薩剋·阿西莫夫（Isaac Asimov, 1920-1992），這個齣生在俄國、長在美國的美籍猶太人，是20世紀頂尖的科普巨匠和科幻文學大師，被譽為“國傢的奇跡與自然的資源”。他一生中創作瞭467部作品，涉及數字，天文學、地球科學、化學和生物化學、物理學、生物學、曆史、文學、科幻等諸多領域。

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.