I will always read a series in order if it's at all possible.
Actual chronological detail and progression isn't necessarily
visible in the stories themselves, but you are usually
getting a slightly updated approach by the author to his or
her material. Sometimes this is negligible or non-existent,
say in very prolonged series, but even then what the author
brings to the books will evolve. Shell Scott's adventures
might have almost no chronological connections from one to
the next, but you can't tell me that 1950's Case of the
Vanishing Beauty doesn't feel different than 1975's The Sure
Thing.
I try not to be obsessive about it, but the only time I'll
read a series out of chronological order is when I find that
the early stories are so weak that I'm tempted to quit, and
there are people I respect telling me the books get much
better later.
John
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