Foundation and Empire vs Second Foundation: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Psychohistoire, Vie extraterrestre, Psychohistory, Long Now Manual for Civilization, Life on other planets, American literature
Foundation and Empire
Led by its founding father, the great psychohistorian Hari Seldon, and taking advantage of its superior science and technology, the Foundation has survived the greed and barbarism of its neighboring warrior-planets. Yet…
vs
Second Foundation
After years of struggle, the Foundation lay in ruins -- destroyed by the mutant mind power of the Mule. But it was rumored that there was a Second Foundation hidden somewhere at the end of the Galaxy, established to…
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Foundation and Empire has the widest readership — 233120 ratings behind its score.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Foundation and Empire | Second Foundation | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.2 (233120) | 4.3 (5531) |
| Hardcover | 4.1 (1247) | 4.2 (1099) |
| Google Books | 4.0 (15) | 3.5 (5) |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (988) | 4.5 (789) |
Reception
| Foundation and Empire | Second Foundation | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 233120 | 5531 |
| Editions | 82 | 81 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 78784 | 71903 |
| Reading it now | 8162 | — |
| Written reviews | 6745 | 5531 |
| Wikipedia attention | 5570 | 5357 |
| Pages | 224 | 272 |