In a writing career spanning 53 years (1939–1992), science fiction and popular science author Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) wrote and published 40 novels, 383 short stories, over 280 non-fiction books, and edited about 147 others.
In this article, Asimov's books are listed by year (in order of publication within a year, where known) with publisher indicated. They are divided between original works and edited books. Works of fiction are denoted by an asterisk (*) and books for children or adolescents by a dagger (†). Currently, 504 total books are listed here (357 original and 147 edited or annotated by Asimov).
Original book-length works
1950 Pebble in the Sky* (Doubleday) I, Robot* (Gnome Press)
1951 The Stars, Like Dust * (Doubleday) Foundation* (Gnome Press)
1952 David Starr, Space Ranger*† (Doubleday) Foundation and Empire* (Gnome Press) The Currents of Space* (Doubleday) Biochemistry and Human Metabolism (Williams & Wilkins)
1953
Second Foundation* (Gnome Press) Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids*† (Doubleday)
1954 The Caves of Steel* (Doubleday) Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus*† (Doubleday) The Chemicals of Life: Enzymes, Vitamins, and Hormones (Abelard-Schuman)
1955 The End of Eternity* (Doubleday) The Martian Way and Other Stories* (Doubleday) Races and People (Abelard-Schuman); co-written with William C. Boyd, illustrations by John Bradford
1956 Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury*† (Doubleday) Chemistry and Human Health (McGraw-Hill) Inside the Atom (Abelard-Schuman)
1957 The Naked Sun* (Doubleday) Lucky Starr and the Moons of Jupiter*† (Doubleday) Building Blocks of the Universe (Abelard-Schuman) Earth Is Room Enough: Science Fiction: Tales of Our Own Planet* (Doubleday) Only a Trillion (Abelard-Schuman)
1958 The World of Carbon (Abelard-Schuman) Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn*† (Doubleday) The World of Nitrogen (Abelard-Schuman) The Death Dealers* (Avon) Republished as A Whiff of Death (1979)
1959 Nine Tomorrows: Tales of the Near Future* (Doubleday) The Clock We Live On (Abelard-Schuman) Words of Science, and the History Behind Them† (Houghton Mifflin) Realm of Numbers (Houghton Mifflin) Breakthroughs in Science (Houghton Mifflin)
1960 The Living River (Abelard-Schuman) The Kingdom of the Sun (Abelard-Schuman) Realm of Measure (Houghton Mifflin) Satellites in Outer Space (Random House) The Wellsprings of Life (Abelard-Schuman) The Intelligent Man's Guide to Science (Basic Books) 2nd edition: The New Intelligent Man's Guide to Science (1965; Basic Books) 3rd edition: Asimov's Guide to Science (1972; Basic Books) 4th edition: Asimov's New Guide to Science (1984; Basic Books) The Double Planet (Abelard-Schuman)
1961 Realm of Algebra (Houghton Mifflin) Words from the Myths† (Houghton Mifflin)
1962 Life and Energy (Doubleday) Words in Genesis† (Houghton Mifflin; illustrations by William Barss) Fact and Fancy (Doubleday) Words on the Map† (Houghton Mifflin) The Search for the Elements (Basic Books)
1963 Words from the Exodus† (Houghton Mifflin; illustrations by William Barss) The Genetic Code (Orion Press) The Human Body: Its Structure and Operation (Houghton Mifflin; illustrations by Anthony Ravielli) Revised/expanded edition, 1992 View from a Height (Doubleday) The Kite That Won the Revolution† (Houghton Mifflin)
1964 The Human Brain: Its Capacities and Functions (Houghton Mifflin) A Short History of Biology (Natural History Press) Quick and Easy Math (Houghton Mifflin) Adding a Dimension (Doubleday) Planets for Man (Random House), with Stephen H. Dole The Rest of the Robots* (Doubleday) Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology (Doubleday) 2nd edition, 1972 3rd edition, 1983
1965 A Short History of Chemistry (Doubleday) The Greeks: A Great Adventure† (Houghton Mifflin) Of Time and Space and Other Things (Doubleday) An Easy Introduction to the Slide Rule (Houghton Mifflin)
