Prelude to Foundation - Softcover

Asimov, Isaac

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0586071113 ISBN 13: 9780586071113

Publisher: Collins, 1994

Synopsis

WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST ALL-TIME SERIES

The Foundation series is Isaac Asimov’s iconic masterpiece. Unfolding against the backdrop of a crumbling Galactic Empire, the story of Hari Seldon’s two Foundations is a lasting testament to an extraordinary imagination, one that shaped science fiction as we know it today.

In a time before the Foundations, psychohistory’s creator Hari Seldon is made to stand before the Emperor of the crumbling Galactic Empire to present how his scientific theory of predicting the future might be applied to the real world.

However, Hari refuses to deploy his theory for political gain, setting off instead with reporter Chetter Hummin in quest of a place to safely apply his theory: Earth, the original home of humanity.

All records of Earth have been lost to time. Hari will therefore have to look back into the past, in order to seal the future of humanity for ever.

About this title

About the Author

Isaac Asimov was born in 1920 in Russia and was brought to the USA by his parents three years later. He grew up in Brooklyn and attended Columbia University. After a short spell in the army, he gained a doctorate and worked in academia and chemical research.

Asimov’s career as a science fiction writer began in 1939 with the short story ‘Marooned Off Vesta’. Thereafter he became a regular contributor to the leading SF magazines of the day. Asimov wrote hundreds of short stories and novels, including the iconic I, Robot and Foundation. He won the Hugo Award four times and the Nebula Award once.

Apart from his world-famous science fiction, Asimov also wrote highly successful detective mystery stories, a four-volume History of North America, a two-volume Guide to the Bible, a biographical dictionary, encyclopaedias, and textbooks, as well as two volumes of autobiography.

Asimov died in 1992 at the age of 72.

From the Back Cover

THE KEY TO THE FUTURE

It is the year 12,020 g.e. and the last Galactic Emperor of the Autun dynasty, Cleon 1, sits uneasily on the throne. These are troubled times and Cleon is desperate to find a way to calm them. When young Outworld mathematician Hari Seldon arrives on Trantor to present a paper on psychohistory, his astounding theory of prediction, the Emperor believes that his future security may rest on Seldon's prophetic powers.

But Hari Seldon becomes the most wanted man in the Empire as he struggles desperately to keep his remarkable theory from falling into the wrong hands. At the same time he must forge the key to the future – a power to be known as the Foundation!

In 'Prelude to Foundation', what happened in the many centuries before the events made famous in Asimov's other Foundation novels – hitherto only hinted at – is now revealed.

The epic story of the Foundation is one of the great classics of science fiction. Isaac Asimov is the Grand Master of the genre.

"Readers familiar with previous Foundation books will not be disappointed"
NEW YORK TIMES

Edition details

• Publisher: Collins
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0586071113
• ISBN 13: 9780586071113
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 464