# Where to start reading Asimov? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 3, 2011, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993 "2011-04-03T00:48:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ottoerotic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/6de8d8/32.png) [@Ottoerotic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ottoerotic)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/1 "2011-04-03T00:48:13Z")
So I’m trying to brush up on some of the classics that I never got around to reading. Issac Asimov is one of those authors that I’ve heard fantastic things about but never actually picked up. So I went on amazon and Wikipedia to try and see what I should read first, and I have to admit that I’m confused. Would anyone here be able to offer a recommendation on 4 or 5 of his best works? Can I dive into I,robot without reading through his foundation series? Any suggestions on where to start (or what order to read them in?) Thanks in advance! ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/2 "2011-04-03T00:52:20Z")
Are you thinking mysteries or science fiction? Or both? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/3 "2011-04-03T00:56:59Z")
You don’t have to read his works in order, other than a couple of the SF mysteries that feature a sentient robot, and the Foundation series. Avoid the collaborations, and the books that were written by someone else using Asimov’s characters and settings. Asimov was one of the great ones, but he wasn’t the best at creating characters, especially female characters. ---
**Author:** ![Ottoerotic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/6de8d8/32.png) [@Ottoerotic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ottoerotic)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/4 "2011-04-03T01:04:13Z")
I wasn’t actually aware that Asimov did mysteries. I was thinking of his science fiction but I’d be open to reading his mysteries if they are any good. So if you could pick 3 or 4 of his overall best which ones would you suggest? ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/5 "2011-04-03T01:07:29Z")
I enjoyed his Black Widowers mysteries. I enjoyed all his short stories, mysteries and science fiction. I am a very casual reader, though, and I know there are others who are really knowledgeable on this board. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/6 "2011-04-03T01:07:54Z")
_I Robot_ is a collection of short stories. It’s a good place to start the Robot series. It starts with _Robbie_, the first Robot story. The Foundation series is trickier because they weren’t written in the chronological order of the fictional universe. I started with _Foundation_, because the prequels weren’t written yet. I can’t say if you are better off starting with _Prelude_. Everybody should read the original short story _Nightfall._ I wasn’t all that impressed with the novel version though. I think you’ll enjoy reading many of his works in any order. ETA: Seeing the question about mysteries, several Robot shorts and all(?) the novels are mysteries. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/7 "2011-04-03T01:17:24Z")
There’s a collection called _The Early Asimov_ that details the first year or two of his writing career. That’s as good a place as any to start (some love his chatty introductions, some hate them, but they can be skipped if you’re of the latter persuasion), followed by _I, Robot_. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/8 "2011-04-03T01:19:00Z")
Asimov wrote a series of mundane (not SF) mysteries, the Black Widowers series. A lot, if not most, of his SF had mystery in it. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/9 "2011-04-03T01:36:19Z")
Keep in mind that Isaac wrote over 200 books, in every area of the Dewey Decimal system. Where to start is completely up to you. That said: \* Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation\*. Stop there. _I, Robot, The Caves of Steel_ Then just dabble. His autobiographical works are funny as all get out. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/10 "2011-04-03T01:46:41Z")
I, Robot, Foundation Trilogy are both really good places to start out. I also highly recommend the commentaries on The Bible, Shakespeare and Gilbert and Sullivan. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/11 "2011-04-03T02:21:57Z")
I’d start in a library or some bookshop like structure. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/12 "2011-04-03T02:34:22Z")
> [@Sam\_A.Robrin](#): > > There’s a collection called _The Early Asimov_ that details the first year or two of his writing career. That’s as good a place as any to start (some love his chatty introductions, some hate them, but they can be skipped if you’re of the latter persuasion), followed by _I, Robot_. I’d disagree. Some of his earliest stories were pretty dreadful, as he was the first to agree. _I Robot_ is a good place to start, and I’d read the Foundation books in publication, not chronological order, since the writing style changes so much. In any case, the Hari Seldon of the prequels is hardly the barely seen Hari Seldon of the original series. The random short stories are good also - the early ones. I found him being excessively cutesy nearer the end. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/13 "2011-04-03T02:57:01Z")
