Just starting to read the series and the order is not so straight forward.
Apparently this is Asimov’s suggested order:
- The Complete Robot (1982) and/or I, Robot (1950)
- Caves of Steel (1954)
- The Naked Sun (1957)
- The Robots of Dawn (1983)
- Robots and Empire (1985)
- The Currents of Space (1952)
- The Stars, Like Dust (1951)
- Pebble in the Sky (1950)
- Prelude to Foundation (1988)
- Forward the Foundation (1993)
- Foundation (1951)
- Foundation and Empire (1952)
- Second Foundation (1953)
- Foundation’s Edge (1982)
- Foundation and Earth (1986)
I would read them in publication order. I read Prelude to Foundation before Foundation and I would not recommend it.
Yeah, publication order seems like the best option to avoid possible spoilers in the prequels.
Thanks for your input! Do you mean all of the books? Because the Empire series is completely in reverse (not a big fan of that style).
I’d read the original Foundation trilogy first then the Robot and Empire novels, then the last 4 Foundation novels last.
Then for bonus points… The End of Eternity.
There is one spoiler which may impact the attempt to read the series in this order, but I do not think that it will ruin your enjoyment of the series if you chose to read it this way. You will have gone through about 9-10 books before encountering it, and it really might be a good revelation at that point anyhow.
I originally read the books in publication order, but upon rereading I opt to read in chronological.
My suggestion is to read in chronological order. The pace and story telling also plays will in that order. It has a good cadence of story driven and character driven styles that makes the journey more palatable.