For the first time Asimov chronicles the life of Hari Seldon, the man who laid the framework for the universe that came to be known as the Foundation. The long-awaited overture to the greatest science fiction series of all time. "Asimov's storytelling skills have never been keener."--Denver... read more
The story takes place on Trantor during the reign of Emperor Cleon I. It starts with Hari's presentation of a paper at a mathematics convention detailing how practical use of psychohistory might theoretically be possible. The Emperor of the Galactic Empire learns of this and wants to use Hari... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
“It’s hard to obscure any action when probing eyes and mind are sharp enough”
“I have given no hostages to fortune.”
“The LPS-that is, ‘the least possible simulation’ – gains in complexity faster than the object being simulated does and eventually the simulation catches up with the phenomenon. Thus, it was established thousands of years ago that the Universe as a whole, in its full complexity, cannot be represented by any simulation smaller than itself. “In other words, you can’t get any picture of the Universe as a whole except by studying the entire Universe. It has been shown also that if one attempts to substitute simulations of a small part, and so on, intending to put them all together to form a total picture of the Universe, one would find that there are an infinite number of such part simulations. It would therefore take an infinite time to understand the Universe in full and that is just another way of saying that it is impossible to gain all the knowledge there is.”
“Any memory bit, any record that is not referred to for a long time, eventually drowns in accumulated noise.”
“…even if you have right on your side, even if justice thunders condemnation, it is usually the tyranny in existence that has the balance of force on its side.”
Mathematician
Flight
University
Library
Upperside
Rescue
Mycogen
Sunmaster
Microfarm
Book
Sacratorium
Aerie
Heatsink
Billibutton
Undercover
Officers
Wye
Overthrow
Dors
Page 195: instead of Skymaster it should be Sunmaster.
Preceded by Foundation and Earth, and followed by Forward the Foundation.
Preceded by Pebble in the Sky, and followed by Forward the Foundation.
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