Forward the Foundation

By: Isaac Asimov

Narrated by: Larry McKeever

Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Great story, terrible narration

I really loved this collection of stories, but really struggled with the narration. Playing it at 1.5 speed helped a lot, but it would have been more enjoyable with a better reader.

Good but not essential

A good collection of stories, but not essential to the understanding of the following Foundation books.
Not as coherent or gripping as the older books. One needs to see them as the unpolished version of the could have been book.
The narator is awfull if listen to normal speed. I found it a lot more tolerable, even enjoyable, at 1.2 speed.
All in all a must if you're a Foundation fan, and a skip for a curious.

Forward the Foundation

As an Asimov/sci-fi fan, I loved the story…I would have preferred a more versatile narrator. By the way, has anyone found a narration of Robots and Empire?

Beautiful end or beginning!

What a fitting end (or beginning) to the series! It’s alittle bit of a slog but filled with some heartwarming and wrenching moments!

The second pre-foundation book almost lost me

The narrator is kinda boring, with his predictable and off-target accents. This book, which I listened to in June 2023 is kinda boring and predictable too.

I just downloaded the actual Foundation book, and I'm looking forward to giving it a try, thinking, surely the young Isaac Asimov could do better than this book and I'm looking forward to giving it a try, thinking, surely the young Isaac Asimov could do better than F the F. So, with fingers crossed...

Would ask for a refund, but story is worth it.

The narrator is wooden and poorly edited. This great piece of fiction deserves better than this narrator. I would normally ask for a refund, but the story is worth it.

Couldn’t get past awful narration.

Probably the most poorly narrated story I have ever listened to, to the point that it makes it difficult to even comment on the content. Audible should yank this and either re-do it or delete it from its catalog.

Horrible Narrator for a great book, 1.3x Speed

The monotone is not as bad as his odd pauses. The pause between chapter is good but he has a lot of pauses in inconceivable places. I can hardly continue to listen until another person mentioned about playing at 1.5x speed. I adjusted mine to 1.2x and only then I was able to continue.

Not a McKeever fan

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

If presented by McKeever, no. If re-recorded by a new artist, most likely yes.

Asimov's galaxy view is fun and interesting and the Foundation and Empire aspects are worthy of inspection. 25,000,000 inhabited worlds, 40,000,000,000 folks on ONE PLANET. It's all kind of out there and fun. And after the fact, I think that the Foundation and Empire of the 40s/50s series really benefited from the prequels and postludes.

If you are a fan then you are going to be interested in the formation/creation of Psychohistory.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Dors. She's cute, tough and a 'bot. What more could you want. :-)

Would you be willing to try another one of Larry McKeever???s performances?

No. I would not recommend this book as narrated by Larry McKeever. I listen to audio books on my iPhone using the Audible App. In order to even begin to listen to this book, I had to bump up the spoken speed to 1.5x normal. Mr. McKeever speaks SO SLOWLY. I'm not some speed freak, I'm seriously stating that the speed of oration is abominably slow. I haven't sampled the audio and done this experiment but I believe it might be possible to see EVERY WORD SPOKEN as a discrete element in the wave form of the audio file.

Problem two. There is almost NO DRAMATIZATION. Oh the pitch of the voice might rise a bit to denote a question. Some other minor embellishments may be added. But basically this reading sound like an excellent computer text to speech reading of the book. In fact, no kidding, I actually started to think that when I was perhaps 30 minutes into the book. But, you can tell it's a human. and the copyright blurb somewhere dates the recording to the 1990s.

I'm thinking that perhaps back then books were more often than not read flat with no artistry. I'd call a modern reader an actor/artist more than a reader. Many of them speak in different voices for the different main characters. It can be a very impressive thing when done right and once heard that way, the really flat recitations of the text in books becomes substantially more boring than it probably was when that type of presentation was the norm.

So, I listened to the entire book regardless of all this negative criticism. Why? Because I was stuck in the foundation heptalogy and wanted to know... how did Seldon create Psychohistory. I suffered through it and if you are into this series of books so can you. It isn't totally unlistenable, just significantly so.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

WAY TOO LONG for that.

Worst narration EVER

This is bad. How could you even go to market with this lack of quality in the narration. If this guy is reading any of the future books I’m out.