Call number
SPEC FIC CHI
Collection
Genres
Publication
Knopf (2019), Edition: First Edition, 368 pages
Description
This much-anticipated second collection of stories is signature Ted Chiang, full of revelatory ideas and deeply sympathetic characters. In "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," a portal through time forces a fabric seller in ancient Baghdad to grapple with past mistakes and the temptation of second chances. In the epistolary "Exhalation," an alien scientist makes a shocking discovery with ramifications not just for his own people, but for all of reality. And in "The Lifecycle of Software Objects," a woman cares for an artificial intelligence over twenty years, elevating a faddish digital pet into what might be a true living being. Also included are two brand-new stories: "Omphalos" and "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom." In this fantastical and elegant collection, Ted Chiang wrestles with the oldest questions on earth--What is the nature of the universe? What does it mean to be human?--and ones that no one else has even imagined. And, each in its own way, the stories prove that complex and thoughtful science fiction can rise to new heights of beauty, meaning, and compassion.… (more)
Media reviews
Exhalation’s nine stories are … fine. A couple are excellent, most are good, a couple don’t really work. It feels like damning the book with faint praise to say so, but isn’t that exactly how short-story collections generally work?
I can’t think of another modern genre writer like him, myself: his tales make me think of the same sort of impact a Bradbury or a Heinlein story had in the Golden Age, where readers would read something just because it is written by the author.
In the hands of a truly fatalistic writer, the premises and conceits in Exhalation would frogmarch us down the tired path to dystopia. But Chiang takes the constraints on our freedom as a starting point from which we have to decide what it means to act as if our decisions still matter.
Chiang is a writer of precision and grace. His stories extrapolate from first premises with the logic and rigor of a well-designed experiment but at the same time are deeply affecting, responsive to the complexities and variability of human life.
[Chiang's] voice and style are so beautifully trim it makes you think that, like one of his characters, he has a magical looking-box hidden in his basement that shows him nothing except the final texts of stories he has already written — just so he'll know exactly how to write them well in the
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first place. Show Less
The stories in Exhalation are a shining example of science fiction at its best. They take both science and humanism deeply seriously, which is why it’s so satisfying to watch Chiang’s shining, intricate machine at work: You know that whatever the machine builds, it will tell you something new
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about human beings. Show Less
Chiang’s materialist universe is a secular place, in which God, if there is one, belongs to the phenomenal realm of scientific investigation and usually has no particular interest in humankind. But it is also a place in which the natural inquisitiveness of our species leads us to ever more
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astonishing truths, and an alliance with technological advances is likely to enhance us, not diminish us. Human curiosity, for Chiang, is a nearly divine engine of progress. Show Less
Chiang’s stories are uniformly notable for a fusion of pure intellect and molten emotion. At the core of each is some deep conceptual notion rich with arcane metaphysical or scientific allure. But surrounding each novum is a narrative of refined human sensitivity and soulfulness that symbolically
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reifies the ideas. While this combination represents the ideal definition and practice of all science fiction, it’s seldom achieved. Show Less
Visionary speculative stories that will change the way readers see themselves and the world around them: This book delivers in a big way.
As Chiang’s endnotes attest, these stories are brilliant experiments, and his commitment to exploring deep human questions elevates them to among the very best science fiction.
User reviews
LibraryThing member lisapeet
I liked this one a lot. Chiang walks down the aisle between sf and philosophy and pulls in both sides for each story—so "What's Expected of Us" looks at the conundrum of free will through a sf/tech lens, and "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" is a take on AI and tech obsolescence that turns it
Every time I said I was reading this, people would tell me that his last collection, [Stories of Your Life and Others], was the real killer, so I'll probably be librarying that one up soon.
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into a philosophical/moral issue, bringing in not just the expected Uncanny Valley musings but also thoughts about agency, animal rights, parenthood, and consent. The collection reminded me of reading sf as an early teen, when the good thoughtful stuff (hello, [Dangerous Visions]) was new and sparked all sorts of deep thoughts... none of Chang's plots is particularly radical, but he approaches them in novel ways and writes well. Every time I said I was reading this, people would tell me that his last collection, [Stories of Your Life and Others], was the real killer, so I'll probably be librarying that one up soon.
