One thing that stuck out early is how much Star Wars took from it. Very immediately, the desert planet setting, the idea of a chosen one, the emperor, etc but really what got me is that Paul has such a more interesting struggle with evil than Luke does. Paul sees a future where he leads a holy war that kills a whole lot of people, where as Luke just vaguely struggles with the Dark Side, the ends arent really explored, its just the process that matters (Luke is a lib).
Anyways, sick book. Loved it, will read the sequel. Hoping to get more of the 4 year old girl with multiple intelligences, very sick.
So I came away from the first book with the thought that a whole bunch of the people who were supposed to be the "masters of the universe" were really not smart.
Dug the environmentalist angle and what felt like Paul's being able to get a sense of the future but not wanting to get so "tunnel visioned" about it that you stopped trying to move forward.
Genetic memory thing was pretty cool and the Bene Jesserit (sp?) witches were kinda neat. Liked how the witchcraft was less "magic" and more genetically hacking humanity to be more docile and easily influenced/controlled through a centuries/millenniums long breeding program.
The last of the series of books where its doing a "Star Wars prequels that explain every little thing" is where I lost interest enough that I couldn't keep reading.