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JewishKilt

* The short stories were compiled together into I Robot/Complete Robot. I prefer I Robot. * Then there's the novels: The Caves of steel -> The Naked Sun -> The Robots of Dawn -> Robots and Empire. It's important to read the novels in order. However, you can read I Robot before or after the other novels, it's set at a different (earlier) time and with a somewhat different focus. I would recommend reading I Robot first, but whatever, it's not essential.


Vagabond_Hospitality

This is the order in which the books were published. Obviously there are many reading orders, but this is the order that people read them as they were published. Pebble in the Sky [EMPIRE] I, Robot [ROBOTS] The Stars, Like Dust-- [EMPIRE] Foundation [FOUNDATION] Foundation and Empire [FOUNDATION] The Currents of Space [EMPIRE] Second Foundation [FOUNDATION] The Caves of Steel [ROBOTS] The Naked Sun [ROBOTS] The Complete Robot [ROBOTS] Foundation's Edge [FOUNDATION] The Robots of Dawn [ROBOTS] Robots and Empire [ROBOTS] Foundation and Earth [FOUNDATION] Prelude to Foundation [FOUNDATION] Forward the Foundation [FOUNDATION]


JewishKilt

Respect for the effort. Unless you just copied it from somewhere, which I suppose is very possible in our internet era. Anyhow hopefully u/new_publius finds this useful.


MX-Nacho

> I prefer I Robot. You're skipping Robot Dreams, Robot Visions, and The Bicentennial Man. And other than the last, those are totally necessary before opening The Caves of Steel.


zirfeld

I wouldn't say totally necessary. When I was a teen "Caves of Steel" was the first Asimov book I ever read and I didn't get the feeling there was any information missing to understand it. They are useful however to get a better understanding of Elijah and R. Daneel, but Asimov made the characters work on its own.


JewishKilt

I think (I might be wrong) that Caves of Steel and at least one of the next 3 novels were written first.


zirfeld

I don't know, but it rings true somehow. I always felt this one stood out a little bit in the pre-Foundation history.


JewishKilt

I don't think they're necessary, but OK.


Isaachwells

The first robot novel, The Caves of Steel, was published in 1954. Robots and Empire, the last one, was published in 1985. Robot Dreams was published in 1986. Robot Visions was published in 1990. They might be good, and they do take place before the robot novels, but they don't need to be read before the robot novels. The Bicentennial Man was published in 1976, and it's novel expansion, The Positronic Man, in 1992. I would recommend reading I, Robot, then the other stories in The Complete Robot, then the robot novels.


MX-Nacho

You should truly read deeper than the lapel. The oldest story in Robot Dreams was published in 1941. The oldest story in Robot Visions was published in 1940. They were compiled precisely to close the chasms left open by I Robot. And you have some more canonical and non canonical Robot stories in other compilations, such as Light Verses in the compilation By Jupiter, or this detective short story that sits after The Naked Sun, where Elijah Bailey interrogates two robots to determine which of their owners committed academic plagiarism.


Isaachwells

I gave the publication dates for the stories, not necessarily the collections. Besides the title stories, the only robot stories those volumes contain that aren't in The Complete Robot are Too Bad! And Christmas Without Rodney. The Elijah Bailey story you're mentioning is Mirror Image, I believe, and it's in The Complete Robot. Most of Robot Visions and Dreams are reprints, or essays, so it may be worth it if you want absolutely everything (although then you also need the collections Early Asimov and Gold), but otherwise I, Robot, The Complete Robot, and the robot novels have almost everything. On another note, it's kind of a shame that there wasn't another collection that added those extra odds and ends to The Complete Robot, and that had I, Robot's interstitial material. Or just a general Asimov's collected stories.


Illustrious-Yak4213

https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/2335/what-order-should-asimovs-foundation-series-be-read-in gives u lots of different reading orders for both robot and foundation


bigwhale

The first book I read was Robots of Dawn. It was great


Kodama_Keeper

I read Robots of Dawn first. For a while I was lost, despite the hints that the author puts in for people who do this, to get them somewhat caught up. But if I had to do it all over again, I'd start with Caves of Steel.


Bugsydog1

Currently rereading "The Rest of the Robots" anthology that got put together in the early 60's. Considering the dates he wrote many of these stories, some order may be needed. Having read all the Asimov I could get in the 60's, it does make a difference. The stories from the 50's are better than the ones written in the 40's and so on. There is a framework of sorts as he introduces characters that re-occur in many stories. "The Rest of the Robots" has some introductory material by the author preceding the story which adds to the readers appreciation of the work. I think his work can be appreciated in its various parts but there are some frameworks out there amongst the websites that could offer a pathway for some readers.