Crazy, I just finished the first trilogy yesterday and was thinking of making a discussion thread. How many Foundation books are there anyway? I have only what I’m guessing is the original trilogy, (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation) and I enjoyed them quite a bit. I checked a copy of I Robot and saw a list that had 2 other foundation books featured so I figured their were five. Gosh, I’ve got a lot of reading to do.
Seven by Asimov. He wrote what eventually became the original trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation) in the form of short stories. A few decades later he wrote “Foundation’s Edge” and “Foundation and Earth” as full-length novels, then wrote a prequel, “Prelude to Foundation”. Just before he died, Asimov wrote four stories for publication in a magazine, which were eventually published as “Forward the Foundation”, another prequel. So Asimov wrote seven Foundation books, total. He also wrote three Empire novels (Pebble in the Sky, The Stars Like Dust, and The Currents of Space) that take place in the same universe but thousands of years prior, and four Robot novels that were eventually merged with the Foundation universe. They were “The Caves of Steel”, “The Naked Sun”, “The Robots of Dawn”, and “Robots and Empire”.
The where the books that got me into the SF&F genre and thus will always be close to my heart. (Okay I read Asimov’s “Lucky Starr” books first… but lets not go there…) 
I have never read any of the Killer B’s books, and frankly I don’t want to. Yeah I am a hard core traditionalist that thinks it verges on heracy for somebody else to tamper with Asimov’s work
Plus, to be honest, “Forward The Foundation” in my not so humble opinion is a perfect swansong for not just the Foundation series, but the wonderful career of Dr. Asimov as well.
Anything after that just deminishes the beauty that is the final few heart-breaking lines in "Forward The Foundation"
This is how I would, if I had the time would read the entire series…
I, Robot/The Complete Robot
Nemesis
Caves of Steel
Naked Sun
Robots of Dawn
Robots and Empire
Stars, Like Dust
Currents of Space
Pebble in the Sky
Foundation
Foundation and Empire
Second Foundation
Foundation’s Edge
Foundation and Earth
Prelude to Foundation
Forward the Foundation
The Ends of Enternity
I know some people have issues with “Nemesis” being included in the list as Asimov did state that it was an ‘independent’ novel, but he also referenced it briefly in “Forward The Foundation” (at least I think it was that… my memory is not the best at 3am… it could of been “Foundation and Earth” for all I remember), and thus why I include it in my list. Plus it gives an interesting angle to the rise of the Spacers we never got with the other books.
Oh for the day I can do it…
Nemesis is definitely not part of the Foundation universe, nor is End of Eternity. End of Eternity doesn’t fit in any way, and Nemesis contradicts everything from the earlier Robot stories about the development of hyperdrive. All we know is that there’s some sort of similar ancient legend to both of 'em, and the Eternals legend as stated in “Foundation’s Edge” is very very different from the book. Maybe Asimov’s books themselves survived, and that’s what formed the legends? 
According to the SF FAQ, this is their “order” for the series.
There is also some interesting and opinionated commentary on the various novels and how they relate to each other there as well, checking it out is recommended. (It’s a little over halfway down; just search for “Foundation” to find it.)
Asimov’s original Foundation Trilogy was among the first science fiction I read, and I loved them. It’s true they lacked characterization, but they set up a wonderful situation, with non-obvious solutions. I could see the influence of Gibbon (after I’d read Gibbon), but it’s clear that Asimov wasn’t slavishly copying him or history. The idea of “psychohistotians” using what amounted to Statistical Mechanics as applied to populations was pretty neat, All in all, it gave you some feeling for the sweep and power of SF. Classic stuff.
(Side note with Spoiler: Note how the Foundation gets off its first hook by establishing itself as a bogus religion, just like in John Campbell’s “All” or Heinlein’s “Fifth Column” (AKA “The Day After Tomorrow”, and admittedly with Campbell’s plot). L. Ron Hubbard hung out with these guys – is it any wionder he ended up doing what he did?)
When Foundation’s Edge was announced, I was excited. I got it as a present when it was brand new. And I was deeply disappointed. It was years after their publication before I got around to reading the rest of the series. And I still haven’t read the non-Asimov entries. Disappointing. There are a few brief flashes of the old Asimov, but the books strike me as bloated and not worth re-reading.
The later Lucky Starr books tie in to the series also, having robots and Sirians (and I believe hyperspace.) They seem clearly set in the same universe as the latter robot books, at the time of the spacers.
