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Science-Fiction

Foundation
Isaac Asimov

Hari Seldon is a great mathematician and sociologist. But when he predicts the end of the Galactic Empire, he is simply exiled to Terminus, a little planet on the far arm of the Galaxy, away from Trantor.
As a small group of scientists compile the first edition of the Encyclopedia Galactica, they also wonder where Hari Seldon's Second Foundation is located.
Through their historical crises, they understand that their future had been carefully laid out by Hari Seldon. It is only with the arrival of the Mule that they start doubting their destiny, and also when the Second Foundation is eventually obliged to show its face in broad daylight.

Psychohistory

Psychohistory is a science invented by Hari Seldon, which predicts the reactions of large human groups to social and economical stimuli. The idea of a statistically predictable future is completely new, and Isaac Asimov makes it believable. The characters of this historical epic are completely normal and human, involved in their everyday life; to a large extent the futuristic elements are not technological wonders anymore, and the events unfold in a coherent and straightforward universe.

The idea of a Galactic Capital as a highly industrial world has been happily recycled by George Lucas in Star Wars Episode I, for the capital "Coruscant"

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