Author: Isaac Asimov
And finally the conclusion (originally) of the Foundation story, begun in Foundation and continued in Foundation and Empire. The second book left a fairly major thread hanging, so Second Foundation needed to wrap that up, and then there was the issue of what would happen when the First Foundation -- set up by psychohistorian Hari Seldon with a large population of scientists, but no psychologists -- became aware of the influence of the Second Foundation.
The characters Asimov sets up in this third book are a bit more filled out, though certainly nothing quite so complex as in later genre fiction such as Left Hand of Darkness. Still, these characters have some depth. In particular, Asimov develops a 14-year-old girl named Arcadia, the granddaughter of the heroine of book two. The characters in these stories are pretty entrenched in the stereotypical behavior and roles of the 1950s, but having Arcadia be just a little to young to be a "woman" allows Asimov to break from some of the acceptable norms, giving his young heroine some wit and influence missing in other women in the narrative.
One of the distinguishing aspects of these novels, and in particular this final story, is the emphasis on logic and conversation as the action of the story. These are not special-effects stories. The ability of the characters to out-reason one another is critical, and in this way, these stories are more like mysteries than most science fiction.
I am very glad I read these books again.
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