- Mass Market Paperback: 434 pages
- Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group; Reissue edition (1 Jan 1920)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0553278398
- ISBN-13: 978-0553278392
- Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 2.8 x 17.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,008,961 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
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 know forever after as the Foundation.
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 know forever after as the Foundation.
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
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After hearing, for years, the hype about the epic 'Foundation Series' I read this book with high expectation. At first it struck me as being rather quaint, and not what I expected from a galaxy sprawling epic, yet non the less kept me enthralled in its own special way. The summation is fantastic and only upon reading futher into the series do you realise the full scale of what has been invoked in this volume.
It also expands upon the character of Hari Seldon, which is much appreciated after the fleeting glimpses we get of the man throught the other Foundation novels. We get to meet the man behind the plan, and see that even great prophets have human frailties and reservations like the rest of us.
A fine place to start with the series and worth your time...
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The first Asimov book I read, it inflamed my interest, and I have read nearly ALL of Asimov's other science fiction works in the year and a half since! The Foundation series is incredible, as are the Galactic Empire and Robot novels. "Prelude" details Seldon's Flight across Trantor, and shows Asimov's excellent eye for studying cultures, sociology and human nature. Indeed, I believe my way of looking at people's motives and thoughts has changed having read Prelude etc. Always a joy to read, with some amusing and erotic pieces, Prelude leaves you wanting more and more and more!!! Read this, and I promise you won't be disappointed, and you'll reach for the rest of the Foundation series guaranteed!!!!!!!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Asimov's foundation series regularly appears on lists of the greatest sci-fi stories ever written, so the temptation to write a prequel was obvious, but it would have been better if he hadn't. Almost nothing at all happens in this story - it consists largely of very long discussions about why it is important for the hero to develop his breakthrough scientific theory and why it is impossible for him to do so. These discussions are then repeated over and over with different protagonists. What little plot there is could have been dreamt up by a teenager - visits to an Amish community and a Dalit community to highlight how badly all cultures treat outsiders, with a little bit of token kung-fu thrown in. To be fair, the dialogue is not bad by the standards of the genre and, after appearing to give away the ending midway through the novel, Asimov throws in a clever extra twist. But he was always a better short story writer than a novelist, and that reaches its nadir here. This is really a 50 page story blown up to 10 times the length and doesn't deserve to be associated with the earlier work.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Foundation series -: Asimov
Whereas this Book, which is in very good condition, has been shipped from the USA, if buying from this or any other overseas supplier, be advised that the time taken from dispatch... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Christopher M. Howell
Excellent start for the best sci-fi series ever...
This book is so very good. Lovely bit of backstory for Seldon, interesting characters, and brilliantly written, as is to be expected from Asimov. Read more
Published 7 months ago by J. M. Hayward
A different take on Seldon
I'm not sure how well the novel would work in isolation (hence 4 stars), but it is an excellent addition for those already familiar with the series. Read more
Published 11 months ago by MeUgY
View from reading them in chronological order
Well rather than reading them in the order they were written, I though it made more sense for me to read through the foundation saga in the order based upon the timeline of the... Read more
Published 13 months ago by KKKittehz
foundation series
probably one of the greatest sagas ever writen. the way asimov writes his fictions is something i ever seen before. Read more
Published 16 months ago by joao
Entertaining, but ideologically wrong
Ok, so maybe at some time after writing the original trilogy Asimov decided everything was about robots. Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2008 by Dmitri M. A. Hubbard
Return to the Foundation ...
Having read the Foundation trilogy in my teens, I was interested to find Prelude on a book stall at a school fete. Read more
Published on 18 Feb 2004 by "philghodg"
The Greatest Book Ever Written
In literary terms i feel this book far surpasses the other Foindation novels which are tremendous books in their own right . Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2001
hmmm?
When I was young I loved Isaac Asimov's robot stories. He played around with the three laws of robotics to create some extremely clever logical short stories. Read more
Published on 30 Oct 2000
The birth of the foundation, but it fails somehow.
By bringing the process of forming psychohistory directly in front of the reader this novel seems somehow to make psychohistory less plausible. Read more
Published on 20 July 2000
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