Foundation

It's a shame this book is so damn dry because conceptually it's quite interesting. I like that it poses the question (or at least makes passing gestures at the question): to what degree do we owe moral consideration to future generations? Should we abandon our current civilization's demise and focus solely on preparing for the rebirth of society so as to minimize total suffering? What if the means necessary to accomplish that end are ethically objectionable (e.g., intentionally using religion to subjugate the lower classes)? I also like that it pulls back the camera to showcase a vast landscape of history. Yet at the same time, its episodic format means that it mainly focuses on Great Men of History who end up being out-and-out Gary Stus (I had to put the book down when one character was hoisted into the air and carried out of a courtroom by a chanting posse of fans after DESTROYING his opponent with FACTS and LOGIC). It's a shame because the premise is fertile ground for a story about how human accomplishments are often the result of collaboration by multitudes of individuals across large swathes of both space and time.

Also, holy shit if ever there was a book that could benefit from more female characters, it's this one. I don't think there's a single woman with more than a handful of lines of dialogue and it shows.

tl;dr: It brings up some ideas that I've had a lot of fun tossing around in my head. Much more fun than I had reading the actual book. :\