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LibraryThing member Stevil2001
Other than Arrival and "Story of Your Life," this was my first exposure to Ted Chiang's work. At his best, Chiang hits that doubling effect of science fiction I love so much: he build other worlds based on scientific ideas, and his ideas serve as metaphors about our world. Chiang tends toward the
Stories that really worked in this way including "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling," about how writing reshaped our cognition, and about how memory retrieval is likely to do so again; I really liked his point that memory technologies will do for individual people what writing did on a societal scale. (As I was reading the story, I thought, "someone knows his Walter Ong," and then I got to "story notes"... and yes he does!) I also really liked "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom," about branching timelines. It's clearly a grounded, realistic take on the idea, and in being so, does some really interesting stuff that I've never seen before in sf.
The more middling stories don't quite thread this needle. I thought "The Merchant and the Alchemists' Gate" (a take on how a time machine would "actually" work) was intellectually interesting, but it didn't have the emotional impact of Chiang at his best; similar thoughts were spurred by "Omphalos."
Chiang seems to be at his weakest when in short-short mode; all the stories I liked least were ones that explored an idea but didn't really support it with character or thematic work. Thus you lose the doubling effect of the best sf: I liked the weird other worlds, but I want to see the connection to our world. I felt the title story fell into this trap, as did "What's Expected of Us" (I didn't even remember what this one was about until I flipped back through it to write this review) and "Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny" (about a Victorian who makes a mechanical child-rearer, it's told in the form of a museum guidebook, which keeps you rather distant from the actual events, and as a Victorianist, I didn't think the period details rang true; it felt like someone's stereotypes of the era). I think Chiang actually did pull off the form in "The Great Silence," a cute story about the parrots who live near the Arecibo Observatory.
My favorite story in the book was "The Lifecycle of Software Objects," about a group of people "raising" AIs in a computer environment. I really appreciated its accurate depiction of AI; ever since I read Gödel, Escher, Bach, it's seemed unlikely to me that AI would spring into the world fully sapient. Any truly emergent system would have to be taught just like human have to be taught. It's a really neat look at how that process might go, and how difficult it might be, and how external factors might influence it-- and it's also a really moving depiction of the difficulties of parenting and figuring out when to let someone be autonomous. An incredible piece of sf writing that does what only sf can do at its best.
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hard sf end of the spectrum, which is to say that his ideas are put forth in great detail. I don't know if the science is real but it feels real, and Chiang keeps explaining it interesting, usually by paralleling it with the human impact of the technology.Stories that really worked in this way including "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling," about how writing reshaped our cognition, and about how memory retrieval is likely to do so again; I really liked his point that memory technologies will do for individual people what writing did on a societal scale. (As I was reading the story, I thought, "someone knows his Walter Ong," and then I got to "story notes"... and yes he does!) I also really liked "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom," about branching timelines. It's clearly a grounded, realistic take on the idea, and in being so, does some really interesting stuff that I've never seen before in sf.
The more middling stories don't quite thread this needle. I thought "The Merchant and the Alchemists' Gate" (a take on how a time machine would "actually" work) was intellectually interesting, but it didn't have the emotional impact of Chiang at his best; similar thoughts were spurred by "Omphalos."
Chiang seems to be at his weakest when in short-short mode; all the stories I liked least were ones that explored an idea but didn't really support it with character or thematic work. Thus you lose the doubling effect of the best sf: I liked the weird other worlds, but I want to see the connection to our world. I felt the title story fell into this trap, as did "What's Expected of Us" (I didn't even remember what this one was about until I flipped back through it to write this review) and "Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny" (about a Victorian who makes a mechanical child-rearer, it's told in the form of a museum guidebook, which keeps you rather distant from the actual events, and as a Victorianist, I didn't think the period details rang true; it felt like someone's stereotypes of the era). I think Chiang actually did pull off the form in "The Great Silence," a cute story about the parrots who live near the Arecibo Observatory.
