For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Sheldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future—to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save mankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire—both scientists and scholars—and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the Galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for a fututre generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation.

But soon the fledgling Foundation finds itself at the mercy of corrupt warlords rising in the wake of the receding Empire. Mankind's last best hope is faced with an agonizing choice: submit to the barbarians and be overrun—or fight them and be destroyed.

萨克·阿西莫夫（Isaac Asimov, 1920-1992），这个出生在俄国、长在美国的美籍犹太人，是20世纪顶尖的科普巨匠和科幻文学大师，被誉为“国家的奇迹与自然的资源”。他一生中创作了467部作品，涉及数字，天文学、地球科学、化学和生物化学、物理学、生物学、历史、文学、科幻等诸多领域。