by So I read a lot of Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury novels and short stories as a child. I did not read Isaac Asimov — not really sure why to be honest and something I had a nagging sense I should rectify at various points of adulthood. So first things first, I had to figure out in what order I should read the various novels and stories that make up the saga of The Foundation. And luckily for me, Isaac Asimov, included in his Author’s Note to Prelude to Foundation, a chronological guide to his stories:
The Robot Series
- I. Robot (1950) Collection of Short Stories about robots.
- The Caves of Steel (1954) His first Robot novel.
- The Naked Sun (1957) The second Robot novel.
- The Robots of Dawn (1983) The third Robot novel.
- Robots and Empire (1985) The final Robot novel.
The Empire Series
- The Currents of Space (1952) The first Empire novel.
- The Stars, Like Dust– (1951) The second Empire novel.
- Pebble in the Sky (1950) The third and final Empire novel.
The Foundation Series
- Prelude to Foundation (1988) The first Foundation novel.
- Forward the Foundation (1992) The second Foundation novel.
- Foundation (1951) The third Foundation novel.
- Foundation and Empire (1952) The fourth Foundation novel.
- Second Foundation (1953) The fifth Foundation novel.
- Foundation’s Edge (1982) The sixth Foundation novel.
- Foundation and Earth (1983) The seventh Foundation novel.
An alternative reading order was put forward by a commenter on this discussion board which does not follow a strictly chronilogical order but seems to be more influenced by importance of the work and thematic continuity.
