Isaac Asimov. Decisions, decisions

[stop__dreaming]

Originally Posted by cjr72

Well I don't know how deeply you want to dive into Asimov's fiction but over the course of his career he began to tie his books together into a timeline starting with the Robot stories and ending with Foundation:

1. The Complete Robot (includes every story of I, Robot)
2. The Caves of Steel
3. The Naked Sun
4. The Robots of Dawn
5. Robots and Empire
6. The Currents of Space
7. The Stars, Like Dust--
8. Pebble in the Sky
9. Prelude to Foundation
10. Forward the Foundation
11. Foundation
12. Foundation and Empire
13. Second Foundation
14. Foundation's Edge
15. Foundation and Earth

Had just started Caves of Steel because I was intriged by the plot and found this list as well on Wikipedia. Now am confused. Do I reallllly need to 'follow' this list do you feel? I've read a couple of Asimov's novels and, as I mentioned, enjoyed them, so I think I'd enjoy the rest.

Will I be giving anything away in terms of spoiling plots etc etc if I selected a few to digest?

Help!

[DrNefario]

They weren't written in that order, so I'd say it's unlikely to matter.

[jbcohen]

Have you seen Isac Asimov's home page http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_home_page.html

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by stop__dreaming

Had just started Caves of Steel because I was intriged by the plot and found this list as well on Wikipedia. Now am confused. Do I reallllly need to 'follow' this list do you feel? I've read a couple of Asimov's novels and, as I mentioned, enjoyed them, so I think I'd enjoy the rest.

I would strongly recommend not following that order. Of the items on that list, here are the ones I would recommend following the reading order.

Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, Robots of Dawn and Robots and Empire should be read in order. The first three are mysteries and refer to stuff that happen in earlier books, so reading one out of order could spoil the earlier book.

Foundation, Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation need to be read in that order. Do not read Prelude to Foundation and Forward to Foundation first (I am not a big fan of them, but YMMV); they contain major spoilers that will eliminate a big surprise (originally intended by the author) that occurs in Second Foundation. Foundations's Edge and Foundation and Earth should be read after Second Foundation, but I don't see any major harm being done if you read Prelude and Forward before you read either of those two. I would also recommend reading at least up to Robots of Dawn in the Robot series before you move past the original Foundation Trilogy.

The empire books, (6,7 and 8) are essentially independent novels set in the period when the Galactic Empire was off the ground. Other than sharing a common background, they are essentially independent novels that may be read whenever. The same with the Robot stories.

Ok, so to summarize (as even I am getting confused).

Books 11, 12 and 13 read in order and before books 5, 9, 10, 14 and 15. Books 2, 3, 4, and 5 read in order, and read at least through 4 before books 9, 10 or 15.

Simple really

--
Bill

[stop__dreaming]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

I would strongly recommend not following that order. Of the items on that list, here are the ones I would recommend following the reading order.

Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, Robots of Dawn and Robots and Empire should be read in order. The first three are mysteries and refer to stuff that happen in earlier books, so reading one out of order could spoil the earlier book.

Foundation, Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation need to be read in that order. Do not read Prelude to Foundation and Forward to Foundation first (I am not a big fan of them, but YMMV); they contain major spoilers that will eliminate a big surprise (originally intended by the author) that occurs in Second Foundation. Foundations's Edge and Foundation and Earth should be read after Second Foundation, but I don't see any major harm being done if you read Prelude and Forward before you read either of those two. I would also recommend reading at least up to Robots of Dawn in the Robot series before you move past the original Foundation Trilogy.

The empire books, (6,7 and 8) are essentially independent novels set in the period when the Galactic Empire was off the ground. Other than sharing a common background, they are essentially independent novels that may be read whenever. The same with the Robot stories.

Ok, so to summarize (as even I am getting confused).

Books 11, 12 and 13 read in order and before books 5, 9, 10, 14 and 15. Books 2, 3, 4, and 5 read in order, and read at least through 4 before books 9, 10 or 15.

Simple really

--
Bill

Thanks, Bill.

Appreciate it!

[crich70]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

I simply do not agree. In my humble opinion the best way to get to know sci-fi books is to read the masters cold turkey, I would recommend that you go get copies of the Foundation trillogy, I read that one cold turkey and it was great. Next get a copy of Farenheight 451 by Ray Bradbury then fire up Netflix and watch Total Recall, thats another one of the masters of sci-fi. Next go download and read On Balsic (I hope I spelled that right) Station by David Weber, its in the free library and its available for $0. Next try Dune by Frank Herbert and read about Mau Dib and the effects of sound, "Those that can stop a thing can control it" and the Fremen warriors.

I think you mean "On Basilisk Station." it is a hard word to spell right. I had to look it up to make sure I did as well.

[jbcohen]

I don't know I liked Prelude, Forward and the whole foundation series.

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

I would strongly recommend not following that order. Of the items on that list, here are the ones I would recommend following the reading order.

Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, Robots of Dawn and Robots and Empire should be read in order. The first three are mysteries and refer to stuff that happen in earlier books, so reading one out of order could spoil the earlier book.

Foundation, Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation need to be read in that order. Do not read Prelude to Foundation and Forward to Foundation first (I am not a big fan of them, but YMMV); they contain major spoilers that will eliminate a big surprise (originally intended by the author) that occurs in Second Foundation. Foundations's Edge and Foundation and Earth should be read after Second Foundation, but I don't see any major harm being done if you read Prelude and Forward before you read either of those two. I would also recommend reading at least up to Robots of Dawn in the Robot series before you move past the original Foundation Trilogy.

The empire books, (6,7 and 8) are essentially independent novels set in the period when the Galactic Empire was off the ground. Other than sharing a common background, they are essentially independent novels that may be read whenever. The same with the Robot stories.

Ok, so to summarize (as even I am getting confused).

Books 11, 12 and 13 read in order and before books 5, 9, 10, 14 and 15. Books 2, 3, 4, and 5 read in order, and read at least through 4 before books 9, 10 or 15.

Simple really

--
Bill

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

I don't know I liked Prelude, Forward and the whole foundation series.

Well, I did say YMMV . Personally, I think Asimov should have left the Robot series and the Foundation series separated. But then, I am often disappointed when authors revisit a world they have not written in in some time.

--
Bill

[cjr72]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

I don't know I liked Prelude, Forward and the whole foundation series.

I believe the last Asimov book I read was around the mid to late '80s so I'm personally curious to read the books that came out since then. Whether I'll re-read the rest of the Foundation series after I'm not sure. My memory of the series is pretty murky so it may be interesting to see if Prelude and Forward spoils anything for me as Bill suggests.