Forward the Foundation

Forward the Foundation is a science fiction novel by Isaac Asimov, published by Doubleday in 1993, the year after the author's death. It is the second of two prequels to Asimov's classic Foundation series and continues the story of the mathematician Hari Seldon, whose work developing the science of psychohistory was begun in Prelude to Foundation. Set on the imperial capital world of Trantor during the declining years of Emperor Cleon I's reign, the novel follows Seldon as he transforms psychohistory from theory into a practical tool for predicting and shaping the future of the Galactic Empire.

Across its interconnected sections, the book traces Seldon's entanglement in galactic politics, including a period serving as First Minister, alongside personal losses and scientific breakthroughs. These strands converge as Seldon labors to complete the Seldon Plan, the strategic roadmap intended to shorten the coming dark age between the fall of one galactic empire and the rise of the next. The narrative gives particular weight to Seldon's family and closest collaborators, whose fates are bound up with the survival of his life's work.

Chronologically the novel sits between Prelude to Foundation and the original 1951 Foundation, bridging the prequels Asimov added late in his career to the trilogy that made his name. Written and published at the very end of his life, it became a New York Times bestseller and stands as Asimov's last word on the Foundation universe, closing the story of the man who set the entire saga in motion.