The Foundation TV series thread got me thinking: I read Asimov’s Foundation series and Robot series back in the 1970s when Foundation was a trilogy. I reread some of them later as an adult, but didn’t read the later books that connected the series. I’ve forgotten all of the fine plot points by now, especially in the Robot books.
I want to revisit that universe. In what order should I read the books?
There will be others who have a better grip on the materials than I, so take the following for what it’s worth.
To my mind you should read the original Foundation trilogy first as a free-standing series.
Concurrently, before or after, you can read the Robot stories. You may also read the early Empire stories (Stars like dust, Pebble in the Sky), but these are really a separate timeline which doesn’t really square with the Foundation series and might also be left alone (although I did like them).
Only then you should read the later Foundation books, as these build no both the Robot stories and Foundation trilogy. You should read them in the spirit that they are intended, an attempt to merge the storylines decades after the original stories, which does not match the tenor of the original. You could amost approach it as fan-fic or a continuation by a different author.
I’d read the first three Foundation books (the real Foundation books), and original Robot stories (I, Robot and The Rest of the Robots, and the novels Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun). I think the best of the “Galactic Empire” novels is the first one (Pebble in the Sky) but others might disagree).
The more modern books are a mixed bag. “Foundation’s Edge,” “Robots of Dawn” and “Robots and Empire” are pretty good as I recall. I didn’t like the later Foundation novels very much.
You might also be interested in the authorized sequels, particularly Brin’s novel (Foundation’s Triumph). There’s also Donald Kingsbury’s unauthorized “Psychohistorical Crisis” that sands the serial numbers off Foundation and goes into interesting places.
P.S. The Foundation books after Foundation’s Edge made me retroactively like Foundation’s Edge less.
It’s really hard to find the best order to read the Robot books in. I’ve been trying for years to find a good guide.
Asimov suggested a reading order in his author’s notes in Prelude to Foundation:
The Complete Robot (1982) and/or I, Robot (1950)
Caves of Steel (1954)
The Naked Sun (1957)
The Robots of Dawn (1983)
Robots and Empire (1985)
The Currents of Space (1952)
The Stars, Like Dust (1951)
Pebble in the Sky (1950)
Prelude to Foundation (1988)
NB: Forward the Foundation (1993) was then unpublished, but would have followed Prelude.
Foundation (1951)
Foundation and Empire (1952)
Second Foundation (1953)
Foundation’s Edge (1982)
Foundation and Earth (1986)
In Foundation’s Edge, there is a reference to Bel Arvardan from Pebble in the Sky. So Asimov was indeed tying in the Empire novels as well.
ETA: I think I misunderstood your point - you meant back in the 50’s.
I’d forgotten about that reference, been a while since I read Foundation’s Edge. However, I recall that there were several inconsistencies between what was said in the later Foundations series and the Empire novels, in particular
the cause of radioactivity of Earth, and the rise of Trantor .
That’s a nice overview, also giving the date of publication. It seems to be ordered chronologically based on the purported date of the events.
However, to my mind it would be better to first read the older novels (in year of publication) from the fifties, as those are rather different in style (I don’t mean writing style as well as the approach, kind of novel). So don’t read Prelude to Foundation or Forward the Foundation until after you’ve finished the original trilogy. IIt is similar to how I would recommend first watching the original Star Wars Trilogy and only then go to Ep 1-3.
This viewpoint may be colored by the fact that this is the order in which I (similar to all older readers) read them. But also, there are a few plot elements and surprises in Prelude and Forward which would undermine the enjoyment of the original trilogy.
Conversely it is nice to read Prelude and Forward afterwards as they do fill in background and details from the original trilogy.
Read the Foundation trilogy in order (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation).
Read at least a decent sampling of the robot short stories (I, Robot and/or The Rest of the Robots, or The Complete Robot which contains both), just to get the feel for the Three Laws and so on. Then read the the Lije Bailey novels (The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, and The Robots of Dawn, in that order). Note that, even within the robot stories, there are probably already multiple inconsistent timelines and future histories-- Don’t worry about that; any that aren’t in the “main future history” can be taken as just explorations of the implications of the Laws.
You can read the Foundation stories or the Robot stories first, or alternate between them, or whatever, as long as you’re taking each in order. After you’ve read both, read Foundation’s Edge and Foundation and Earth, in that order, and Robots and Empire somewhere in there (though the other two are really more one novel split into two, so you might want to read them together).
After all of that, you can read Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation. Or not. They read like Asimov trying to write a Heinlein novel, and not doing a very good job of it.
You can also read Pebble in the Sky, The Currents of Space, and The Stars Like Dust in any order, at any time, regardless of any of the series: They’re theoretically set during the Galactic Empire, but are completely stand-alone in plot. I liked the first two, but found The Stars Like Dust to be a bit trite, but that’s a matter of taste.
Also if you like, read The Gods Themselves and The End of Eternity at any point, which Asimov was also sort of vaguely trying to tie in, but didn’t really. I thought that Gods was decent, if you can get past the weirdness, but Eternity just wasn’t very good at all. Conveniently, they’re often published together (along with a few other stories) in a volume called Earth is Room Enough.
Very apt! 
You should actually read them in order to fully appreciate this characterization.
Good recommendation as to the order. Incidentally, I consider The Gods Themselves and End of Eternity to be entirely outside the series of books.
Agree. Asimov worked in references to EoE to Foundation’s Edge (with sufficient ambiguity that the references could be a mistaken belief on the part of the character who mentioned Eternals), but I can’t even think of what possible connection there could be between Gods Themselves and Foundation/Robot.
Thank you for all the suggestions! I will take them to heart. I have about seven shelf-feet of Asimov books in my collection, but I’m lacking a lot of his later work. Time to flesh out the collection!
I didn’t think The Gods Themselves was connected to anything else at all. I just recently reread that one, and I think it stands up well. There were quite a few firsts in that book.
To be clear, I don’t really see the connection either, but I’ve talked with other folks who insist there is one, so I figured I’d mention it for completeness.