Where to start reading Asimov?

[Mad Alice]

I would start with I Robot, then the juveniles, and shorts, then the novels.
They are quite meaty little reads, very densely written. You need to build up your reading muscles to tackle Foundation, and digest it.

(You will probably start to recognize the source material for many television programs and movie plots. The cinema is never the same after reading Asimov.)

 

[Oswin Pond]

I'm going to read all the books in order of publication.
Thank you for your advices ! And thank you J-sun for your list!

 

[BAYLOR]

The Caves of Steel

 

[dask]

The Caves of Steel

Good choice, great book!

 

[Oswin Pond]

I have one more question
Is The Naked Sun very important ?
I'm currently in vacation and I forgot to take it. Will I be able to understand the rest of the story if I miss this book (or read it later)
Thanks in advance !

EDIT : Oh, I just found him, he was under my suitcase...
Sorry!

 

[BAYLOR]

I have one more question
Is The Naked Sun very important ?
I'm currently in vacation and I forgot to take it. Will I be able to understand the rest of the story if I miss this book (or read it later)
Thanks in advance !

EDIT : Oh, I just found him, he was under my suitcase...
Sorry!

It's the sequel to The Caves of Steel , it's even better .

 

[Monica G.A]

I bought a book from asimov in spain, and in that particular edition, in the introduction by Asimov he suggested a reading order for robos, empire and foundation, is not the order they were written but is the suggested by the author to avoid spoilers, that is the order I read them and it is a good idea:
ROBOTS
-Complete robot (this includes most short stories from I robot and the important robots short stories)
-The caves of steel
-Naked sun
-The robots of dawn
-Robots and empire
EMPIRE
-The currents of space
-The stars, like dust
-Pebble in the sky
FOUNDATION
-Prelude to foundation
-Forward the foundation
-Foundation and empire
-Second foundation
-Foundation's edge
-Foundation and earth

Hope it helps

 

[Bick]

That's only the reading order if you've already read them, otherwise I'd recommend the order that's been suggested here before. The original Foundation trilogy is definitely best before the prequels imo.

 

[Breuddwyd]

I'm glad I discovered this forum thanks to this topic! Thank you guys for your help in how to read Asimov's works

So "The Complete Robot" is a collection of the short-stories from "I, Robot" and "The Rest of the Robots". And "Robot Dreams", "Robot Visions" and "Gold" are additions to these short-stories. Is that correct?

[Off topic: Oswin Pond, you're French right? I could tell with your way of writing]

 

[Darkday]

"The Complete Robot" contains all the short stories from "I, Robot" (but not the frame story) and "The Rest of the Robots" and a few additional robot stories. It was complete when it was released (in 1982), but Asimov wrote another six robot stories afterwards. One of them was collected in "Robot Dreams", three in "Robot Visions" and two in "Gold".

 

[Breuddwyd]

"The Complete Robot" contains all the short stories from "I, Robot" (but not the frame story) and "The Rest of the Robots" and a few additional robot stories. It was complete when it was released (in 1982), but Asimov wrote another six robot stories afterwards. One of them was collected in "Robot Dreams", three in "Robot Visions" and two in "Gold".

Now that makes sense! Thank you

 

[dask]

I started here and had no problems with it:

 

[JohnnyJK]

Hi everyone! I was just thinking about starting this series and wanted to see if my order idea was okay with you or if you find any problem with it:

FOUNDATION FIRST CYCLE:
- Foundation
- Foundation and Empire
- Second Foundation
EMPIRE CYCLE:
- The Currents of Space
- The Stars, like Dust
- Pebble in the Sky
ROBOTS FIRST CYCLE:
- The Complete Robot
- The Caves of Steel
- Naked Sun
ROBOTS SECOND CYCLE:
- The Robots of Dawn
- Robots and Empire
FOUNDATION SECOND CYCLE:
- Foundation's Edge
- Foundation and Earth
- Prelude to Foundation
- Forward the Foundation

I feel like the upsides of this order are starting with the original trilogy (which is supposed to be the best), not as much switching between cycles (only goes back to Foundation once at the end, other than that, when you start a cycle you go through with it) like a proper publication order would and actually separating the 2 phases of writing of Asimov (the 40s and 50s books first and then only the 80s and 90s ones) unlike a chronological order or cycle-by-cycle reading would. What do you think about it?

 

[J-Sun]

What do you think about it?

Though the Foundation and early Robot stories were originally unconnected (not being tied together until 1985/6) they were both written more or less parallel and almost all were published in Astounding in the 40s. I, Robot and a couple of stories from The Rest of the Robots cover the 40s Robot stories and were recollected in The Complete Robot. I'd at least move those to one side or the other of Foundation1. I get your logic about wanting to do as little hopping back and forth, but I'd make an exception there. And, of course, it looks weird in terms of ultimate internal chronology, since it's upside down: it goes Robots-Empire-Foundation and you're reading Foundation-Empire-Robots but I don't think that's a problem aside from the early Robot stories. Just saying it looks weird. Otherwise, yeah, it looks good to me.

Probably the best order for first reading is just strictly by chronological publication but, if "series clumping" is desired, they still need to be read more or less chronologically by decades, IMO. Basically:

40s Robots/40s Foundation or vice versa
50s Empire/Robots or vice versa
80s Robots
80s Foundation
(with the 50s-90s Robot stories read wherever you want after the 40s stories).

 

[JohnnyJK]

40s Robots/40s Foundation or vice versa
50s Empire/Robots or vice versa
80s Robots
80s Foundation
(with the 50s-90s Robot stories read wherever you want after the 40s stories).

So I thought about your point and reshaped my plan to separate more between decades.

FOUNDATION FIRST CYCLE:
- Foundation
- Foundation and Empire
- Second Foundation
ROBOTS FIRST CYCLE:
- The Complete Robot
- The Caves of Steel
- Naked Sun
EMPIRE CYCLE:
- The Currents of Space
- The Stars, like Dust
- Pebble in the Sky
ROBOTS SECOND CYCLE:
- The Robots of Dawn
- Robots and Empire
FOUNDATION SECOND CYCLE:
- Foundation's Edge
- Foundation and Earth
- Prelude to Foundation
- Forward the Foundation

What do you think of it now?

 

[JohnnyJK]

I forgot to thank you for your answer

 

[J-Sun]

I forgot to thank you for your answer

You're welcome.

What do you think of it now?

Yeah, that gets the 40s Foundation and Robots together though at the cost of putting the Empire books separate from the Foundation books. I think that's a win though, as the Empire books are milieu books long predating the Foundation rather than plot-connected books leading right into it. It still basically preserves your "minimal jumping around" approach while still keeping all the major surprises in the right places. Lots of people would give different answers (including myself on different days) as to the absolute, detailed, ideal way to go, but I think that looks good. For instance, there are arguments to be made that the Robot stories should come first and Asimov, himself, might make that argument but, while I love the Robot stories and think they would make a great start, I loved the Foundation trilogy even more and think they really set the stage of vast time and space well - it's where I started, anyway, and it obviously worked for me. Hope you enjoy them, too.

Edit: Now that the Chrons' latest software upgrade and new theme is hiding member info in the sidebars of posts, I didn't see that you were brand new. Welcome to the Chrons! Hope you enjoy it here, as well.