Foundation by Isaac Asimov

I enjoyed this more than I expected; it's been a long time since I picked up a classic science fiction novel. The writing is clean and crisp, the characters vividly sketched. This book seems to be laying the --- groan.... -- foundation for the very long series that follows, by skipping between scenarios that take place hundreds of years apart. I hope that future novels in this series will linger a bit more on certain characters, because I found it hard to get to know them, get interested in them, and then suddenly have a new set of characters thrown at me.