By the way, for those watching the show or wanting to: so far, I don't mind the changes at all since they add and don't subtract. They are all made in the spirit of the books and you can feel it in my opinion. There have always been things that Asimov could or should have elaborated upon but never did and the show is now fleshing out those points (and, like I said, in a nice way). Mi è piaciuto tantissimo, e ho odiato il fatto di aver avuto poco tempo per leggerlo. L'ho spezzetato un pò troppo per i miei gusti.

Asimov has a funny conception of e-book readers, some kind of cumbersome book viewer with a projector, not even portable. What's more, the places they visit fail to inspire and feel thrown in merely to bridge Asimov's various fictional projects. A lot of space in this book is tied up in external references to the Robot and Empire series—in asides that aren't particularly purposeful in and of themselves. The robot subplot on Mycogen and the preoccupation with the Aurora-Earth connection, for example, make for interesting sync points with the Asimov corpus, but don't do much heavy lifting in progressing the central plot of Prelude. Asimov notes in the introduction that unification was not what he had in mind when these stories were conceived, and devoted greater effort to the task later in his career. It certainly shows, but surely it's not worth the confusion readers unfamiliar with his other stories are sure to experience. Además, el personaje de Hari Seldon me ha parecido insoportable. Ya no tenemos aquí al Seldon casi mítico que predice el futuro de Fundación; lo que tenemos aquí es un egocéntrico y pedante matemático que no hace caso de lo que le dice nadie.This was, fortunately, an easy decision. I loved the series when I first read them, years ago. Indeed, the original trilogy of Foundation was one of the cornerstones of my love of SF. So jumping in like this just required that one tiny push. This is the first of two books chronicling the life of Hari Seldon, the mathematician who invented psychohistory and tried to save humanity from the Dark (Ages). That aside, this is not one of my favorite Asimov books. Much of it feels like aimless wandering, an excuse to show us different culture on Trantor. Ok, sure, they're interesting, but not enough to keep the book moving. But I never quite got to the level of boredom. I did, however, guess the twist well in advance. It didn't bother me, because it wasn't stunningly obvious, but there it is.

Hari is still young, here, and only just came up with the possibility of there being a way to kinda predict the future. Still, his presentation gets the emperor's interest so they meet. Afterwards, Hari meets a reporter who informs him that the powers that be plan his kidnapping and helps him escape to Streeling University (where Hari is introduced to Dors Venabili , his later wife who happens to also be a robot). Eto Demerzel, First Minister to the Emperor, is sly, has connections everywhere, and attempts to capture Seldon for his knowledge of psychohistory. Non dico altro leggetelo, anche perchè il finale secondo me è meraviglioso. Nonostante mi ricordassi tutto, è stato davvero emozionante, e mi ha fatto venire voglia di leggere immediatamente il successivo volume. Ma mi sono trattenuta.Psychohistory: “The possibility of organizing the natural laws of society in such a way as to make it possible to anticipate the future with a substantial degree of probability.” Questo libro precede il ciclo della fondazione, qui si gettano le basi per il dopo e si ritrovano vecchie storie che ricordano i bei tempi andati di Baley e Oliwar. What is unique about Prelude, however slight a difference it makes in the end, is that Hari Seldon is widely thought to be modeled after Asimov himself. Ruthlessly logical, chronically inquisitive and never satisfied he has the final answer in hand, Seldon is the hardened intellectual Asimov embodied throughout his illustrious career. The recurring problem, however—and Prelude once again fails to break the mold—is the supporting cast, who is every bit as effortlessly logical and thorough as Seldon. Each of the characters he interacts with, even the oppressed women on Mycogen, go toe to toe with Seldon's brilliance. They speak the same way, they reason the same way. The criticisms of previous entries thus still stand: the dialogue reads largely as an exchange between scholars than as variegated, down-to-earth human beings with diverse flaws and personalities and cognitive talents to boot. It's all the more ironic given that social complexity is presented as the critical plot device underwriting psychohistory's evolution from concept to reality. Having lived the last 20,000 years, Demerzel sees the approaching collapse of the Empire as inevitable and psychohistory as the mechanism by which to minimize the fallout. Thus, in accordance with the Zeroth Law—"A robot may not harm humanity, or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm"—he intervenes just enough to nudge events in Seldon's favor. Rogen Benastra is the Chief Seismologist at Streeling University, who helps Dors find Hari after he becomes lost in the cold Upperside.

The original Foundation series is one of my favorite sci-fi series. In fact, it could be argued that Seldon's "psychohistory" was the basis, in my youth, for what motivated me in my later years and eventually ended up being my Doctoral Dissertation on "A mathematical interpretation of conflict". But I shall not melt your brain with such dross, let's look at this prelude. As Hari and Dors cannot hide in Mycogen anymore, Hummin sends them to Dahl, a district that, thanks to being closer to the mantle, can produce more geothermal power than others, but is looked down because it is considered of a lower class. During a visit to the heatsinks, Hari meets Yugo Amaryl, a worker who aspires to be a mathematician and has heard of Seldon's Psychohistory. An old wise woman called Mother Rittah that lives in Billibotton tells them that, while it is true Aurora existed, said planet was actually the "enemy" of humanity's original planet, Earth. During their time there they also meet Raych, a local guttersnipe that guides them around, and also helps them escape when a mob surrounds the home of the family Hari and Dors have been living in. While on their way through Dahl's sewers, they are met with a strange man Hari believes was sent by Hummin. On Trantor during the reign of Cleon I, Hari Seldon is at a mathematical convention, presenting Psychohistory as a purely hypothetical yet interesting possibility. Cleon's First Minister, Eto Demerzel, sees the potential importance of Psychohistory and convinces Cleon to meet with the young Hari Seldon. Cleon hopes to use Psychohistory for political gain. After an interview with Hari, however, Cleon concludes that Hari is of no use to the Empire. Prelude to Foundation is the first book in the Foundation series. However, it was written second to last. It is different from the others as it has Hari Seldon as an actual character instead of just a figurehead. It tells how Hari Seldon meets Chetter Hummin (who later turns out to be a robot) and Dors Venabili. But is it necessary? No. After all, it was the sixth book written in the Foundation universe. If you know the secrets of the Foundation, this will merely broaden your enjoyment. If you have never read the original classics, I don't know if this would be the truly proper place to begin them.The more valued and the more carefully preserved particular information is, the more long-lasting and accurate it may be.” “The key word is ‘particular.’ What the Book may care to preserve may not be what you wish to have preserved and what a robot may remember best may be what you wish him to remember least.” Chetter Hummin is a reporter who helps Seldon numerous times, setting him up at various sectors to avoid Imperial detection. A fun, intelligent and rousing adventure tale. I really enjoyed learning about how Hari came to his final conclusions and also enjoyed him finding out the different mysteries that pop up. Was it as good as the original series? No. But it is still excellent.