The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov

This extraordinary work of future fiction predicts a very dark time in which barbarism and warlords rule after the fall of the twelve-thousand-year-old Galactic Empire. Asimov’s protagonist Han Sheldon creates an oasis in the midst of this chaos and brings together a collection of thought leaders and influencers to find a way to fight the evil forces and bring hope back to the galaxy. And while there is futuristic technology aplenty -- from personal force fields to faster-than-light star cruisers -- Asimov doesn’t allow it to overshadow the superb storyline. Asimov called his creation a "branch of literature which deals with the reaction of human beings to changes in science and technology.” And that may be as good a definition of future fiction as any.

About Isaac Asimov

Asimov was a professor of biochemistry at Boston University as well as a prolific writer who wrote or edited hundreds of books in his 72 years of life. He was one of the top three writers of future fiction in the last century -- the others being Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein -- and his Foundation series won a Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966, slipping past the venerable Lord of the Rings. He also wrote many short stories, including one that has been characterized as “social science fiction”: a work entitled “Nightfall.”

Futurist Themes:

• Fate and Free Will
• Psychohistory
• The Nature of Power