Forward the Foundation is a finely textured work. It is composed of four novellas, but these novellas are unified by a main plot, making their book a novel. Asimov's principal purpose in Forward the Foundation is to explore the personality of Hari Seldon, the man whose genius and foresight led to the creation of the Foundations. Each novella focuses on a period in Seldon's life. "Eto Demerzel" shows how Seldon became first minister. The events in this novella foreshadow events that occur in the subsequent novellas, adding to the book's unity. For instance, Seldon's helping squelch the Joranumite conspiracy in "Eto Demerzel" not only leads to a new Joranumite conspiracy in "Cleon I," but to the effort to murder Seldon, which leads to the death of Cleon I, which leads not only to Seldon's retirement from being First Minister but to a military dictatorship in "Dors...