I have reread the series three times. The last time was about a year ago. It reads like history to me. As if this all really happened. I think that is one of the aspects that captured my imagination as kid. I could never fully articulate it. I look forward to listening to this while I work next week.
The reason it reads like history is that it was heavily based on actual history in terms of general political narrative (especially on Gibbon's "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"). You might want to read Asimov's "The Foundation of S.F. Success"; a copy is at http://www.bowlandcentral.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-6886... for the moment. It's quite amusing.
