Where to start reading Asimov?

[Chronos]

One of my favorite Asimov novels, not mentioned so far, is The End of Eternity. Twisty time-travel, layered psychological trauma, and a little bit of sex.

I don’t remember any time travel in that book. Just a fairly bland space opera where for some reason the planets are called “centuries”.

[Huerta88]

@lisiate

I second this - it really gives a sense of his scope. And it means you can cover a lot of ground in one fell swoop and then follow up on the areas you find interesting.

There are also an Opus 200 and 300 for the next two hundred books he wrote.

The guy was not short on self-regard.

He started out as a nerdy teenage fanboy and the characterization, emotional content, and maturity level in his writing never rose much above that, IMHO.

[vdgg81]

I started reading Asimov with The Robots of Dawn and it must have been a good place to start because I became a fan for life. Still, I’d recommend starting with the first one of the series, The Caves of Steel, and then moving on until you reach Dawn. The Gods Themselves is also good and is self-contained. I’d agree with most people here and say that the short-stories are the best, along with the essays, but wouldn’t know any specific titles to recommend.

[Tom_Tildrum]

@Chronos

I don’t remember any time travel in that book. Just a fairly bland space opera where for some reason the planets are called “centuries”.

The time travel was All the Talk Of the Market!

[Northern_Piper]

@Chronos

Spell My Name with an “S”

Huh, I don’t think I’ve heard of that one. What collections is it in?

Captain Amazing has already answered that question, but I just wanted to add that of all the non-robot / non-Foundation short stories, Nine Tomorrows may be the single best collection of short stories and a good place for the OP to start, as it contains several of the stories already recomended in this thread:

[ul]
[li] “I Just Make Them Up, See!”[/li][li] “Profession”[/li][li] “The Feeling of Power”[/li][li] “The Dying Night” (part of the Wendell Urth series)[/li][li] “I’m in Marsport Without Hilda”[/li][li] “The Gentle Vultures”[/li][li] “All the Troubles of the World” (part of the Multivac series)[/li][li] “Spell My Name with an S”[/li][li] “The Last Question” (loosely part of the Multivac series)[/li][li] “The Ugly Little Boy”[/li][li] “Rejection Slips”[/li][/ul]

[Chronos]

OK, several titles in that one I don’t recognize, and have therefore either not read, or read so long ago I don’t remember them and obviously need to re-read them. Ordering.

[Northern_Piper]

@appleciders

Right here. This is The Last Question, which Asimov himself considered his best short story, and which is a long-time favorite of the SF community. It’s also quintessential Asimov in that his characterization is not so great, and the story is driven by his ideas. And anyway, it’s short, so it’s not much time invested.

Asimov also mentioned that in combination with it being the most popular story, it appeared to have the most forgettable title. He was always being approached by people who remembered the story, but asked him the title.

[Chronos]

Indeed. One wouldn’t go too far wrong by replying unread to any given “ID this sci-fi story thread” with “Is it ‘The Last Question’, by Asimov?”.

[irishgirl]

I’m also fond of “The Gods Themselves”, but agree it isn’t the best place to start.

I’d go short stories->Robots->Foundation.

For me, “Death of a Foy” is one of the most memorable short stories, simply by virtue of the :smack::rolleyes::smack: ending. It’s a sort of short story earworm, brilliant in its own Christmas cracker motto way.