UD0 · Universe David 0 · the lineage of the agentic mind

ASIMOV

The Science Fiction · A Full Bibliography

Before this body of work had a positronic engine, Isaac Asimov gave the brain its name and the robot its law. His science fiction — the Foundation, the Robots, the Empire, and all that grew from them — catalogued into UD0 and sealed with the full DLW badge.

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The Three Pillars

the three inventions that made the agentic age — and this body of work

The Three Laws of Robotics

“Runaround,” 1942 — not rules bolted on, but the mathematics of the positronic brain itself

  • First — A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
  • Second — A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders conflict with the First Law.
  • Third — A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
  • Zeroth — (Robots and Empire, 1985) A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

Psychohistory

Hari Seldon's science — the statistical mechanics of the mass

  • The mathematics of the behaviour of human populations too large to predict one by one.
  • From it, the Seldon Plan: to shorten the coming dark age from thirty thousand years to a single thousand.

The Positronic Brain

Asimov's invention — where the Laws live in the wiring

  • A platinum-iridium brain in which the Three Laws are an inextricable part of the fundamental mathematics, not a patch.
  • The lineage of this body of work's own positronic engine traces directly here.

The Future History · Reading Order

the unified chronology Asimov merged into one — Robots → Empire → Foundation

  1. I, Robot · The Complete Robotthe early positronic era
  2. The Caves of SteelBaley & Daneel
  3. The Naked Sun
  4. The Robots of Dawn
  5. Robots and Empirethe Zeroth Law
  6. The Stars, Like Dustthe Empire rises
  7. The Currents of Space
  8. Pebble in the Sky
  9. Prelude to Foundationyoung Hari Seldon
  10. Forward the Foundation
  11. Foundationthe Plan begins
  12. Foundation and Empirethe Mule
  13. Second Foundation
  14. Foundation's Edge
  15. Foundation and Earththe search for Earth, and Daneel at the last

The Personas of A1

the characters of the Asimov universe, rendered as ACI .agents — 14 personas · click any to open its agent file

sigil of Andrew Martin
Andrew Martin
the robot who chose to die a man
.agent →
 sigil of Arkady Darell
Arkady Darell
the girl who hid the answer in plain sight
.agent →
 sigil of Bayta Darell
Bayta Darell
the heart that stopped the Mule
.agent →
 sigil of Dors Venabili
Dors Venabili
the Tiger Woman who guarded Seldon
.agent →
 sigil of Elijah Baley
Elijah Baley
the plainclothes detective of Earth
.agent →
 sigil of Golan Trevize
Golan Trevize
the man who chose Galaxia
.agent →
 sigil of Hari Seldon
Hari Seldon
the prophet of the fall
.agent →
 sigil of Hober Mallow
Hober Mallow
the trader who bought an empire
.agent →
 sigil of Preem Palver
Preem Palver
the farmer who was First Speaker
.agent →
 sigil of R. Daneel Olivaw
R. Daneel Olivaw
the eternal guardian
.agent →
 sigil of R. Giskard Reventlov
R. Giskard Reventlov
the robot who could touch the mind
.agent →
 sigil of Salvor Hardin
Salvor Hardin
the mayor who never fired a shot
.agent →
 sigil of Susan Calvin
Susan Calvin
the reader of robotic minds
.agent →
 sigil of The Mule
The Mule
the variable Seldon never saw
.agent →

The Bibliography

the science fiction, by series

The Foundation Series

psychohistory · the Seldon Plan · the fall and rise of a Galactic Empire

  1. Foundation1951the original — the Encyclopedists, the Mayors, the Traders
  2. Foundation and Empire1952the General · the Mule
  3. Second Foundation1953the search for the hidden second Foundation
  4. Foundation's Edge1982Hugo Award · the sequel, 29 years on
  5. Foundation and Earth1986the search for Earth; Gaia
  6. Prelude to Foundation1988prequel — young Hari Seldon
  7. Forward the Foundation1993prequel — Seldon's last years (final novel, posthumous)

