I didn’t know what I was getting into when I first decided to start reading Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. As I’ve mentioned, I was very pleased to find his books so delightful to read; he is quite the storyteller. And it’s also been interesting to read his autobiography, concurrently with his fiction, as he talks about the times when he was actually writing some of these things.
So around the end of May/beginning of June I began this journey, starting with Foundation and then continuing as follows. Most of these books I borrowed from the library, but I own a few of them. Here is the order in which I read them:
- Foundation (1951)
- Foundation and Empire (1952)
- Second Foundation (1953)
- Foundation’s Edge (1982)
- Foundation and Earth (1986)
- Prelude to Foundation (1988)
- I, Robot (1950)
- Robot Visions (1990)
- The Caves of Steel (1954)
- The Naked Sun (1957)
- The Robots of Dawn (1983)
- Robots and Empire (1985)
- The Stars, Like Dust (1951)
- The Currents of Space (1952)
- Pebble in the Sky (1950) [currently reading]
- Forward the Foundation (1993) [the last of this “series” which I will be reading once I finish Pebble in the Sky]
It is interesting how he wrote these books at different times and then later tied them all together. There is a suggested reading order based on the general overall story timeline. And then there is what was, apparently, Asimov’s preferred order of reading. Here is a site which lists the books in that order, as well as in publication order, and in storyline order: Asimov/wiki/seriesguide.
And here someone created a whole timeline chronology of events from these novels: Robots/Foundation Timeline. There is a lot of really interesting and fun info online about Asimov and his books. A lot of it can be found on “Asimov Online.”
And in addition to Asimov’s books, his “foundation” story was continued by some other writers (to whom Asimov gave permission):
- Foundation and Chaos: The Second Foundation Trilogy, By Greg Bear (1998)
- Foundation’s Triumph (Second Foundation Trilogy), by David Brin (1999) and
- Foundation’s Fear (The Second Foundation Trilogy), by Gregory Benford (2000)
Oh and I see there is another related book mentioned:
I imagine there are probably a lot more Asimov “tributes” out there; he was much-loved as an author. But I don’t know if I will read any of these or not. I have been reading Asimov books for quite some time now and think it may soon be time to go “somewhere else.”
Here are some thoughts that I had while reading Asimov’s stories:
First of all, there is one of his early robot stores that I most especially liked: “The Bicentennial Man”; I really loved it. And I guess that’s no surprise; it earned several awards and was made into a movie!
And in “Prelude to Foundation,” when his character wonders why “so many people spend their lives not trying to find answers to questions – not even thinking of questions to begin with? Was there anything more exciting in life than seeking answers?” I found this struck me as something I have often wondered about myself! I think in some ways Asimov thought along a lot of the same lines as I do.
And in some of these books are people who, many years in the future, have learned how to add decades to their life-spans, living several hundred years. But in discussing the pros and cons to such life-spans, his character(s) say that with people living so long, it causes ultimate decay and lassitude. “The pace of historical intellectual advance would…become too slow. Those at the top would stay in power too long. … [causing a society to] sink into conservatism and decay.” And in thinking about that, I suppose I must agree that it wouldn’t necessarily be good for us to live that long – but given the opportunity, who would refuse? When I was a little girl I used to say all the time that “I’m going to live forever.” And I admit that I still feel that way. Not that I really believe it is going to happen.
I found Asimov’s stories all just completely wonderful; full of imagination and insights about humanity and just written very, very well.
While I was looking up some of this information recently, I came across information about a complete other series based on Asimov’s robots that I have never heard of and know nothing about: ROBOT CITY! None of these were actually written by Asimov, but are apparently based on his ideas and creations. Here is what Wikipedia says about Isaac Asimov’s Robot City. And perhaps if I start craving robot stories sometime in the future, maybe I will check some of these out.
Here is a list that someone compiled of all of Asimov’s books – over 500 of them! He was one very prolific writer! He died in 1992; otherwise he’d probably still be cranking out the books! But he will likely always be known as one of the greatest writers of all time. (And to think it took me so many years to make this discovery!)
I have, of course also been reading this book all along, concurrently with reading Asimov’s fiction: In Memory Yet Green (Autobiography) (1979). I am nearly finished with it, but am wishing it continued past the year 1954 – there is probably another volume out there though!
And these I have not yet read but recently picked up used copies 
when I found them because they contain some stories that I would like to read at some point in the near future:
Isaac Asimov, The Complete Stories Vol. 1 (1990)
GOLD, the Final Science Fiction Collection (1995)
And finally – here is an Asimov book that I own and have owned for years – and I read it many years ago (but only dimly remember it). I do remember that I enjoyed it, but I doubt I will re-read it (since there are so many, many other books I wish to read): Nemesis (1989)
So there is my “Summer of Asimov.” I will probably finish up the last couple of books that I’m reading in the next few days. And what will I read next? Well, here are some ideas: [Author Events]