Isaac Asimov
in order.
The grandmaster who imagined robots with rules and an empire spanning the galaxy
Isaac Asimov was one of the most prolific writers who ever lived, publishing or editing more than 500 books across science fiction, popular science, history, and even guides to Shakespeare and the Bible. Born in Russia in 1920 and raised in Brooklyn, he began selling stories to pulp magazines as a teenager and went on to define the Golden Age of science fiction alongside Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. His Three Laws of Robotics reshaped how writers, and eventually real engineers, thought about intelligent machines.
Asimov's two towering achievements are the Foundation series, a saga about a mathematician who predicts the fall of a galactic empire and plots to shorten the coming dark age, and the Robot series, a set of detective novels and stories exploring the friction between humans and their positronic creations. Late in his career he wove the two together with the Galactic Empire novels into a single future history spanning tens of thousands of years, a feat of retroactive world-building that still inspires debates about the best reading order.
Beyond fiction, Asimov was a biochemistry professor and one of the great science explainers of the twentieth century. He won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards, including a special Hugo for the Foundation trilogy as Best All-Time Series, and his work continues to reach new audiences through adaptations like Apple TV+'s Foundation. He died in 1992, leaving behind a body of work few authors will ever match.
Where to start
New readers face a classic dilemma: publication order or chronological order? For a first pass, publication order is the strong recommendation. Start with the original Foundation trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation), or with I, Robot and The Caves of Steel if you prefer mysteries, and read each series as Asimov wrote it. Chronological order (beginning with the Robot stories, then the Robot novels, the Empire novels, the Foundation prequels, and finally the Foundation novels) sounds tidy, but it front-loads weaker prequels and spoils twists that only land if you meet the ideas in the order Asimov invented them. Save Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation for after Foundation and Earth, exactly where they were published, and treat the Empire trilogy and Lucky Starr books as enjoyable side quests.
Foundation 7 BOOKS · IN ORDER
Asimov's masterwork about psychohistory, a science that predicts the fall of a galactic empire and the thousand-year dark age that follows.
01
Foundation 1951
Mathematician Hari Seldon foresees the Galactic Empire's collapse and establishes a Foundation at the edge of the galaxy to preserve civilization.
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02
Foundation and Empire 1952
The Foundation faces the Empire's last great general, then an enemy Seldon could never have predicted: a mutant called the Mule.
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03
Second Foundation 1953
The hunt for the mysterious Second Foundation drives both the Mule and the First Foundation to the galaxy's far corners.
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04
Foundation's Edge 1982
Written thirty years later, this Hugo winner sends Golan Trevize searching for the Second Foundation and the legendary planet of origin, Earth.
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05
Foundation and Earth 1986
Trevize's quest for Earth ties the Foundation saga directly to Asimov's Robot universe in a controversial, ambitious finale.
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06
Prelude to Foundation 1988
A prequel following young Hari Seldon as he flees across Trantor while first developing psychohistory.
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07
Forward the Foundation 1993
Published posthumously, this final prequel chronicles Seldon's later life as he races to complete his plan before the Empire crumbles.
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Robot 5 BOOKS · IN ORDER
Stories and detective novels built on the Three Laws of Robotics, following Earth detective Elijah Baley and robot partner R. Daneel Olivaw.
01
I, Robot 1950
The landmark story collection that introduced the Three Laws of Robotics through robopsychologist Susan Calvin's case files.
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02
The Caves of Steel 1954
In a domed future New York, detective Elijah Baley reluctantly partners with humanoid robot R. Daneel Olivaw to solve a murder.
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03
The Naked Sun 1957
Baley and Daneel investigate a killing on Solaria, a world where humans find physical contact unbearable.
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04
The Robots of Dawn 1983
A case of roboticide on the Spacer world Aurora pulls Baley into interstellar politics that will shape humanity's future.
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05
Robots and Empire 1985
Set centuries after Baley's death, this bridge novel connects the Robot universe to the coming Galactic Empire and Foundation.
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Galactic Empire 3 BOOKS · IN ORDER
Three early standalone adventures set in the rising Galactic Empire, between the Robot era and the Foundation saga.
