En ce début de treizième millénaire, l'Empire n'a jamais été aussi puissant, aussi étendu à travers toute la galaxie. C'est dans sa capitale, Trantor, que l'éminent savant Hari Seldon invente la psychohistoire, une science nouvelle permettant de prédire l'avenir. Grâce à elle, Seldon prévoit l'effondrement de l'Empire d'ici trois siècles, suivi d'une ère de ténèbres de trente mille ans. Réduire cette période à mille ans est peut-être possible, à condition de mener à terme son projet : la Fondation, chargée de rassembler toutes les connaissances humaines.
Une entreprise visionnaire qui rencontre de nombreux et puissants détracteurs...

Tandis que les crises qui secouent l'Empire redoublent de violence et annoncent son effondrement définitif, la Fondation créée par le psychohistorien Hari Seldon pour sauvegarder la civilisation devient de plus en plus puissante, suscitant naturellement convoitise et visées annexionnistes. En tout premier lieu, celles de Bel Riose, jeune général qui voit dans les secrets détenus par la Fondation le moyen de monter sur le trône.

C'est alors qu'apparaît un mystérieux et invincible conquérant, surnommé le Mulet, que le plan de Seldon n'avait pas prévu...

Conçue par le psychohistorien Hari Seldon pour restreindre l'ère de chaos résultant de la décadence de l'Empire galactique, la Fondation est désormais aux mains du Mulet, un mutant imprévisible capable de manipuler les esprits et d'imposer sa volonté à quiconque.

Avec ses pouvoirs et les immenses ressources que lui procure la Fondation, il s'est donné pour objectif d'étendre sa domination aux ultimes vestiges de l'Empire défunt. Mais déjà une nouvelle légende prend forme : il existerait une Seconde Fondation, consacrée aux sciences mentales, œuvrant de façon occulte pour garantir l'accomplissement des desseins du légendaire Hari Seldon...

Prévoyant l'effondrement de l'Empire galactique et une longue période de ténèbres consécutives, le psychohistorien Hari Seldon a créé deux Fondations, l'une officielle, l'autre secrète, qui manipulent l'évolution de l'humanité. Or cinq siècles après leur établissement, la foudre, de nouveau, menace. Quelqu'un fausse les cartes du jeu. Est-ce la Seconde Fondation, que la première croyait s'être libérée ? Est-ce une troisième force, qui œuvrerait dans l'ombre et dont nul ne saurait rien ? Commence alors une course-poursuite au terme de laquelle se cache une surprise de taille...

La Terre. Tout porte à croire que le légendaire berceau de l'Humanité se trouve au cœur d'un vaste plan à l'échelle galactique, destiné à garantir en coulisse la pérennité de la civilisation : une synthèse parfaite entre le matérialisme de la Première Fondation et le mentalisme de la Seconde, mise en œuvre par une mystérieuse puissance. Mais comment trouver une planète que beaucoup croient mythique, et dont toute trace a inexplicablement disparu des archives galactiques ?

Sensíveis, divertidos e instigantes, os contos de Eu, robô são um marco na história da ficção científica, seja pela introdução das célebres Leis da Robótica, pelos personagens inesquecíveis ou por seu olhar completamente novo a respeito das máquinas. Vivam eles na Terra ou no espaço sideral; sejam domésticos ou especializados, submissos ou rebeldes, meramente mecânicos ou humanizados, os robôs de Asimov conquistaram a cabeça e a alma de gerações de escritores, cineastas e cientistas, sendo até hoje fonte de inspiração de tudo o que lemos e assistimos sobre essas criaturas mecânicas.


Verdadeiro marco na história da ficção científica, "Eu, robô" reúne os primeiros textos de Isaac Asimov sobre robôs, publicados entre 1940 e 1950. São nove contos que relatam a evolução dos autômatos através do tempo, e que contêm em suas páginas, pela primeira vez, as célebres Três Leis da Robó os princípios que regem o comportamento dos robôs e que mudaram definitivamente a percepção que se tem sobre eles na literatura e na própria ciência.

Librarian's Note: Alternate-cover edition for ASIN B000FC1PWK

Although small and seemingly helpless, the Foundation had managed to survive against the greed of its neighboring warlords. But could it stand against the mighty power of the Empire, who had created a mutant man with the strength of a dozen battlefleets...?

'Histórias de robôs' reúne os melhores contos e novelas publicados sobre robôs e computadores, desde o alvorecer do século 20 até o seu término. Nomes da ficção científica moderna, como Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, Lester Del Rey e o próprio Isaac Asimov, levantam aqui questões polêmicas e dilemas morais que se impõem toda vez que se pretende usurpar o caráter divino da criação. Será possível para uma forma de inteligência desenvolvida artificialmente sobrepujar e até mesmo destruir o seu criador? E essa nova forma seria, na essência, boa ou má? Utilizar os recursos da nossa inteligência para obter uma vida mecânica equivale a profanar alguma lei profunda e intocável? 'Histórias de robôs' mostra como o futuro de ontem foi previsto pelos escritores de ficção científica, um dos sub-gêneros mais emblemático do século 20. E chega-se ao fim da antologia com as perturbadoras sugestões dos autores contemporâneos, empenhados em conjeturas sobre o que os robôs e computadores reservam para o futuro da humanidade.

Andrew was one of Earth's first house robot domestic servants—smoothly designed and functional. But when Andrew started to develop special talents which exceeded the confines of his allotted positronic pathways, he abandoned his domestic duties in favour of more intellectual pursuits. As time passed, Andrew acquired knowledge, feelings and ambitions way beyond anything ever experienced by any other mechanical men. And he found himself launched on to a career which would bring him fame fortune — and danger. For a robot who wants to be human must also be prepared to die...

