - designed to protect humans from their robotic creations - and pushes them to their limits and beyond.
Following genius robopsychologist Dr. Susan Calvin and engineers Powell and Donovan, these short stories helped to transform artificial intelligence from a dream into a science and changed perceptions of robots for ever.
It is 498 years since the two Foundations came into existence - half-way through the Interregnum planned by Hari Seldon. The Second Foundation has once more successfully concealed its existence so that the laws of psychohistory can operate to usher in a new Empire ruled by the mental sciences. The Second Foundation is thought to be extinct.except by Councilman Golan Trevize. Trevize fears that the mysterious Second Foundation will bid for power once a new Galactic Empire is established. To prevent Trevize spreading alarm‚ the Mayor of Terminus exiles him to the abandoned ruins of Trantor. Accompanying Trevize is Janov Pelorat‚ Professor of Ancient History at the University of Terminus. Pelorat hopes to find on Trantor a clue to the location of the planet that gave birth to the human race. His belief in the existence of Earth is considered as far-fetched as Trevize's belief that the Second Foundation endures. But the truths discovered by both of them on Trantor are far stranger than they could have guessed.
The epic story of the Foundation is one of the great classics of science fiction by the Grand Master of the genre. Isaac Asimov's legendary saga, winner of the Hugo Award for Best All-Time Novel Series, has enthralled generations of readers - and continues to amaze. All records of Earth have been removed systematically from the libraries of Foundation worlds. Now Councilman Golan Trevize and Professor Janov Pelorat traverse the galaxy in search of humanity's ancestral planet. On worlds beyond the Foundation's influence, superstition and taboo shroud the subject of their quest. To name Earth is to utter an obscenity. Fortunately, the space travellers find allies - and Pelorat finds a lover named Bliss - among the telepaths of the planet Gaia. As they near their destination, Bliss picks up thought waves of intelligent beings. What she cannot tell is whether or not those beings are human.
In PRELUDE TO FOUNDATION, what happed in the many centuries before the events made famous in Asimov's other Foundation novels - hitherto only hinted at - is now revealed. The Key to the Future It is the year 12,020 G.E. and the last Galactic Emperor of the Autun dynasty, Cleon I, sits uneasily on the throne. These are troubled times and Cleon is desperate to find a way to calm them. When young Outworld mathematician Hari Seldon arrives on Trantor to present a paper on psychohistory, his astounding theory of prediction, the emperor believes that his future security may rest on Seldon's prophetic powers. But Hari Seldon becomes the most wanted man in the Empire as he struggles desperately to keep his remarkable theory from falling into the wrong hands. At the same time he must he must forge the key to the future - a power to be known as the Foundation.
Isaac Asimov''s Robot series - from the iconic collection I, Robot to four classic novels - contains some of the most influential works in the history of science fiction. Establishing and testing the Three Laws of Robotics, they continue to shape the understanding and design of artificial intelligence to this day.
Two centuries have passed since Elijah Baley''s actions on Aurora sent settlers from Earth to new worlds all over the galaxy.
The Spacer planet of Solaria has been abandoned by humans, though countless robots remain. When settlers arrive to salvage them, something unthinkable happens - the robots attack.
Accompanied by Gladia Delmarre and the robots Daneel and Giskard, a descendant of Elijah Baley sets out for Solaria to investigate, a quest that will lead them to a vast, catastrophic conspiracy and a revolution in the Three Laws of Robotics.
Isaac Asimov''s Robot series - from the iconic collection I, Robot to four classic novels - contains some of the most influential works in the history of science fiction. Establishing and testing the Three Laws of Robotics, they continue to shape the understanding and design of artificial intelligence to this day.
In the vast, domed cities of Earth, artificial intelligence is strictly controlled; in the distant Outer Worlds, colonists and robots live side by side.
A Spacer ambassador is found dead and detective Elijah Baley is assigned to find the killer. But with relations between the two cultures in the balance, the Spacers insist that he work with a partner of their choosing - a robot partner, R. Daneel Olivaw.
Baley has never seen a robot like Daneel before - almost indistinguishable from a human - and soon, though the Three Laws of Robotics should render the crime impossible, Baley''s partner becomes his prime suspect.
Isaac Asimov''s ROBOT series - from the iconic collection I, Robot to four classic novels - contains some of the most influential works in the history of science fiction. Establishing and testing the Three Laws of Robotics, they continue to shape the understanding and design of artificial intelligence to this day.
How could robots be used in a time of war? Could a robot be raised like a child? Could we allow them to have children of their own? Is there any human profession that could never be performed by a robotic replacement? In The Rest of the Robots, robopsychologist Dr. Susan Calvin and engineers Powell and Donovan return to investigate many more puzzling anomalies and catastrophic malfunctions.
With characteristic wit, foresight and imagination, Asimov''s stories uncover the practical and ethical issues humanity will encounter in a robotic future.
Isaac Asimov''s Robot series - from the iconic collection I, Robot to four classic novels - contains some of the most influential works in the history of science fiction. Establishing and testing the Three Laws of Robotics, they continue to shape the understanding and design of artificial intelligence to this day.
On the planet of Solaria, Spacers live in almost complete isolation, tended by robot servants and disgusted by the thought of human contact. And yet, one of their number has been beaten to death.
Incapable of solving the crime, the authorities of the Outer Worlds seek help from Earth - from renowned detective Elijah Baley.
Partnered once again with the robot Daneel Olivaw, Baley travels to this strange new world and uncovers a plot that could change the relationship between humans and robots for ever.
Isaac Asimov''s Robot series - from the iconic collection I, Robot to four classic novels - contains some of the most influential works in the history of science fiction. Establishing and testing the Three Laws of Robotics, they continue to shape the understanding and design of artificial intelligence to this day.
On Aurora, the first and greatest of the Spacer planets, Elijah Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw investigate yet another seemingly impossible crime - this time, a roboticide.
Someone has destroyed the positronic mind of R. Jander Panell, a humanoid twin to Daneel. His creator, the master roboticist Han Fastolfe, denies all involvement. So does Gladia Delmarre, the robot''s owner. And lover.
Working in the heart of Spacer politics and civilisation, Baley and Daneel soon realise that their decisions will have profound consequences not only on relations between Earth and the Outer Worlds, but on mankind''s place in the galaxy.
The first volume of Asimov's saga, which won the Hugo Award for Best All-Time Novel Series. The ostensible task of Foundation, a group of savants established by Seldon on the remote planet Terminus, is to compile the "Encyclopedia Galactica", a complete account of human knowledge.
The third volume in the "Foundation" saga. Psychohistorian Hari Seldon was the only man in history to have understood the shifting patterns of the inhabited cosmos. He foresaw that the Foundation he set up on the planet Terminus would be vulnerable, as it was to be attacked by the Mule.