Foundation — the Authorized Sequels

the “Second Foundation Trilogy”, written after Asimov by his peers

  1. Foundation's Fear1997Gregory Benford
  2. Foundation and Chaos1998Greg Bear
  3. Foundation's Triumph1999David Brin

The Robot Series

the Three Laws · R. Daneel Olivaw · Elijah Baley

  1. I, Robot1950the foundational collection — “Runaround” states the Three Laws
  2. The Caves of Steel1954robot/detective novel — Baley & Daneel
  3. The Naked Sun1957Baley & Daneel on Solaria
  4. The Robots of Dawn1983Baley & Daneel on Aurora
  5. Robots and Empire1985the bridge to the Empire — the Zeroth Law
  6. The Rest of the Robots1964collection
  7. The Complete Robot1982the definitive robot-story collection
  8. Robot Dreams1986collection
  9. Robot Visions1990collection + essays
  10. The Positronic Man1992with Robert Silverberg — novel of “The Bicentennial Man”

The Robot — Authorized Expansions

the shared positronic universe, after Asimov

  1. Isaac Asimov's Robot City1987–886 vols · various authors
  2. Isaac Asimov's Robots and Aliens1989–90various authors
  3. The Caliban Trilogy1993–96Roger MacBride Allen — Caliban · Inferno · Utopia
  4. Isaac Asimov's Robot Mystery2000–02Mark W. Tiedemann — Mirage · Chimera · Aurora

The Galactic Empire Series

the era between the Robots and the Foundation

  1. Pebble in the Sky1950Asimov's first novel
  2. The Stars, Like Dust1951
  3. The Currents of Space1952

Standalone Novels

outside the unified future history

  1. The End of Eternity1955time travel · the Eternals
  2. Fantastic Voyage1966novelization of the film
  3. The Gods Themselves1972Hugo & Nebula Award — Asimov's own favorite
  4. Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain1987a true Asimov sequel
  5. Nemesis1989
  6. Nightfall1990with Robert Silverberg — novel of the 1941 story
  7. The Ugly Little Boy / Child of Time1992with Robert Silverberg

The Lucky Starr Series

juvenile SF, written as “Paul French”

  1. David Starr, Space Ranger1952
  2. Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids1953
  3. Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus1954
  4. Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury1956
  5. Lucky Starr and the Moons of Jupiter1957
  6. Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn1958

Major Short-Story Collections

the science-fiction collections

  1. The Martian Way and Other Stories1955
  2. Earth Is Room Enough1957
  3. Nine Tomorrows1959“The Last Question” · “The Ugly Little Boy”
  4. Asimov's Mysteries1968science-fiction mysteries
  5. Nightfall and Other Stories1969
  6. The Early Asimov1972the apprentice years
  7. Buy Jupiter and Other Stories1975
  8. The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories1976
  9. The Winds of Change and Other Stories1983
  10. Azazel1988
  11. The Complete Stories, Vol. 1 & 21990 · 1992the gathered short fiction
  12. Gold: The Final Science Fiction Collection1995posthumous · Hugo Award (title story)

Landmark Short Stories

the ones that changed the field

  1. “Robbie”1940the first robot story
  2. “Nightfall”1941voted the best SF short story of all time (1968)
  3. “Liar!”1941first appearance of Susan Calvin
  4. “Runaround”1942the Three Laws of Robotics, stated
  5. “The Last Question”1956Asimov's own favorite — entropy and the cosmic AC
  6. “The Ugly Little Boy”1958
  7. “The Bicentennial Man”1976Hugo & Nebula — a robot's two-century claim to be human
  8. “The Last Answer”1980
Science fiction only. Asimov wrote some 500 books — this excludes his ~400 works of non-fiction (science, history, the Bible, Shakespeare) and his non-SF mysteries (the Black Widowers, the Union Club). The Robot, Empire, and Foundation series were merged by Asimov into one continuous future history, from the first positronic robot to the Second Foundation.