About | Stuff | Links | Tandem Stories | Weblog | Forum

You are here: Kaedrin > Stuff > Guide to Asimov > A Guide to Asimov's Series

A Guide to Asimov's Series

In the "Author's Note" at the beginning of Prelude to Foundation*, Asimov saysthat when he wrote "Foundation", which appeared in the May 1942 issue ofAstounding Science Fiction, he had no idea that he had begun a series ofstories that would eventually grow into seven volumes and a total ofapproximately 700,000 words. Nor did he have any idea that it would beunified with his stories involving robots and the Galactic Empire for a grandtotal of 15 volumes and about 1,500,000 words.

If you look at the publication dates of these books, you might notice that therewas a 25 year hiatus between 1957 and 1982, during which he did not add tothe series (though he did continue to be prolific). Regardless, by the time hewrote Prelude to Foundation in 1988, the situation had become sufficientlycomplicated for Asimov to feel the readers might welcome akind of guide tothe series, since they were not written in the order in which (perhaps) theyshould be read.

The 15 books offer a kind of history of the distant future, which is, perhaps,not completely consistant, since he did not plan consistency to begin with. Inmy humble opinion, Asimov did a wonderful job and was sufficiently vague andcryptic when integrating his series together. Indeed, I feel that it's almostbetter this way because each book has its own unique story which fits into aplace in the story of its series; then behind everything is an all-encompassingstory whose tentacles extend even beyond the series. A bit mindblowing.

I recommend reading the series in its proper chronological order, which isoutlined below:

The Robot Series

1. I, Robot 1950 Collection of Short Stories2. The Caves of Steel 1954 The first Robot novel3. The Naked Sun 1957 The second Robot novel4. The Robots of Dawn 1983 The third Robot novel5. Robots and Empire 1985 The fourth and final Robot novel

The Empire Series

6. The Currents of Space 1952 The first Empire novel7. The Stars, Like Dust 1951 The second Empire novel8. Pebble in the Sky 1950 The third and final Empire novel

The Foundation Series

9. Prelude to Foundation 1988 The first Foundation novel10. Forward the

Foundation1992 The second Foundation novel and the

latest to be written11. Foundation 1951 The third Foundation novel, comprised of 5

stories originally published between 1942-1949.

12. Foundation and Empire 1952 The fourth Foundation novel, comprised of2 stories originally published in 1945

13. Second Foundation 1953 The fifth Foundation novel, comprised of 2

Reviews:MiscellaneousNovelsThe Robot SeriesThe Empire SeriesThe FoundationSeriesThe SecondFoundation Series

Features:Asimov LinksSeries Guide

* - Theintroduction ofthis page isbasically abastardizedversion of theauthor's notefrom Prelude toFoundation. Iadded Forwardthe Foundation tothe list andoffered some ofmy thoughtstowards the endthere...

stories originally published in 1948 and1949

14. Foundation's Edge 1982 The sixth Foundation novel15. Foundation and Earth 1986 The seventh Foundation novel

Copyright 1999 - 2005 by Mark Ciocco.No part of this page may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission.