Asimov 15-book suggested reading order
Neil Rieck
the Wil Smith movie. This rekindled my interest in Asimov's Robot
books so I decided to purchase used copies over the internet.
1) I, Robot (1950)
2) Caves of Steel (1954)
3) The Naked Sun (1957)
4) The Robots of Dawn (1983)
5) Robots and Empire (1985)
I had previously read books 1-3 in high-school but never knew about
books 4-5. Never the less, reading all five books in a row was a
treat. Book-5 was a surprise because I didn't know that Asimov's Robot
series had anything to do with his Foundation-Empire series, so I
decided to purchase these as well.
Quite by accident, some used copies were delivered in the wrong order
and one of them, "PRELUDE TO FOUNDATION", contained this following
reading-order recommendation from Asimov himself.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/Asimov-suggested-reading-order.html
Yes, like receiving an important occasional message from Hari Seldon,
Asmiov is still sending messages to us :-)
Neil Rieck
Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge,
Ontario, Canada.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/
Neil Rieck
presented as the memoirs of robot psychologist Dr. Susan Calvin (an
employee of "U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men Corporation"). Most people
find the title of this book just plain weird until they read chapter 8
("Evidence").
Even though this book was originally published in 1950, the pre-1950
stories contained within seem to stand the test of time. This might
have something to do with the fact that Asimov usually glosses over
technological details while concentrating more on the humanity side of
things. (Remember that these stories were written during the age of
vacuum tubes thus predating the age of transistors and chips; Asimov
never mentions tubes or transistors but he does mention something
called the Positronic Brain with is just a literary device for
"unknown technology")
If you enjoy reading good science fiction then you will definitely
like this book. You should also be aware of some future entertainment
options:
In 1988, Asimov published his suggestions on how to read his favourite
fifteen books starting with "I, Robot" and ending with "Foundation and
Earth". Here is his tweaked (one book was published after 1988) list:
"AUTHOR'S NOTE" (pages ix to x) of "PRELUDE TO FOUNDATION"
Doubleday 1988 hardcover edition © 1988 by Nightfall Inc.
1) The Complete Robot (1982) or I, Robot (1950)
2) Caves of Steel (1954)
3) The Naked Sun (1957)
4) The Robots of Dawn (1983)
5) Robots and Empire (1985)
6) The Currents of Space (1952) **
7) The Stars, Like Dust (1951) **
8) Pebble in the Sky (1950) **
9) Prelude to Foundation (1988)
10) Forward the Foundation (1993)
11) Foundation (1951)
12) Foundation and Empire (1952)
13) Second Foundation (1953)
14) Foundation's Edge (1982)
15) Foundation and Earth (1986)
** books 6-8 (Galactic Empire Series) were marked optional
I recently trekked this journey and invite all you sci-fi fanatics to
follow my path.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/Asimov-suggested-reading-order.html
Neil Rieck
Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge,
Ontario, Canada
http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/
Phillip Helbig---remove CLOTHES to reply
<9f9d583f-8470-4330...@e34g2000vbm.googlegroups.com>,
Neil Rieck <n.r...@sympatico.ca> writes:
> Back in 2004, I decided to reread "I, Robot" prior to the release of
> the Wil Smith movie. This rekindled my interest in Asimov's Robot
> books so I decided to purchase used copies over the internet.
>
> 1) I, Robot (1950)
> 2) Caves of Steel (1954)
> 3) The Naked Sun (1957)
> 4) The Robots of Dawn (1983)
> 5) Robots and Empire (1985)
> Neil Rieck
> Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge,
> Ontario, Canada.
> http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/
Hi Neil! Wow, another VMS user who is also an Asimov fan. When I was
in England this summer, I purchased paperbacks of Asimov's science
fiction which I didn't have. I've read a couple of hundred books by
him, all the science fiction but most were non-fiction (because that is
what he wrote the most of). This was 30 years ago or so, and almost all
were from the library. After that, I picked up paperbacks at flea
markets and so on and had about half of the science fiction; the other
half I bought this summer in England. (I've just moved house and now
have a dedicated computer room. The next house will have a library
instead of bookshelves in the living room, and then my plan is to buy
all the Asimov books I've read so that I can read them again and,
hopefully, to give the children something to read. Since I'll probably
never live in an English-speaking country again, the library is no
longer an option (nor are translations).)
Of course, my domain name multivax is an hommage to Asimov:
http://www.astro.multivax.de:8000/
Back when I started with Asimov (1970s), all the old s.f. stuff had been
written and new stuff was yet to be written. I read the new stuff as it
came out and the old stuff in more or less random order, but within a
series (Foundation, Robots) in the order in which things were written.
For someone new to Asimov, I definitely recommend reading the stuff in
the order of publication. For someone going back after a while and
re-reading it, ditto. For those familiar with Asimov who have read all
the stuff not too long ago, then reading it in the
future-history-timeline order is an extra one can enjoy (like mono mixes
of Beatles albums).
