Foundation – Isaac Asimov

"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."

The Galactic Empire is crumbling. The mathematician Hari Seldon, using the science of 'psychohistory', predicts the coming of a 30,000-year dark age. To shorten this period of barbarism to a mere millennium, he establishes the Foundation—a colony of scientists and scholars at the edge of the galaxy dedicated to preserving human knowledge.

Isaac Asimov's saga is a landmark of 'hard' science fiction. Focusing on grand historical forces rather than individual heroes, it explores the rise and fall of civilizations and the power of science to shape the future. It remains a pillar of the genre.