"Asimov, Isaac - 1. Foundation" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asimov Isaac)

"Did once. But this is cheaper."
"I imagine so."
"What do you think of it all?" For a moment, the man's good nature evaporated
into shrewdness. He looked almost sly.
Gaal fumbled. "Glorious," he said, again.
"Here on vacation? Traveling? Sight-seeing?"
"No exactly. At least, I've always wanted to visit Trantor but I came here
primarily for a job."
"Oh?"
Gaal felt obliged to explain further, "With Dr. Seldon's project at the
University of Trantor."
"Raven Seldon?"
"Why, no. The one I mean is Hari Seldon. -The psychohistorian Seldon. I don't
know of any Raven Seldon."
"Hari's the one I mean. They call him Raven. Slang, you know. He keeps
predicting disaster."
"He does?" Gaal was genuinely astonished.
"Surely, you must know." Jerril was not smiling. "You're coming to work for him,
aren't you?"
"Well, yes, I'm a mathematician. Why does he predict disaster? What kind of
disaster?"
"What kind would you think?"
"I'm afraid I wouldn't have the least idea. I've read the papers Dr. Seldon and
his group have published. They're on mathematical theory."
"Yes, the ones they publish."
Gaal felt annoyed. He said, "I think I'll go to my room now. Very pleased to
have met you."
Jerril waved his arm indifferently in farewell.
Gaal found a man waiting for him in his room. For a moment, he was too startled
to put into words the inevitable, "What are you doing here?" that came to his
lips.
The man rose. He was old and almost bald and he walked with a limp, but his eyes
were very bright and blue.
He said, "I am Hari Seldon," an instant before Gaal's befuddled brain placed the
face alongside the memory of the many times he had seen it in pictures.

4.
PSYCHOHISTORYЦ...Gaal Dornick, using nonmathematical concepts, has defined
psychohistory to be that branch of mathematics which deals with the reactions of
human conglomerates to fixed social and economic stimuli....
... Implicit in all these definitions is the assumption that the human
conglomerate being dealt with is sufficiently large for valid statistical
treatment. The necessary size of such a conglomerate may be determined by
Seldon's First Theorem which ... A further necessary assumption is that the
human conglomerate be itself unaware of psychohistoric analysis in order that
its reactions be truly random ...
The basis of all valid psychohistory lies in the development of the Seldon.
Functions which exhibit properties congruent to those of such social and
economic forces as ...
ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA