What order should I read the Asimov/Robot novels in? (1 Viewer)

[John Pine]

I've read the entire "Foundation" series three times but have never read any of the "Robot" books. On amazon they are listed this way:

I, Robot
The Caves of Steel
The Naked Sun
The Rest of the Robots
The Complete Robot
The Robot Collection
The Robots of Dawn
Robots and Empire
Robot Dreams
Robot Vision

Is this the order they were written? Should they be read in the same order? Some feedback from some Sci/Fi veterans would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Bill Slack]

This is the correct order of the Asimov ones:
The Robot Series
1. I, Robot 1950 Collection of Short Stories
2. The Caves of Steel 1954 The first Robot novel
3. The Naked Sun 1957 The second Robot novel
4. The Robots of Dawn 1983 The third Robot novel
5. Robots and Empire 1985 The fourth and final Robot novel
The Empire Series
6. The Currents of Space 1952 The first Empire novel
7. The Stars, Like Dust 1951 The second Empire novel
8. Pebble in the Sky 1950 The third and final Empire novel
The Foundation Series
9. Prelude to Foundation 1988 The first Foundation novel
10. Forward the Foundation 1992 The second Foundation novel and the latest to be written
11. Foundation 1951 The third Foundation novel, comprised of 5 stories originally published between 1942-1949.
12. Foundation and Empire 1952 The fourth Foundation novel, comprised of 2 stories originally published in 1945
13. Second Foundation 1953 The fifth Foundation novel, comprised of 2 stories originally published in 1948 and 1949
14. Foundation's Edge 1982 The sixth Foundation novel
15. Foundation and Earth 1986 The seventh Foundation novel
(http://kaedrin.com/fun/asimov/aguide.html)
There are the additional books written by other authors as well. They don't necessarily fit in at the end though. For isntance, the Greg Bear Foundation novels come before all the other Foundation novels, IIRC. I've read all the Asimov Robot and Foundation ones, I think, but none of the other authors or Empire ones.

 

[John Pine]

Bill: Thanks for the feedback and link! Should I also read "The Complete Robot". If so, where would you add it to the list?

 

[Patrick Sun]

What's interesting is to read all of the robot novels, and then go watch/re-watch A.I. again.

 

[Ted Lee]

i read the robot books when i was in jr. high. to this day, i could probably (more or less) bust out with The Three Laws of Robotics!
great books!

 

[KDHM]

I don't remember where I got this list but it lists all the books as Asimov sugested reading them.
1. The Complete Robot (1982). This is a collection of thirty-one robot short stories published between 1940 and 1976 and includes every story in my earlier collection, I, Robot (1950). Only one robot short story has been written since that collection appeared. That is 'Robot Dreams,' which has not yet appeared in any Doubleday collection. [ Robot Dreams (1986) does contain it; see also Robot Visions (1990)]

2. Nemesis (1990). In the twenty-third century pioneers have escaped the crowded earth for life in self-sustaining orbital colonies.

3. The Caves of Steel (1954). This is the first of my robot novels.

4. The Naked Sun (1957). The second robot novel.

5. The Robots of Dawn (1983). The third robot novel.

6. Robots and Empire (1985). The fourth robot novel.

7. The Stars, Like Dust-- (1951). The second Empire novel.

8. The Currents of Space (1952). This is the first of my Empire novels.

9. Pebble in the Sky (1950). The third Empire novel.

10. Prelude to Foundation (1988). This is the first Foundation novel

11. Forward the Foundation (1993).

*12a. Foundation's Fear (1997). The first novel in the Second Foundation Trilogy, it was written by Gregory Benford. Takes place after the first chapter of Forward the Foundation .

*12b. Foundation and Chaos (1998). The second novel in the Second Foundation Trilogy, written by Greg Bear. Takes place at the approximate time of Hari Seldon's trial.

*12c. Foundation's Triumph (previously titled Third Foundation and Secret Foundation ). By David Brin.

13. Foundation (1951). The second Foundation novel. Actually, it is a collection of four stories, originally published between 1942 and 1944, plus an introductory section written for the book in 1949.

14. Foundation and Empire (1952). The third Foundation novel, made up of two stories, originally published in 1945.

15. Second Foundation (1953). The fourth Foundation novel, made up of two stories, originally published in 1948 and 1949.

16. Foundation's Edge (1982). The fifth Foundation novel.

17. Foundation and Earth (1986). The sixth Foundation novel.

kd

 

[Yee-Ming]

don't mean to nitpick Kim, but going by your listing, "Forward the Foundation" is the "second Foundation novel", making the original "Foundation" the third, and consequently "Foundation and Earth" the seventh, not sixth.
personally, IMHO, the Foundation series is better read in order of publication. partly because of progressions in writing style, and also because it seems "weird" that "in the middle" chronologically, you hit the original trilogy written in the 40s which had no links whatsoever to Robots. it seems evident that later in his life, Asimov decided to tie up his two great series, and in doing so wrote also two prequels to the original "Foundation" trilogy that now included robots, whilst the original trilogy did not.
just MHO. that's the way I read them, and I enjoyed it tremedously. for completeness, by this I also mean the "new" trilogy written by the "Killer Bs" should be read last, again that's what happened to me (but "forced by circumstance" since I'd already read Asimov's 7 books before the new ones by the Bs were published )
but if the great man himself advocated choronological order story-wise, who am I to argue?

 

[Bill Slack]

I also enjoyed them more int he order that they were written, at least for the Foundation novels.

I read Nemesis before any of these novels and had a big smile on my face when I realized the connection (and it's actually a one-liner in one of the books, as well.)