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Prelude to Foundation

by Isaac Asimov Publisher: BANTAM TRADE

A prelude to psychohistory

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A prelude to psychohistory

Set in the Galactic Empire’s capital, Trantor, the novel brings the young mathematician Hari Seldon into the orbit of Emperor Cleon I. Seldon arrives to present psychohistory, a theory concerned with predicting the future; the description frames that work as a force with consequences for both the empire and humanity. As the first of two prequel novels to the Foundation series, the book connects the beginnings of Seldon’s ideas with the larger saga’s origin. Its central territory is the meeting of mathematics, political power, and the possibility of forecasting civilizational change.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in science fiction built around mathematics and prediction.
  • Readers exploring the origins of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series.
  • Readers drawn to stories of empire, political power, and large-scale civilization.

Themes

Psychohistory and predictionPolitical power and imperial ruleMathematics and civilizationThe future of humanity

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

The first of two prequel novels in Isaac Asimov's classic science-fiction masterpiece, the Foundation series

THE EPIC SAGA THAT INSPIRED THE APPLE TV+ SERIES FOUNDATION

It is the year 12,020 G.E. and Emperor Cleon I sits uneasily on the Imperial throne of Trantor. Here in the great multidomed capital of the Galactic Empire, forty billion people have created a civilization of unimaginable technological and cultural complexity. Yet Cleon knows there are those who would see him fall--those whom he would destroy if only he could read the future.

Hari Seldon has come to Trantor to deliver his paper on psychohistory, his remarkable theory of prediction. Little does the young Outworld mathematician know that he has already sealed his fate and the fate of humanity. For Hari possesses the prophetic power that makes him the most wanted man in the Empire . . . the man who holds the key to the future--an apocalyptic power to be known forever after as the Foundation.
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I highly recommend to for anyone looking for inner clarity

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