The Sword and Laser discussion

So what do you guys think? Should the Foundation series be read in chronological order, beginning with prequels, or should new readers follow the order of publication to avoid spoiling revelations of the past?

Or do you recommend that people begin with the Robot and Empire series since they have been loosely bundled into one universe?

My advice -- just read Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation in that order and stop. If you're really curious, go ahead and read Foundation's Edge -- it's a decent book but it didn't deserve to win any awards and the ideas in it are dated in ways even screwier than the original books. But everything Asimov wrote after that is awful and stupid and stupidly awful.

If you absolutely must have a continuation to the story, go with Donald Kingsbury's unofficial sequel, Psychohistorical Crisis.

Sean wrote: "My advice -- just read Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation in that order and stop. If you're really curious, go ahead and read Foundation's Edge -- it's a decent book but it di..."

My thoughts exactly with just one correction: read first half of Foundation's Edge until the first mention of Gaia, then stop and do not try to read any further.

Yeah, Gaia's exactly what I was thinking of when I said, "ideas ... dated in ways even screwier than the original books." I imagine everyone on that planet in go-go boots and disco suits.

Without giving away too much, for me it is Bord Collective. So let's joint it! (Foundation and Earth).

I think it's up to the individual to decide between publication order and chronological order. I read them in publication order, and I think that's best for me, but someone else might disagree. As for books four and five... I wasn't a great fan of them, but I thought they were okay. But I quite liked books six and seven (the prequels). IMO, they make the near-mythical figure of Hari Seldon more human and relatable, and psychohistory itself more believable. I guess reading order should depend on whether you like magic tricks explained in advance or after seeing the trick (if at all). Though... that's just an analogy, and analogies are always imperfect....

Personally, I'd recommend Caves of Steel, then Foundation to anyone ... then loan them the rest of my Asimov, because they'll read it all. There are sections that need to be read in order, like some of the robot books, and the Foundation trilogies. Even though some of the later stuff did get a bit loopy, it's a guilty pleasure that I loved it ALL.

I like to stick to publication order because I really don't like spoilers and I think authors write things in the order they do for a reason. I don't think there can help being references to previously published work that may give something away, and sometimes there are jokes or references that you just plain don't get unless you've read earlier published work. I think authors introduce a world and characters at a certain point on purpose and if the prequel was the place to enter the story, they'd have started their story there. That's my two cents.

A friend of mine saw my Asimov collection and asked to borrow. I gave him the Robot/Empire/Foundation books in this (almost exactly publication) order:
1) Foundation
2) Foundation and Empire
3) Second Foundation
4) I, Robot
5) The Caves of Steel
6) The Naked Sun
7) The Robots of Dawn
8) Robots and Empire
9) Foundation's Edge
10) Foundation and Earth

After that, I suggested (11) Prelude to Foundation and (12) Forward the Foundation. Otherwise, I offered the rest of the robot stories and the three empire novels, if he wanted to read the rest of the future history.

The benefit of this order is that you can enjoy the Foundation and Robot novels on their own terms, and then have all the pieces in place to maximally appreciate the way he brings them together. The Empire novels might as well take place in a separate universe. Though there are some light references, if you aren't interested in completeness, there are many better Asimov novels to read, such as The Gods Themselves.

Very mild spoiler: But after finishing the Foundation series, I would actually recommend reading (view spoiler)[The End of Eternity as a great book that is tangentially related to this universe. (hide spoiler)]

I too find that I prefer to read in publication order only. It's in fact a reason that I find the new order of The Chronicles of Narnia to be so annoying... they've been numbered in a way that, in my mind, spoils the significance of the things you discover when you read The Magician's Nephew because its been put first.

Well, I read most of the Foundation series in publication order initially. I found and read the Robot novels then read Prelude to Foundation and found a character in Prelude that was one of the main characters in the Robot novels.

I ultimately found that I would want to read them in chronological order the next time since the Robot novels kind of lead up to the Foundation series.

I personally read Foundation through to Foundation and Earth

Publication order is almost always the best order when it comes to any series, and that applies to Asimov.

I think this is the best order to read the Robot/Foundation/Galactic Empire novels to enjoy the "wow" moments best without knowing too much ahead of time.

1)The Stars like Dust
2)The Currents of Space
3)Pebble in the Sky
4)Foundation
5)Foundation and Empire
6)Second Foundation
7)Foundation's Edge
8)The Caves of Steel
9)The Naked Sun
10)The Robots of Dawn
11)Foundation and Earth
12)Robots and Empire
13)Prelude to Foundation
14)Forward the Foundation

When I first read the series I went in timeline order and quite enjoyed watching how Asimov evolved his universe. My only comment is that I found the Empire books a weak link, but having them in the middle helped me continue towards the Foundation novels...

If your going to read the Foundation book in order than start with the prequels first. If your going to read all the books in the series, which you should start with the Robot novels. The reason being that by the time you get to the last book Foundation and Earth a major character from the Robot novels makes you realize that you only got half the story. And by the way there is the book Nemesis which is a single book but does fit in the Foundation universe. So the reading order is.

I, Robot
The caves of steel
The naked sun
The robots of dawn
Robots and empire

Nemesis

The end of eternity

The stars, like dust
The currents of space
A pebble in the sky

Prelude to Foundation
Forward the Foundation
Foundation
Foundation and Empire
Second Foundation
Forward the Foundation
Foundation and Earth