Listen to audio

Stream (help)

VBR M3U (Hi-Fi)
64Kbps M3U (Lo-Fi)

Play / Download (help)

(215 MB)64Kbps MP3 ZIP
(215 MB)VBR ZIP

Resources

Isaac AsimovIsaac Asimov - The Foundation Trilogy

The Foundation Trilogy concists of:
1. Foundations
2. Foundation and Empire
3. Second Foundation
The Foundation Trilogy is an epic science fiction series written over a span of forty-four years by Isaac Asimov. It consists of seven volumes that are closely linked to each other, although they can be read separately. The series is highly acclaimed, winning the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966.
The premise of the series is that mathematician Hari Seldon spent his life developing a branch of mathematics known as psychohistory, a concept devised by Asimov and his editor John W. Campbell. Using the law of mass action, it can predict the future, but only on a large scale; it is error-prone for anything smaller than a planet or an empire. It works on the principle that the behavior of a mass of people is predictable if the quantity of this mass is very large (equal to the population of the galaxy). The larger the mass, the more predictable is the future. Using these techniques, Seldon foresees the fall of the Galactic Empire, which encompasses the entire Milky Way, and a dark age lasting thirty thousand years before a second great empire arises. To shorten the period of barbarism, he creates two Foundations, small, secluded havens of art, science, and other advanced knowledge, on opposite ends of the galaxy.
The focus of the trilogy is on the Foundation of the planet Terminus. The people living there are working on an all-encompassing Encyclopedia, and are unaware of Seldon's real intentions (for if they were, the variables would become too uncontrolled). The Encyclopedia serves to preserve knowledge of the physical sciences after the collapse. The Foundation's location is chosen so that it acts as the focal point for the next empire in another thousand years (rather than the projected thirty thousand).

Audio has 8 parts


This audio is part of the collection: Open Source Audio

Artist/Composer: Isaac Asimov
Keywords: Isaac Asimov; Foundation; Foundation Trilogy; Sci Fi; Science Fiction; psychohistory

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

Individual Files

Write a review
Downloaded 3,277 timesReviews
Average Rating:

Reviewer: scottmi - - January 14, 2009
Subject: good recording
it's always a delight to find a clear and easy to understand recording. A good, very complete, version of this classic story. The sound effects are vintage BBC sound labs.. a charming "dating" of the work.

Reviewer: bucketoclams - - October 5, 2008
Subject: Lovely Radio Show
I have to admit to a bias. I've enjoyed Asimov's works since I was a kid, and it was his works that really got me started in science fiction.

The quality of the recording is excellent, and sounds just as if you were listening to it on an old radio in the parlor. This recording seems to have been taken from one of the earlier broadcasts (See the wikipedia article here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Foundation_Trilogy_(BBC_Radio) for information).

If, like me, you enjoy listening to a good story while doing other things, pick this one up.