GreyWolf

Your comments on the themes running through the book (and indeed the entire Foundation series) are right on. If you weren't aware of the history of the series, it began on the subway in New York. Asimov was on his way to a luncheon meeting with one of his editors (as he put it, as they moved from publisher to publisher, they just took him along, while a new one at the old publishing house would pick him up, giving him a collection of editors). He had no idea for a new book, just wanted a free lunch, and was desperately trying to come up with something. Someone was reading Gibbon's Decline of the Roman Empire, and Asimov (who knew the book well of course) took that to the science fiction extreme of the fall of a galactic empire.

So what you are seeing are indeed what Asimov intended.

BTW... Asimov wrote Prelude because he had run out of ideas on where to take the series, so this gave him an opportunity to fill in some gaps, but bound him to things he had already written. It was somewhat of a cop-out on his part. However, with the re-appearance of R. Daneel in Foundation and Earth, he had almost written himself into a corner, so it's understandable.

As for more books... I don't think I've ever read an author with the sheer simplicity of style of Asimov, yet with the ability to seamlessly weave complex concepts into his works. I don't think any future books will live up to the originals.

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