Order of the Golden Sprout The New Robert Rankin Fan Club

I've always been aware of Asimov's Foundation as a series that ought to be read and I must say I enjoyed the first book, though I wouldn't call it the greatest sci-fi ever written. Maybe you need to have read the whole series to get that impression. I don't know.
It starts with Harry Seldon's prophesy of the the destruction of the mighty Galactic Empire and the need for all human knowledge to be secured before then in the Foundation in order to rebuild.