In the Bicentennial Man, Isaac Asimov returns to his first and most enduring love — robotics. The result is a brilliant book of first-class entertainment and mind-spinning ideas which confirm Asimov's supreme status as Grand Master of science fiction.

Content

"Feminine Intuition" (1969)
"Waterclap" (1970)
"That Thou Art Mindful of Him" (1974)
"Stranger in Paradise" (1974)
"The Life and Times of Multivac" (1975)
"The Winnowing" (1976)
"The Bicentennial Man" (1976)
"Marching In" (1976)
"Old-Fashioned" (1976)
"The Tercentenary Incident" (1976)
"Birth of a Notion" (1976)

Cover Illustration: Don Dixon

In recent years science fiction has burst from its ghetto in the pulp magazines and monster movies and has once again captured an ever-widening circle of serious readers. With best-selling novels emerging from the genre (Giles Goat-Boy, The Andromeda Strain, On the Beach, Dune, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Terminal Man-- the list is endless) and with such big-budget movies as 2001: A Space Odyessey and Planet of the Apes, science fiction has come into its own as the most relevant fiction of our time.

In Alternate Worlds, one of the best known writers in the field traces "speculative writing" throughout man's written history, from Homer down to Heinlein. Filled with excerpts from the seminal works and full-color reproductions of the well-remembered art, this is a mental feast and a visual orgy for all science fiction fans, or for anyone who remembers those wonderful stories of Verne ans Wells and Asimov and Clarke and Sturgeon and Bradbury and . . .

Make your own list: they're all here, along with the incredible worlds they created, and the history they made.

In the twenty-third century pioneers have escaped the crowded earth for life in self-sustaining orbital colonies. One of the colonies, Rotor, has broken away from the solar system to create its own renegade utopia around an unknown red star two light-years from Earth: a star named Nemesis.

Now a fifteen-year-old Rotorian girl has learned of the dire threat that Nemesis poses to Earth's people—but she is prevented from warning them. Soon she will realize that Nemesis endangers Rotor as well. And so it will be up to her alone to save both Earth and Rotor as—drawn inexorably by Nemesis , the death star—they hurtle toward certain disaster.

کتاب عزازیل از مجموعه کلاسیک‌های خواندنی گردآوری و ترجمه ۲۹ داستان کوتاه است که آیزاک آسیموف از سال ۱۹۸۰ تا ۱۹۹۱ میلادی درباره عزازیل تألیف کرده است. این کتاب را پیمان اسماعیلیان گردآوری و ترجمه کرده است.

عزازیل شخصیتی است خلق شده به قلم آیزاک آسیموف. این موجود دو‌سانتی که آسیموف به تناوب آن را ابلیس و گاهی فرازمینی معرفی می‌کند، از یک نام انجیلی گرفته شده است و حتی در یکی از داستان‌ها (آخرین داستان این مجموعه) آن را روح می‌خواند.

آسیموف به اعتراف خودش در این داستان‌ها از سبک هجوآمیز و طنز کلامی خاصی بهره می‌برد که آن را از سِر پلهم گرنویل وودهاوس عاریت گرفته است، نویسنده‌ی طنزنویس انگلیسی که به مدت هفتاد سال شاهد موفقیت‌های بزرگی در عرصه‌ی طنزنویسی بود.

If you’re a fan of the Sci-Fi genre, then chances are that you’ve heard of ‘The Last Question’, a science fiction short story written by Isaac Asimov in 1956. The story deals with the development of computers (artificial intelligence) called Multivacs and their relationships with humanity through the courses of seven historic settings, beginning in 2061.

A personal favourite of the master Sci-Fi writer Isaac Asimov, it is a thought-provoking fiction that even most non Sci-Fi buffs can enjoy – more so with this neat graphic presentation by Ryul, an active illustrator in Ruliweb, which is a Korean web community for subculture fans. So without much ado, we hope you enjoy this webtoon adaption of a delightful, timeless classic.

‫گولان تروایز، عضو مجلس اجرایی که از ترمینوس تبعید شده است، همراه با پروفسور یانوف پلورات و بلیس، از اهالی سیّارهٔ اسرارآمیز گایا، بار دیگر برای اطّلاعاتی دربارهٔ سیّارهٔ زمین به سفر خود ادامه می‌دهد. با نزدیک‌تر شدن آنان به مقصد و رفتن از سیّاره‌ای به سیّارهٔ دیگر، بلیس امواج فکری موجوداتی هوشمند را حس می‌کند…
‫آیا این موجودات انسان هستند؟ این‌بار چه راز جدید و کدام خطر مهلکی در کمین این جست‌وجوگران مشتاق سیّارهٔ کهن و سرمنشأ نژاد بشر نشسته است؟

چهارصد و نود و هشت سال از هنگام پیدایش بنیاد اول می گذرد. بنیاد در اوج قدرت خود است،اما یک نفر هست که به ظاهر امر اکتفا نمی کند.

So far the Foundation was safe. But there was a hidden Second Foundation to protect the first. The Mule has yet to find it, but he was getting closer all the time. The men of the Foundation sought it, too, to escape from Mule's mind control. Only Arkady, a 14 year-old girl seemed to have the answer, or did she...?

Foundation and Empire (Foundation, #2), Isaac Asimov
عنوان: جنگ امپراطوری کهکشانها؛ نوشته: آیزاک آسیموف؛ مترجم: حسن اصغری؛ تهران، شقایق، 1371؛ در 396 ص