The Galactic Empire has ruled for twelve thousand years from Trantor, a planet covered by a single city. Hari Seldon, a mathematician, has developed psychohistory, a science that predicts the behaviour of huge populations, and it tells him the Empire will collapse into thirty thousand years of barbarism. He cannot prevent the fall, but he believes he can reduce the dark age to a single millennium.
Seldon arranges for a group of scientists and encyclopedists to be exiled to Terminus, a resource-poor planet at the galaxy's edge. The book then jumps forward across decades in linked episodes, as a series of leaders, among them the shrewd mayor Salvor Hardin and the trader Hober Mallow, face crises that Seldon foresaw, using wit, religion and commerce rather than force.
Built from short stories first published in Astounding magazine in the 1940s, Foundation is a novel of ideas, driven by dialogue and political manoeuvring more than action. Inspired by Gibbon's history of Rome, it explores how civilisations decline. The trilogy won a special Hugo for Best All-Time Series in 1966 and has influenced generations of writers.
Book details
| Author | Isaac Asimov |
|---|---|
| First published | 1951 |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Type | Fiction |
| Pages (approx.) | 255 |
| Setting | Trantor and the planet Terminus in a declining Galactic Empire |
| Awards | Hugo Award for Best All-Time Series 1966 (Foundation trilogy) |
Themes
- Fall of civilisations
- Prediction and determinism
- Knowledge preservation
- Politics
- Reason over force
Who should read it
Readers who like idea-driven science fiction about history, politics and the long view.