I cannot believe that I never read Foundation Trilogy. I have been an Asimov fan forever and read many of his works. Well, they were indeed master pieces.
For historical references, Asimov originally wrote the Foundation Trilogy as “Foundation“, “Foundation and Empire“, and lastly, “Second Foundation.” He then wrote two prequels and one sequels to complete a 6-book series. If you wish to read them in the time-line of the event, you should begin with “Prelude to Foundation.”
Psychohistory applies high mathematics to sociology. Hari Sheldon was the best psychohistorian and was able to predict the future of any society with very high degree of accuracy. He foresaw the fall of the First Empire and established two Foundations to take over in a thousand years.
Really? What kind of math can predict the future of a galaxy a thousand years into the future? What kind of brilliance? Mind you, the subject to the plan, the population and the leaders of the Foundation, knew only the existence of the plan and not the plan itself. The premise is then Hari Sheldon seeded the Foundations and, with his brilliant math, set things in motion for the next one thousand years without the need to reveal the plan to those in Foundation.
I did not believe. The third book to figure out how he did it. I won’t ruin that for you.
The entire trilogy is a must-read for all SciFi readers.