Tolkien and Asimov

[Aiwendil]

Alatar wrote:

One frustration with the Foundation series is that we never get to understand what really happened to Earth (if memory serves) whereas in the Silmarillion I can see what happened, and can work out how we got to here.

Actually, we do - I believe the explanation is partially revealed at the end of Foundation and Earth and is actually shown in Robots and Empire, the last book in the Robot series.

But I do think you may have a point - Asimov's first purpose was not world-building. At least, not in the same sense as Tolkien. I'd say that Asimov's interest was primarily in society whereas Tolkien's was in history.