Asimov’s best work was in short stories like “The Feeling of Power,” “I’m in Marsport without Hilda,” “Pate de Foie Gras,” “Death of a Foy\*” or “The Last Question.” The **Foundation** trilogy was uneven (it was a fix-up – several short stories combined to be marketed as a novel). Much of his work was lightweight entertainment, and he was often very talky (though it was entertaining and provocative talk). Some stores just consist of a philosophical dialog. For his mysteries, my favorite were the Wendell Urth stories – “The Singing Bell,” “The Talking Stone,” “They Dying Night,” “The Dust of Death\*\*,” and “The Key.” Urth was one of Asimov’s best characters – smart, yet agoraphobic. \*The greatest feghoot ever written. \*\*Though Urth is not the main character. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/14 "2011-04-03T03:01:38Z")
Though your results may vary, I’d say that “The Caves of Steel”, “The Naked Sun”, and “The Robots of Dawn” are as good a place as any to start. The series works well both as science fiction or mysteries, and from there you can move on to Foundation, robot short stories, or other short stories as you please. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/15 "2011-04-03T04:40:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Asimov was one of the great ones, but he wasn’t the best at creating characters, especially female characters. I don’t know about “especially female characters”-- His best character by far was Dr. Susan Calvin. Characters are definitely secondary to idea in his stories, though. Back to the OP, _I, Robot_ is probably the best place to start. From there, you could move on to the robot novels (_The Caves of Steel_, _The Naked Sun_, and _The Robots of Dawn_) or the Foundation trilogy (_Foundation_, _Foundation and Empire_, and _Second Foundation_). After that, he started trying to merge those two series, so the books after that (_Robots and Empire_ in the robots series and _Foundation’s Edge_, _Foundation and Earth_, _Prelude to Foundation_, and _Forward the Foundation_ in the Foundation series) should be read (if at all) only after having finished the first trilogy of both series. But it’s not a bad idea to skip them: The merger of the two series is pretty clumsy, and it’s not like there’s a shortage of other Asimov to read. Other than those two series, most of his works stand alone. _Pebble in the Sky_, _The Stars, like Dust_, and _The Currents of Space_ are often lumped together as “the Galactic Empire books”, being set in between the robot stories and the Foundation stories, but there’s really no connection at all between them. And there are other robot short stories (most of them collected in _The Rest of the Robots_), but aside from (almost) all of them using the framework of the Three Laws, they’re pretty stand-alone, too. For mysteries, the Black Widower stories and the Wendell Urth stories are pretty good, but don’t bother with either of his non-SF mystery novels (_A Whiff of Death_ and _Murder at the ABA_). The former, I figured out who the murderer was halfway through, just from the fact that it’s the one person the protagonist doesn’t suspect, and the latter, the protagonist notices a crucial clue early on that conclusively reduces the suspect pool to exactly two people, comments on it, and then comes to the conclusion that it’s probably completely irrelevant and ignores it until the big reveal. His best work is probably actually his nonfiction. He wrote essays on a wide variety of topics for magazines, which were then collected into books. You can start with pretty much any of those: Any given book will contain a dozen different topics, so there’s bound to be something that’ll interest you. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/16 "2011-04-03T04:46:10Z")
I’d start at page 1. Jumping to the middle will just be confusing. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/17 "2011-04-03T05:33:22Z")
Personally, I think Asimov is overrated and his work has not aged well. But I’d agree with others that _I, Robot_ is a good place to start - it’s quintessential Asimov so you’ll get a good feel for whether or not he’s an author for you. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/18 "2011-04-03T06:21:01Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Asimov’s best work was in short stories like “The Feeling of Power,” “I’m in Marsport without Hilda,” “Pate de Foie Gras,” “Death of a Foy\*” or “The Last Question.” [snip] > > For his mysteries, my favorite were the Wendell Urth stories – “The Singing Bell,” “The Talking Stone,” “They Dying Night,” “The Dust of Death\*\*,” and “The Key.” My favorite Asimov is a short story collection called _Asimov’s Mysteries_ which contains many of these. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/19 "2011-04-03T07:20:20Z")
_The Gods Themselves_ is one of my favorite of his novels (and it includes an extremely sympathetic female–albeit alien–character) but I’m most fond of his short stories. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993/20 "2011-04-03T12:04:22Z")
How about his non-fiction book **Asimov on Science Fiction**. You can read his thoughts on the topic and see if his own SF lives up to his own standards. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-to-start-reading-asimov/576993.md?page=2)