01
Pebble in the Sky 1950
Asimov's first novel throws a twentieth-century tailor forward in time to a radioactive Earth despised by the Galactic Empire.
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02
The Stars, Like Dust 1951
A young nobleman is swept into rebellion and a hunt for a mysterious document among the Nebular Kingdoms.
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03
The Currents of Space 1952
A mind-wiped spatio-analyst holds the secret that could destroy the planet whose precious fiber feeds an empire.
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Lucky Starr 6 BOOKS · IN ORDER
Six juvenile space adventures, originally published under the pen name Paul French, following space ranger David 'Lucky' Starr across the solar system.
01
David Starr, Space Ranger 1952
Lucky Starr investigates poisoned food shipments from the farms of Mars.
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02
Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids 1953
Lucky goes undercover among asteroid pirates to avenge his parents.
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03
Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus 1954
Sabotage beneath Venus's ocean cities points to an alien intelligence.
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04
Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury 1956
A sabotaged research project on Mercury's sun-scorched surface.
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05
Lucky Starr and the Moons of Jupiter 1957
A spy hunt aboard an experimental antigravity ship near Jupiter.
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06
Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn 1958
A confrontation with Sirian enemies in the Saturn system closes out the series.
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Standalone books by Asimov 5 BOOKS · BY YEAR
In publication order — read these in any order you like.
01
The End of Eternity 1955
A time-travel masterpiece about the technicians who edit human history, and the man who falls in love and breaks the rules; many fans call it Asimov's best standalone.
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02
Fantastic Voyage 1966
A novelization of the film in which a miniaturized submarine crew journeys through a human body to save a scientist's life.
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03
The Gods Themselves 1972
Asimov's Hugo and Nebula winner about a free-energy exchange with a parallel universe, featuring his most alien aliens.
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04
Nemesis 1989
A rogue star threatens the solar system while a girl on a breakaway space colony discovers something alive on a distant moon.
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05
Nightfall 1990
Written with Robert Silverberg, a novel-length expansion of Asimov's famous 1941 story about a world with six suns experiencing darkness for the first time in millennia.
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The movies READ IT BEFORE YOU WATCH IT
I, Robot 2004
Based on: I, Robot (1950)
Will Smith action thriller that borrows the Three Laws and Susan Calvin but tells an original detective story.
Bicentennial Man 1999
Based on: The Bicentennial Man (1976)
Robin Williams stars as a robot who spends two centuries striving to become human.
Foundation (TV series) 2021
Based on: Foundation series (1951-1993)
Apple TV+'s lavish, loose adaptation of the saga, starring Jared Harris as Hari Seldon.
Nightfall 1988
Based on: Nightfall (1941)
A low-budget adaptation of the classic short story; a second attempt followed in 2000.
Fantastic Voyage 1966
Based on: Fantastic Voyage (1966)
Technically the reverse: Asimov novelized the screenplay, and his book famously hit shelves before the film premiered.
Frequently asked questions
What order should I read the Foundation series?
Read it in publication order: Foundation (1951), Foundation and Empire (1952), Second Foundation (1953), Foundation's Edge (1982), Foundation and Earth (1986), then the prequels Prelude to Foundation (1988) and Forward the Foundation (1993). Reading the prequels first spoils reveals and gives you a weaker introduction to the saga.
Should I read the Robot series before Foundation?
You don't have to, but it's rewarding. The Robot novels (starting with I, Robot and The Caves of Steel) stand alone as excellent SF mysteries, and Robots and Empire plus Foundation and Earth eventually link the two universes. A popular approach is to finish the original Foundation trilogy first, then read the Robot books before tackling Foundation's Edge.
How many books did Isaac Asimov write?
Asimov wrote or edited more than 500 books over his career, spanning science fiction, mystery, popular science, history, and humor. His fiction cornerstones are the 7 Foundation books, 5 Robot books, 3 Galactic Empire novels, 6 Lucky Starr adventures, and standalones like The Gods Themselves and The End of Eternity.
Is Apple TV+'s Foundation faithful to the books?
Only loosely. The series keeps Hari Seldon, psychohistory, and the broad arc of a collapsing empire, but invents new characters, gender-swaps others, and adds action-driven plotlines the novels never had. Fans of the show can still enjoy the books as a very different, more cerebral experience.