1966 Fantastic Voyage* (Houghton Mifflin) The Noble Gases (Basic Books) The Neutrino: Ghost Particle of the Atom (Doubleday) The Roman Republic (Houghton Mifflin) Understanding Physics, 3 volumes (Walker) Vol. I: Motion, Sound, and Heat Vol. II: Light, Magnetism, and Electricity Vol. III: The Electron, Proton, and Neutron The Genetic Effects of Radiation (U.S. AEC) The Universe: From Flat Earth to Quasar (Walker) 2nd edition (1971; Walker) 3rd edition (1980), as The Universe: From Flat Earth to Black Holes and Beyond (Walker) From Earth to Heaven (Doubleday)
1967 The Moon (Follet) Environments Out There (Scholastic/Abelard-Schuman) The Roman Empire (Houghton Mifflin) Through a Glass, Clearly* (New English Library) Is Anyone There? (Doubleday) To the Ends of the Universe (Walker) Mars (Follet) The Egyptians (Houghton Mifflin)
1968 Asimov's Mysteries* (Doubleday) Science, Numbers, and I (Doubleday) Stars (Follet) Galaxies (Follet) The Near East: 10,000 Years of History (Houghton Mifflin) The Dark Ages (Houghton Mifflin) Asimov's Guide to the Bible, Volume I (Doubleday) Words from History† (Houghton Mifflin)
1969 Photosynthesis (Basic Books) The Shaping of England (Houghton Mifflin) Twentieth Century Discovery (Doubleday) Nightfall and Other Stories* (Doubleday) Asimov's Guide to the Bible, Volume II (Doubleday) Opus 100 (Houghton Mifflin) ABC's of Space† (Walker) Great Ideas of Science (Houghton Mifflin)
1970 The Solar System and Back (Doubleday) Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare, 2 volumes (Doubleday) Constantinople: The Forgotten Empire (Houghton Mifflin) ABC's of the Ocean† (Walker) Light (Follet)
1971 The Stars in Their Courses (Doubleday) What Makes the Sun Shine? (Little, Brown & Co.) The Best New Thing*† (World Pub. Co.) The Land of Canaan (Houghton Mifflin) ABC's of the Earth† (Walker) The Sensuous Dirty Old Man (as by Dr. "A.") (Walker) Isaac Asimov's Treasury of Humor (Houghton Mifflin)
1972 The Left Hand of the Electron (Doubleday) The Gods Themselves* (Doubleday) More Words of Science† (Houghton Mifflin) Electricity and Man (U.S. AEC) ABC's of Ecology† (Walker) The Early Asimov or, Eleven Years of Trying* (Doubleday) The Shaping of France (Houghton Mifflin) The Story of Ruth† (Doubleday) Ginn Science Program, Intermediate Level A† (Ginn) Ginn Science Program, Intermediate Level C† (Ginn) Worlds Within Worlds (U.S. AEC) Ginn Science Program, Intermediate Level B† (Ginn)
1973 How Did We Find Out the Earth Is Round? † (Walker) Comets and Meteors (Follet) The Sun (Follet) How Did We Find Out About Electricity? † (Walker) The Shaping of North America: From Earliest Times to 1763 (Houghton Mifflin) Today and Tomorrow and ... (Doubleday) Jupiter, the Largest Planet (Lothrop, Lee, & Shepard) Ginn Science Program, Advanced Level A† (Ginn) Ginn Science Program, Advanced Level B† (Ginn) How Did We Find Out About Numbers? † (Walker) Please Explain (Houghton Mifflin) The Tragedy of the Moon (Abelard-Schuman) How Did We Find Out About Dinosaurs? † (Walker) The Best of Isaac Asimov* (Sphere)
1974 Asimov on Astronomy (Doubleday) The Birth of the United States: 1763-1816 (Houghton Mifflin) Have You Seen These?* (NESRAA) Our World in Space (New York Graphic Society) How Did We Find Out About Germs? † (Walker) Tales of the Black Widowers* (Doubleday) Earth: Our Crowded Spaceship (John Day) Asimov on Chemistry (Doubleday) How Did We Find Out About Vitamins?† (Walker)
1975 Of Matters Great and Small (Doubleday) The Solar System (Follet) Our Federal Union: The United States from 1816 to 1865 (Houghton Mifflin) How Did We Find Out About Comets?† (Walker) Science Past, Science Future (Doubleday) Buy Jupiter and Other Stories* (Doubleday) Eyes on the Universe: A History of the Telescope (Houghton Mifflin) Lecherous Limericks (Walker) The Heavenly Host*† (Walker); illustrations by Bernard Colonna The Ends of the Earth: The Polar Regions of the World (Weybright & Talley) How Did We Find Out About Energy?† (Walker; Series: How Did We Find Out Series)
