Foundation and Earth

By: Isaac Asimov

Narrated by: Larry McKeever

Length: 18 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

The Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov are among the great masterworks of science fiction. An ingenious blend of nonstop action, daring ideas, and extensive world-building, they chronicle the struggle of a courageous group of men and women determined to shield enlightened humanity from a ceaseless threat of darkness and ultimate annihilation.

Golan Trevize, former councilman of the First Foundation, has chosen the future, and it is Gaia. A superorganism, Gaia is a holistic planet with a common consciousness so intensely united that every dewdrop, every pebble, every being, can speak for all - and feel for all. It is a realm in which privacy is not only undesirable, it is incomprehensible. But is it the right choice for the destiny of mankind? While Trevize feels it is, that is not enough. He must know.

Trevize believes the answer lies at the site of humanity’s roots: fabled Earth...if it still exists. For no one is sure where the planet of Gaia’s first settlers is to be found in the immense wilderness of the galaxy. Nor can anyone explain why no record of Earth has been preserved, no mention of it made anywhere in Gaia’s vast world-memory. It is an enigma Trevize is determined to resolve and a quest he is determined to undertake, at any cost.

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

©1986 Nightfall, Inc (P)2011 Random House Audio

Good Book, poor performance

Good finish to the series. Narration sounded more robotic than the robots in the story. Unwelcome change from the rest of the series.

Unwelcome change in narrator

What did you like best about Foundation and Earth? What did you like least?

Scott Brick is sorely missed. The story line is consistent with the series, however, the narration sounds computer generated and detracted from the enjoyment of the story.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Sounds computer generated.

Don't get this if performance is important to you

Where does Foundation and Earth rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

High. I enjoy Issac Asimov very much.

What other book might you compare Foundation and Earth to and why?

The other Foundation novels

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

No, I'm sorry but my 2nd grade elementary school teacher read better.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No, the reading prevented the listener from getting involved in the story.

Any additional comments?

This is unabridged so you will get the entire story, but it is being read to you in a monosyllabic and mono-tonal way.

Wish that I could give the reader one star

What did you love best about Foundation and Earth?

Asimov is fantastic! I can't get enough of of the Foundation series. This installment doesn't disappoint. Wish I could say the same about the reader.

How could the performance have been better?

Put in some effort. This reading is so lifeless that I'm thinking about buying the text and having Siri read it back to me just for a bit of humanity. Seriously. Not kidding. This book is so poorly read that it's actually quite hard to follow. Please bring Scott Brick back and re-do this and Forward the Foumdation.

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

Very much so.

Ok story, terrible reading

The guy reading it sounds like a text to speech app from the 90s

Is that his real voice?

What a difference the narrator makes.

I read the original Foundation trilogy as a teenager in the 1960s, and I was wondering how much I would recall after all these years. I was pleasantly surprised that I remembered very little, and so I delved in, starting at the beginning. Scott Brick can take even a mediocre story and make it worth a listen, and I was able to enjoy the series as I was unable to in my youth. When the next book in the series was read by Mr. McKeever, I was concerned about the change but, of course, I could not skip this volume as it is part of a whole.

I was stunned… and not in a good way. While Mr. McKeever READS well enough, he does not NARRATE. I felt like I was listening to a children's book written by a completely different author. Even worse, I got the feeling that it was being read by children. The inflection in the voice is all wrong. Stressful situations are read in a matter-of-fact tone rather than with the intensity that is required. None of the dialogue comes across with any degree of realism or believability, and the story itself seems plodding. Pauses in the reading are dreadfully long, and I forced myself to finish the book because Mr. Brick returned to narrate the next… and then all was right with the world again. I could not believe that a reader/narrator could actually make a book seem as though it was written by an entirely different person until listening to this one. I'm rating it 4 stars (would prefer 3-1/2) for the part that the novel plays in the entire series, but that's it.

Love This Series and Narrator

I have loved the Foundation series of novels for years. I also love the narration by Larry McKeever. I wish Audible would switch all the books over to his narrated versions instead of having the series divided between his narrations and those by Scott Brick.

Scott is also a fine narrator, but I like consistency and Larry did narrate all 7 books.

narrated by Microsofts Sam

the story is not as exciting as the first three books and completely focuses on one group of characters.

also im pretty sure they actually had it narrated by a robot

Chilling

A thought we’ve all had, but never articulated is encapsulated within, so far, the books up to this one.

You get used to the narrator, give it a try

Reading the reviews for this audiobook, I was skeptical at first. But the narrator isn't as bad as I had expected. It took me a chapter or so to get used to his voice, but I was able to distinguish the characters by just the tone of voice used by the narrator. Story-wise, this is my second favorite Foundation book. It's perfect if you enjoy intergalactic adventures.