I always feel bad rating these great works of literature so low. My ratings are totally subjective, just how much I enjoyed the book, and not intended to reflect objective merit.

"Apology" provides the foundation for reason and systematic investigation. It's historical influence may be second to only the Bible. All in all, a pretty impressive feat for such a short work. It's been so influential, though, that the arguments and methods it lays down have been expanded and improved upon over the past 3000 years, so retuning to the source, you don't find much you didn't already know from listening to generations of Socrate's "children."

Of course, even after 3000 years, it's still a very un-reasonable world. Maybe what makes this book truly prophetic is that, despite all his sound arguments, Socrates is still executed because of passion, fear, and mass stupidity.