By the way, I made a long list of 6-character names of characters from
Asimov's s.f. for VMS node names. Currently, I have GLADIA, ELIJAH and
DANEEL in the cluster (female names are ALPHA; male VAX---I don't know
what I'll do when I get some Itanium machines at home). I think there
are more character names with 6 characters than with any other length.
(Question: is the VMS node-name length related to the old 6-charcter
limit on variable names in FORTRAN?)
Phillip Helbig---remove CLOTHES to reply
<df4fd0e5-9ec7-495c...@o10g2000yqa.googlegroups.com>,
Neil Rieck <n.r...@sympatico.ca> writes:
> Even though this book was originally published in 1950, the pre-1950
> stories contained within seem to stand the test of time. This might
> have something to do with the fact that Asimov usually glosses over
> technological details while concentrating more on the humanity side of
> things.
Indeed. "Positronic brains", for instance---just sounds cool, and the
positron was new then.
> (Remember that these stories were written during the age of
> vacuum tubes thus predating the age of transistors and chips; Asimov
> never mentions tubes or transistors but he does mention something
> called the Positronic Brain with is just a literary device for
> "unknown technology")
Right (I'm replying as I go, rather than reading your entire post
first). As someone once said, you know you are reading old s.f. when,
as one moves into the future, the computers are getting bigger and
bigger rather than smaller and smaller.
Are you aware of
http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_home_page.html
and
http://homepage.mac.com/jhjenkins/Asimov/Asimov.html
which redirects to
http://preem.tejat.net/~tseng/Asimov/Asimov.html
> http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/Asimov-suggested-reading-order.html
When I need something to read, I'll return to your pages (which I have
visited in the past, often in a VMS context).
Have you read the "new Foundation trilogy"?
Have you read anything by James P. Hogan? I haven't read any of his
newer stuff, but the stuff up until CODE OF THE LIFEMAKER or VOYAGE FROM
YESTERYEAR (now sure which came last) is good---about half of the books
very good. (Hogan seems to have gone crackpot recently in some
respects, but it should be possible to separate the man from the work.
As Mark Twain said, Wagner's music is better than it sounds.)
John H. Jenkins
I read them my first time, also back in the 1970's (I used
available-in-the-bookstore order). I also will confess I've never read
the stories in _Foundation_ in their magazine publication order,
although there I cry Emerson.
For anybody new to Asimov, I strongly recommend *not* limiting yourself
to the Foundation/robot series. Much of the Good Doctor's best short
fiction from the 1940's and 1950's is found in books like _Nine
Tomorrows_, _Earth Is Room Enough_, and _Nightfall and Other Stories_.
Ed Seiler's excellent Asimov Online site is definitely the first place
to go for recommdndations. The truly masochistic are welcome to dive
into my review site, to which Ed links.
John H. Jenkins
http://preem.tejat.net/~tseng/Asimov/Asimov.html
Neil Rieck
[...snip...]
>
> For anybody new to Asimov, I strongly recommend *not* limiting yourself
> to the Foundation/robot series. Much of the Good Doctor's best short
> fiction from the 1940's and 1950's is found in books like _Nine
> Tomorrows_, _Earth Is Room Enough_, and _Nightfall and Other Stories_.
>
I would agree. However, just getting through Asimov's recommended 15
can be a tall order. Twenty years ago, I attended a university class
on "speed reading" but discovered that I get the most enjoyment out of
Asimov books if I plod through at a verbal speed. Doing it this way
allowed me to visualize many situations and locations.
One minor criticism I have of your suggestion is this: "Asimov
published more than 500 titles" so reading the works of William
Shakespeare might be an easier task :-)
Neil Rieck
Kitchener / Waterloo / Cambridge,
Ontario, Canada.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/Asimov-suggested-reading-order.html
Neil Rieck
remove CLOTHES to reply) wrote:
[...snip...]
>
> Hi Neil! Wow, another VMS user who is also an Asimov fan.
>
Yep. Usually computer folk gravitate (no pun intended) to Robert
Heinlein, etc.
> When I was
> in England this summer, I purchased paperbacks of Asimov's science
> fiction which I didn't have. I've read a couple of hundred books by
> him, all the science fiction but most were non-fiction (because that is
> what he wrote the most of). This was 30 years ago or so, and almost all
> were from the library.
Since we are all aging, our eyes don't allow us read the small print
found in many paperbacks (at least not with the previous level of
enjoyment), so I replenished my collection of Asimov's 15 by
purchasing hardcovers though this site: http://www.bookfinder.com
Phillip Helbig---remove CLOTHES to reply
<b10dfd78-5b0d-41eb...@r5g2000yqb.googlegroups.com>, Neil
Rieck <n.r...@sympatico.ca> writes:
> Yep. Usually computer folk gravitate (no pun intended) to Robert
> Heinlein, etc.
I read THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS a long time ago and thought it was
OK. I then read STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND, which I thought was well
written, but kept waiting for the story to start unfolding. :-) I
prefer the socialism of Asimov to the libertarianism of Heinlein,
though. :-)