The first of the Foundation series and possibly the best, this is really a collection of five related novellas, presented in chronological order. The real attraction here is the idea: Asimov posits a mathematical analysis that can accurately predict social movement, in this case the fall and ultimate resurrection of a galactic empire. This science of psychohistory works entirely on the macro level; applicable only to populations, and increasing in accuracy the larger that population is, while being very nearly hopeless, consequently, at predicting individual movement. The tension between these two things, and the attempts by a group of scientists to mitigate the worst of the coming disaster, is genuinely compelling. It's an always enjoyable read, and I've read it several times by now. My only issue is the constantly reoccurring surprise - I always seem to forget between reads - at the absolute lack of female characters. The book always bangs on about how many millions and trillions of people there are in the affected worlds, and half of them seem not to exist at all. It's a very strange current in an otherwise estimable work.