In what order should Issac Asimov's Foundations and Robot series be read?

Question

I have 3 series, Robot series, Foundation Series and the Galactic Empire. Obviously the confusion is many of them were written concurrently and are non-linear. So which should come first, second and third? Could I live eliminate reading Galactic Empire altogether?

Here are the novels...

* The Robot series:

o The Caves of Steel (1954)

o The Naked Sun (1957)

o The Robots of Dawn (1983)

o Robots and Empire (1985)

* Galactic Empire series:

o Pebble in the Sky (1950)

o The Stars, Like Dust (1951)

o The Currents of Space (1952)

* Original Foundation trilogy:

o Foundation (1951)

o Foundation and Empire (1952)

o Second Foundation (1953)

* Extended Foundation series:

o Foundation's Edge (1982)

o Foundation and Earth (1986)

o Prelude to Foundation (1988)

o Forward the Foundation (1993)

Answer 1

Johnny Pez's Insanely Complete Fiction List

A chronology of events in Isaac Asimov's positronic robot and Foundation stories, compiled by Johnny Pez [e-mail]

AD = Anno Domini BLACK text: Written by Isaac Asimov.

GE = Galactic Era BLUE text: Written by other professional authors, approved by the Asimov Estate.

FE = Foundational Era RED text: Written by other professional authors, not necessarily canonical.

GREEN text: Non-published, fan-fiction.

DATE STORY (BOOK)

1995 AD "A Boy's Best Friend" (The Complete Robot)

1998 AD "Robbie" (I, Robot; The Complete Robot; Robot Visions)

2006 AD "Robot AL-76 Goes Astray" (The Rest of the Robots; The Complete Robot)

2010 AD "Insert k**b A in Hold B" (Nightfall and Other Stories)

2015 AD "Runaround" (I, Robot; The Complete Robot; Robot Visions)

2015 AD "Reason" (I, Robot; The Complete Robot; Robot Visions)

2016 AD "Catch That Rabbit" (I, Robot; The Complete Robot)

2016 AD "Safety First" by Johnny Pez (read the story)

2021 AD "Liar!" (I, Robot; The Complete Robot; Robot Visions)

2023 AD "Satisfaction Guaranteed" (The Rest of the Robots; The Complete Robot; Earth Is Room Enough)

2024 AD "Balance" by Mike Resnick (Foundation's Friends)

2025 AD "Lenny" (The Rest of the Robots; The Complete Robot; Robot Visions)

2026 AD "Blot" by Hal Clement (Foundation's Friends)

2029 AD "Little Lost Robot" (I, Robot)

2030 AD "Escape!" (I, Robot)

2031 AD "Cal" (Gold)

2032 AD "Evidence" (I, Robot; The Complete Robot; Robot Visions)

2032 AD "PAPPI" by Sheila Finch (Foundation's Friends)

2033 AD "Risk" (The Rest of the Robots; The Complete Robot)

2034 AD "Galley Slave" (The Rest of the Robots; The Complete Robot; Robot Visions)

2035 AD "First Law" (The Rest of the Robots; The Complete Robot)

2036 AD "Plato's Cave" by Poul Anderson (Foundation's Friends)

2052 AD "The Evitable Conflict" (I, Robot; The Complete Robot; Robot Visions)

2055 AD "Robot Dreams" (Robot Dreams)

2058 AD I, Robot (I, Robot)

2063 AD "Feminine Intuition" (The Complete Robot; Robot Visions; The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories)

2065 AD "The Fourth Law of Robotics" by Harry Harrison (Foundation's Friends)

2090 AD "Christmas Without Rodney" (Robot Visions)

2120 AD "Kid Brother" (Gold)

2140 AD Robots in Time by William F. Wu (six volumes)

   1. Predator

   2. Marauder

   3. Warrior

   4. Dictator

   5. Emperor

   6. Invader

2150 AD "Light Verse" (Buy Jupiter and Other Stories; The Complete Robot; Robot Dreams)

2170 AD "Too Bad!" (Robot Visions)

2180 AD "That Thou Art Mindful of Him" (The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories; The Complete Robot)

2200 AD "Carhunters of the Concrete Prairie" by Robert Sheckley (Foundation's Friends)

2160-2360 AD "The Bicentennial Man" (The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories)

2425 AD "Mother Earth" (The Early Asimov)

3421 AD The Caves of Steel

3422 AD The Naked Sun

3423 AD "Mirror Image" (The Best of Isaac Asimov; The Complete Robot; Robot Visions)

3424 AD "Strip-Runner" by Pamela Sargent (Foundation's Friends)

3424 AD The Robots of Dawn

3604 AD Robot City (six volumes)

   1. Odyssey by Michael P. Kube-McDowell

   2. Suspicion by Mike McQuay

   3. Cyborg by William F. Wu

   4. Prodigy by Arthur Byron Cover

   5. Refuge by Rob Chilson

   6. Perihelion by William F. Wu

3605 AD Robots and Aliens (six volumes)

   1. Changeling by Stephen Leigh

   2. Renegade by Cordell Scotten

   3. Intruder by Robert Thurston

   4. Alliance by Jerry Oltion

   5. Maverick by Bruce Bethke

   6. Humanity by Jerry Oltion

3620 AD Mirage by Mark W. Tiedemann

3624 AD Robots and Empire

3730 AD Caliban by Roger MacBride Allen

3731 AD Inferno by Roger MacBride Allen

3736 AD Utopia by Roger MacBride Allen

4850 AD The Stars, Like Dust

11129 AD The Currents of Space

827 GE (12411 AD) Pebble in the Sky

977-978 GE "Blind Alley" (The Early Asimov)

12020 GE Prelude to Foundation

12028 GE "Eto Demerzel" (Forward the Foundation)

12028 GE Foundation's Fear by Gregory Benford

12038 GE "Cleon I" (Forward the Foundation)

12048 GE "Dors Venabili" (Forward the Foundation)

12058 GE "Wanda Seldon" (Forward the Foundation)

12067 GE Foundation and Chaos by Greg Bear

12067 GE "The Psychohistorians" (Foundation)

12068 GE Foundation's Triumph by David Brin

12069 GE Epilogue (Forward the Foundation)

12067-12070 GE "The Originist" by Orson Scott Card (Foundation's Friends)

49-50 FE (12117-12118 GE) "The Encyclopedists" (Foundation)

79-80 FE (12147-12148 GE) "The Mayors" (Foundation)

134 FE (12202 GE) "The Traders" (Foundation)

154-160 FE (12222-12228 GE) "The Merchant Princes" (Foundation)

195-196 FE (12263-12264 GE) "The General" (Foundation and Empire)

270 FE (12338 GE) "Trantor Falls" by Harry Turtledove (Foundation's Friends)

310-311 FE (12378-12379 GE) "The Mule" (Foundation and Empire)

316 FE (12384 GE) "Search by the Mule" (Second Foundation)

376-377 FE (12444-12445 GE) "Search by the Foundation" (Second Foundation)

498 FE (12566 GE) Foundation's Edge

498 FE (12566 GE) Foundation and Earth

498 FE (12566 GE) "After Earth" by Johnny Pez (read the story)

1000 FE (13068 GE) "The Imperial Conference" by Alexander J. Vincent (read the story)

1056 FE (13124 GE) "Foundation's Conscience" by George Zebrowski (Foundation's Friends)

1302 FE (13370 GE) "No Connections" by Randall Garrett (The Best of Randall Garrett; Takeoff [both are Randall Garrett collections])

luv......wife of an avid scifi fan