

Part of the enjoyment of the Foundation novel is that you don't know who Seldon is, in those opening scenes on Trantor, or what role he's going to play in the story. Neither the publication order nor the pure chronological order do this - Prelude and Forward are far weaker entries, and remove some of the mystery the first-time reader would have going into the first Foundation book. The reason I like this order is that it preserves the chronology of the reader's discovery of the story. Or, you can proceed to the later additions to the series, which I find do not hold up as well as the others.)


Second Foundation (1953) The fifth Foundation novel, comprised of 2 stories originally published in 19.Foundation and Empire (1952) The fourth Foundation novel, comprised of 2 stories originally published in 1945.Foundation (1951) The third Foundation novel, comprised of 5 stories originally published between 1942-1949.(Not in Asimov's list as it had not been written yet.) Forward the Foundation (1992) The second Foundation novel.Prelude to Foundation (1988) The first Foundation novel.Pebble in the Sky (1950) The third and final Empire novel.The Stars, Like Dust- (1951) The second Empire novel.The Currents of Space (1952) The first Empire novel.Robots and Empire (1985) The fourth (final) Robot novel.The Robots of Dawn (1983) The third Robot novel.The Naked Sun (1957) The second Robot novel.

