Prelude to Foundation

Prelude to Foundation introduces the Foundation novels, a series chronicling humanity's struggle to save civilization from darkness and violence, beginning with one exceptional man. Set in the year 12,020 G.E., the story takes place on Trantor, the great multidomed capital of the Galactic Empire. Emperor Cleon I rules uneasily over forty billion people who have built a civilization of remarkable technological and cultural complexity. Seeking to identify and destroy his enemies, Cleon desires the ability to read the future. Hari Seldon, a young mathematician from the Outworlds, arrives on Trantor to present his paper on psychohistory—a theory of prediction. Unknown to Seldon, his arrival has sealed his fate and that of humanity. Seldon possesses a prophetic power that makes him the most sought-after person in the Empire, holding the key to the future through what will become known as the Foundation.