1976 ‘The Dream’, ‘Benjamin's Dream’ & ‘Benjamin's Bicentennial Blast’* (Benjamin Franklin Keeps) Asimov on Physics (Doubleday) Murder at the ABA* (Doubleday) Republished as Authorized Murder (19??) How Did We Find Out About Atoms? † (Walker) Good Taste* (Apocalypse Press) The Planet That Wasn't (Doubleday) The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories* (Doubleday) More Lecherous Limericks (Walker) More Tales of the Black Widowers* (Doubleday/Crime Club) Alpha Centauri, the Nearest Star (Lothrop, Lee, & Shepard) How Did We Find Out About Nuclear Power?† (Walker)
1977 The Collapsing Universe: The Story of Black Holes (Walker) Asimov on Numbers (Doubleday) How Did We Find Out About Outer Space?† (Walker) Still More Lecherous Limericks (Walker) The Beginning and the End (Doubleday) Mars, the Red Planet (Lothrop, Lee, & Shepard) The Golden Door: The United States from 1865 to 1918 (Houghton Mifflin) The Key Word and Other Mysteries* (Walker) Asimov's Sherlockian Limericks (Mysterious)
1978 Quasar, Quasar, Burning Bright (Doubleday) How Did We Find Out About Earthquakes? † (Walker) Animals of the Bible† (Doubleday) Limericks: Too Gross; or Two Dozen Dirty Stanzas (W. W. Norton) How Did We Find Out About Black Holes? † (Walker) Life and Time (Doubleday)
1979 Saturn and Beyond (Lothrop, Lee, & Shepard) Opus 200 (Houghton Mifflin) In Memory Yet Green: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1920–1954 (Doubleday) Extraterrestrial Civilizations (Crown) How Did We Find Out About Our Human Roots? † (Walker) The Road to Infinity (Doubleday) A Choice of Catastrophes (Simon & Schuster) Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts (Grosset & Dunlap) How Did We Find Out About Antarctica?† (Walker) The Threats of Our World
1980 Casebook of the Black Widowers* (Doubleday) How Did We Find Out About Oil?† (Walker) In Joy Still Felt: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1954–1978 (Doubleday) How Did We Find Out About Coal?† (Walker)
1981 In the Beginning: Science Faces God in the Book of Genesis (Crown/Stonesong Press) Asimov on Science Fiction (Doubleday) Venus, Near Neighbor of the Sun (Lothrop, Lee, & Shepard) Three by Asimov* (Targ) How Did We Find Out About Solar Power?† (Walker) How Did We Find Out About Volcanoes?† (Walker) Visions of the Universe (The Cosmos Store); co-written with Kazuaki Iwasaki The Sun Shines Bright (Doubleday) Change! Seventy-one Glimpses of the Future (Houghton Mifflin) A Grossery of Limericks (W. W. Norton)
1982 How Did We Find Out About Life in the Deep Sea?† (Walker) The Complete Robot* (Doubleday) Exploring the Earth and the Cosmos (Crown) How Did We Find Out About the Beginning of Life?† (Walker) Isaac Asimov Presents Superquiz (Dembner Books) Foundation's Edge* (Doubleday) How Did We Find Out About the Universe?† (Walker)
1983 Counting the Eons (Doubleday) The Winds of Change and Other Stories* (Doubleday) The Roving Mind (Prometheus Books) The Measure of the Universe (Harper & Row) The Union Club Mysteries* (Doubleday) Norby, the Mixed-up Robot*† (Walker) The Robots of Dawn* (Doubleday) How Did We Find Out About Genes?† (Walker) Isaac Asimov Presents Superquiz II ( Dembner Books)
1984 X Stands for Unknown (Doubleday) Norby's Other Secret*† (Walker) How Did We Find Out About Computers?† (Walker) Opus 300 (Houghton Mifflin) Banquets of the Black Widowers* (Doubleday) Isaac Asimov's Limericks for Children† (Caedmon) How Did We Find Out About Robots? † (Walker)
1985 Asimov's Guide to Halley's Comet (Walker) The Exploding Suns: The Secrets of the Supernovas (E. P. Dutton) Norby and the Lost Princess*† (Walker) How Did We Find Out About the Atmosphere?† (Walker) Living in the Future (Harmony House) Robots: Machines In Man's Image (Harmony House) The Edge of Tomorrow* (Tor/Tom Doherty Associates) The Subatomic Monster (Doubleday) The Disappearing Man and Other Mysteries* (Walker) Robots and Empire* (Doubleday) Norby and the Invaders*† (Walker) It's Such a Beautiful Day* (Creative Education) How Did We Find Out About DNA?† (Walker)
1986