The Foundation Universe

Most of the following is my personal opinion. The facts presented here are accurate to the best of my knowledge. Dated: pre-2000.

Isaac Asimov wrote the Foundation universe books throughout his life. He had at first intended to write "Foundation" only, but the whole thing probably expanded beyond his control. After reading most of the books and stories listed here, I have come to believe that he did not intentionally write them as part of one universe. They just turned out that way.

The Foundation Universe has 3 books at the core: Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation. These books are preceded and followed by several others, and the narrative order is: (roughly)

• The Robot Series (involving USRMM and Dr. Susan Calvin)
• The Positronic Man (with Robert Silverberg)
• The Caves of Steel (The 1st book featuring Daneel Olivaw)
• The Naked Sun
• The Robots of Dawn
• Robots and Empire
• The Stars, Like Dust (not directly related, but can be fitted in)
• The Currents of Space
• Pebble in the sky
• Prelude to Foundation
• Forward the Foundation
• Foundation
• Foundation and Empire
• Second Foundation
• Foundation's Edge
• Foundation and Earth

Please try to read these books in the same order, except 'Forward the Foundation', which MUST be read last. Do not zoom to the end of 'Foundation and Earth' directly, there is a major revelation there....

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