I don’t see the point in non-Asimov additions to the series, but Asimov’s Foundation books are pure gold (at least the Original Trilogy: Opinions vary on the other four). You don’t really appreciate them until you re-read them, though, I think… (don’t read spoiler unless you’ve read all of the original trilogy)What’s the biggest mystery in the Foundation books? The location of the Second Foundation, right? OK, get out your copy of the first book, and re-read the header to the first chapter, on the first page. Asimov somehow managed to put the answer to the mystery at the very beginning of the whole shebang, and still kept years of fans mystified. Masterful.And it’s true that the Foundation series isn’t about characters (except, of course, for Hari Seldon himself, but we see so little of him until the prequels), but Asimov did have a few memorable characters in his time. Dr. Susan Calvin struck me very strongly in the robot stories, and Andrew and pre-deification Daneel are also very interesting and well-written.
And I’ve said it before, but I would prefer to consider The End of Eternity to not only not be part of the Foundation universe, but to not consider it to exist at all. There’s nothing like a good time-travel story, and this was nothing like one.
OK, I’ve read it over a few times and I can’t find it. Could you be a tad more specific? Thats just something I’ve got to see.
It’s probably been 15 years since I read Asimov but from what I remember, the Foundation books were interesting, but somewhat dry reading (kind of like a history book). Not much character development. I prefer character driven stories where the thousand years of history are told as part of the backstory.
The Robot books were good reads (and the source The Three Cliche’s of Robotics - The Positronic Brain, The Laws of Robotics, and the Robot Sidekick (who if you didn’t know better was a little on the smug side). The Empire books felt a little thin and didn’t do much for me.
All in all, it felt like he was trying to shoehorn the series all together so they fit into the same universe. Kinda of like stringing the stories of Braveheart, The Patriot and Mad Max together since they all take place on Earth over a thousand or so years (and star Mel Gibson.
It’s probably been 15 years since I read Asimov but from what I remember, the Foundation books were interesting, but somewhat dry reading (kind of like a history book). Not much character development. I prefer character driven stories where the thousand years of history are told as part of the backstory.
The Robot books were good reads (and the source The Three Cliche’s of Robotics - The Positronic Brain, The Laws of Robotics, and the Robot Sidekick (who if you didn’t know better was a little on the smug side). The Empire books felt a little thin and didn’t do much for me.
All in all, it felt like he was trying to shoehorn the series all together so they fit into the same universe. Kinda of like stringing the stories of Braveheart, The Patriot and Mad Max together since they all take place on Earth over a thousand or so years (and star Mel Gibson.
That’s probably because he did shoehorn them together. Asimov never wrote his original stories with the intent of a “unified universe,” but when he realized they could be shoehorned into one, he did.
And IMO almost none of Asimov’s stories are big on characterization – it just wasn’t his forte. Some of his characters are particularly multi-faceted, but he was most comfortable writing about situations and events, rather than individuals.
There was one line, I forget from which novel in the original trilogy, that I will always remember and will always shape my decision-making. Needless to say, it’s my favorite literary quote of all time. (Sorry, Shakespeare).
“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetant”.
I remember that from the books. Unfortunately my decision making processes are often more influenced by this literary quote:
“Hulk SMASH!!!”
No, no, no, no, no.
If you’re going to read the Foundation and Robot books as a unified whole, for maximum enjoyment you must not read them not in the order in which they occur in the Foundation universe, but in the order of publication.
Specifically, read The Complete Robot and the original Foudation Trilogy to set the foundation for the later works. These can be read in either order, as there are no ties between them. Then, starting with Foundation’s Edge, read the later novels in the order of publication. This is because Asimov built surprise links into each new book, and these twists were designed for maximum effect on those who had read the entire series to that point. To read them out of order is to miss references, or to get references to things that had been written previously, but hadn’t occurred yet in the universe timeline. I don’t have time right now to print the best order, but all you have to do is check the copyright dates.
The Empire novels don’t really tie in much and can be skipped entirely if you just want the stories that tie together, but they’re worth a read if you like good sf.
Sorry, Wearia, I misspoke. It’s pretty darn early in the book, but not quite that early.[spoiler]At the end of the first section, page 44 in the Del Rey paperback edition:
(bolding mine)[/spoiler]This is what I get for posting from memory, without checking the books.