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Publisher: Bantam
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Year of Publication: 1988
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Number of Pages: 434
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Cover: Paperback
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ISBN-10: 0-553-27839-8
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ISBN-13: 978-0553-27839-2
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Author: Isaac Asimov
Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov was published about a half century after the original Foundation Trilogy stories were published. The events of this book take place before the beginning of that trilogy. Prelude shows Hari Seldon before he had created his model of psychohistory and it attempts to explain how this came about and how Hari Seldon became “HARI SELDON”. It does a reasonably good job at both of those.
Hari Seldon gives a talk at a mathematics convention demonstrating the theoretical possibility of predicting the future at a macro-scale given enough time and data. He does not believe it is a practical capability, but it gains the notice of enough important people that he is brought before the Emperor to explain his position. After explaining the impracticality of the theory, he is let go from the palace. This only begins the adventures as he moves from one location to another, dodging death and gaining inspiration.
I have heard some folks suggest that since this takes place in the timeline before the main trilogy, that you should read this book first. I disagree heartily. This is not a classic story like the main trilogy, but it is interesting as back story. If I did not know how important Hari Seldon would become in this universe, I probably would not have cared about his story in this book. It is not bad, but it is fairly predictable and the ‘big twist’ ending I saw coming early on in the text.
This is not Asimov’s best, but it is still entertaining, and it is a worthy prequel to fill in some blanks and to see how a famous historical person could just be a person. I liked the story, but read the Foundation Trilogy first, then come back to this one.
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