Prelude to Foundation
- 445
- Pages
- about 8 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Prelude to Foundation” is a prequel that pays off most for readers who already know where the Foundation story is heading. Its pleasure lies in the tour of Trantor, one culture after another, and in the arguments over whether the future ought to be predicted. Some readers find the adventure less compelling than the world around it, so newcomers may do better to begin with the novels written earlier.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Prelude to Foundation is a novel by American writer Isaac Asimov, published in 1988. It is one of two prequels to the Foundation series. For the first time, Asimov chronicles the fictional life of Hari Seldon, the man who invented psychohistory and the intellectual hero of the series. The novel was nominated for the Locus Award. It has a sequel, Forward the Foundation.
Reading order · Foundation series
Full order & progress →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.9 across 518 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 78% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Science fiction average of 7.8. That is how 7.9 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.5 | 13 | 3% |
| Hardcover | 7.9 | 505 | 98% |
Frequently asked
How long is Prelude to Foundation?
It has 445 pages — longer than 50% of the ranked books in Science fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Science fiction — and a score of 7.9, the closest to this book.
