Forward the Foundation Audiobook By Isaac Asimov cover art

Forward the Foundation

 Preview
Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Forward the Foundation

By: Isaac Asimov
Narrated by: Larry McKeever
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $22.50

Buy for $22.50

Here, from a grand master of science fiction, is the long-awaited final novel of the greatest science-fiction series ever told. Completed just before his death, Forward the Foundation is the crowning achievement of a great writer’s life, a stirring testament to the creative genius of Isaac Asimov.

As Hari Seldon struggles to perfect his revolutionary theory of psychohistory and ensure a place for humanity among the stars, the great Galactic Empire totters on the brink of apocalyptic collapse. Caught in the maelstrom are Seldon and all he holds dear, pawns in the struggle for dominance. Whoever can control Seldon will control psychohistory - and with it the future of the galaxy.

Among those seeking to turn psychohistory into the greatest weapon known to man are a populist political demagogue, the weak-willed Emperor Cleon I, and a ruthless militaristic general. In his last act of service to humankind, Hari Seldon must somehow save his life’s work from their grasp as he searches for its true heirs - a search that begins with his own granddaughter and the dream of a new Foundation.

Listen to all of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, including (in chronological order):

Prelude to FoundationForward the FoundationFoundationFoundation and Empire Second FoundationFoundation's EdgeFoundation and Earth

©1993 Nightfall, Inc (P)2011 Random House Audio Classics Fantasy Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Space Opera
Essential Background • Engaging Storytelling • Humanizing Protagonist • Thoughtful Narrative • Series Completion

Highly rated for:

All stars
Most relevant  
This is one of Asimov's Foundation Novels...written after the original three Foundation Novels. The story itself is good...filling in pieces between Prelude to Foundation and the original Foundation Novels.

The narration, on the other hand is awful...one of the worst I've heard during my eight years on Audible...If I were the narrater I'd be ashamed of this performance. It's terrible. Lack of feeling...monotonal...choppy...feh!

A great disappointment

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved it, hated performance of narrator
.. ... more than twenty words for feedback??? padding padding padding padding padding

Amazing story, narrator should had taken vacation

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I've already done all the other Foundation, Empire and Robot books withe the exception of Foundation and Earth... After hearing this narrator, I may never listen to the last one!

Loved the back-story, Hated the narration!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Listening to Larry McKeever, I can't help but wonder how anyone thought in good conscious that his performance should be released to the public. Never have I heard a more monotone and robotic reading of a book by professional voice actor. It's as if he was asked to record a single word at a time and then they stitched together the words in the order they appear in the book. In all fairness, this isn't Asimov's best work. The writing and dialog is fairly pedestrian, repetitive, and lacks nuance. That's not necessarily a terrible thing, as it makes it more accessible to a wider audience. However, McKeever's reading only magnifies the writing's shortcomings and adds zero entertainment value, emersion, nor emotion to the listening experience.

Spoiler: The narrator was the robot

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The book seemed a bit like it was written for time series publication in magazines, going from one event after the other creating a sort of peak and trough effect for the listener, but a lot of background information is laid out in the book that I hope will add to the experience of the rest of the books.
The narrator was easy to listen to and I would recommend him.
Although I liked the first chronological book in the series (Prelude to Foundation) better, I enjoyed this story and can't wait to get in to the rest of the books.

Hooked on the series

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
great story, great series, great narrator. this finished off the series for me so it was great to learn more about Hari

Asimov never disappoints

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narration sounded mechanical or synthetic. The story is outstanding and sets the opening for Foundation.

Narration needs improvement

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
overall the story was decent it wasn't as good as the previous story right before it. the problem I had was that the narrator was extremely boring and he didn't act up the parts very well. every voice he read sounded very similar. In fact it sounded like one of those narrators from the 1950s.

the narrator is boring

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great Book, bad reader.
Get the David Dukes edition or Scott Brick.

Wish they still had the older one or a new one.

great book, poor reader

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
the audio performance was wooden and mechanical. there are obvious breaks between sentences. the emotions of voice came across like a 1990s text to speech voice.

good book, mediocre performance

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews