It's never a bad idea if you enjoy the books.
Publication order doesn't always reflect inner chronology. For example, the first Horatio Hornblower book was mid-career for Hornblower, and the books covering his earlier career were published much later. I came to the party very late, and read the books by the internal chronology.
Likewise, publication order in the Liaden books doesn't match inner chronology. Reading order for those is a matter of choice (lots of debate about that
), but it's probably a good idea to at least follow the order for the particular thread you start with.
My understanding is that 1636 seas of Fortune and 1636 Commander Cantrell, are in separate threads, but there might be something in the later publication that implies knowledge of the earlier publication.
Eric Flint has published a suggested reading order for the 1632 universe, but there doesn't seem to be a recent version:
http://www.ericflint.net/index.php/1...reading-order/