My favorite story in the book was "The Lifecycle of Software Objects," about a group of people "raising" AIs in a computer environment. I really appreciated its accurate depiction of AI; ever since I read Gödel, Escher, Bach, it's seemed unlikely to me that AI would spring into the world fully sapient. Any truly emergent system would have to be taught just like human have to be taught. It's a really neat look at how that process might go, and how difficult it might be, and how external factors might influence it-- and it's also a really moving depiction of the difficulties of parenting and figuring out when to let someone be autonomous. An incredible piece of sf writing that does what only sf can do at its best.
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LibraryThing member RandyMetcalfe
The nine stories collected here each turn on a scientific conundrum. It might be limitations of time travel, or the problem of entropy, or AI, or the nature(s) of truth. Some of these are more conducive to narrative exploration and this in turn is reflected in how hard Chiang must twist to offer up
Of course scientific puzzles may be more or less compelling, and for me the ones that worked best were those which might be considered to be open-ended. In “The Lifecycle of Software Objects” those serving in locus parentis for complex but immature AI creatures must, over time, confront all the parallel concerns they might have had in rearing human offspring. The challenge with such a story, however, is that if presented as the sequence of challenges faced over time, there is no clear narrative drive and thus not move toward closure. Which could also be considered a positive, if one chose to see it as a deliberate choice. Likewise “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling” works hard to make sense of the notion of multiple viable conceptions of Truth. Does it succeed? Does it succeed in a way that a more straightforward philosophical essay wouldn’t have achieved in far fewer words? That’s debatable. It’s certainly the case that almost any of these stories could be written as an intelligent essay on the topic. And that might explain why some of them read like treatments for a possible story. (Though that might have also been a stylistic choice.)
For those who’ve read and enjoyed Ted Chiang’s work in the past, this collection will confirm their high opinion of him. And it might also win him some new converts.
Gently recommended.
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a compelling story. That he succeeds at all is testament to his craftsmanship.Of course scientific puzzles may be more or less compelling, and for me the ones that worked best were those which might be considered to be open-ended. In “The Lifecycle of Software Objects” those serving in locus parentis for complex but immature AI creatures must, over time, confront all the parallel concerns they might have had in rearing human offspring. The challenge with such a story, however, is that if presented as the sequence of challenges faced over time, there is no clear narrative drive and thus not move toward closure. Which could also be considered a positive, if one chose to see it as a deliberate choice. Likewise “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling” works hard to make sense of the notion of multiple viable conceptions of Truth. Does it succeed? Does it succeed in a way that a more straightforward philosophical essay wouldn’t have achieved in far fewer words? That’s debatable. It’s certainly the case that almost any of these stories could be written as an intelligent essay on the topic. And that might explain why some of them read like treatments for a possible story. (Though that might have also been a stylistic choice.)
For those who’ve read and enjoyed Ted Chiang’s work in the past, this collection will confirm their high opinion of him. And it might also win him some new converts.
Gently recommended.
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LibraryThing member bhiggs
This is a collection of short stories, so the rating is sort of an average.
"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate"
A fun 'prince of persia' style time-travel scifi story set in Persia/Middle eastern setting. It was a good start to the book.
"Exhalation"
My favorite story out of the whole book. Maybe
"What's Expected of Us"
Cool little story on free will. I thought it was fine for what it was.
"The Lifecycle of Software Objects"
This was the longest story of the book, and I wish it wasn't. It's not that it wasn't interesting, but it dragged on before it really got to the point/theme/moral. It was intertwined with weird themes about growing up, humanity, sexuality, and romance. I sort of wish this was replaced with 3 smaller stories about different subjects.
"Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny"
For some reason this reminded me of 'Amnesia: Justine' but I'm not sure why. It was fun to read, if not a bit strange?
"The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling"
Sort of reminded me of "Things Fall Apart" somehow. Interesting look at how society shapes what we consider truth.
"The Great Silence"
If I recall, it was like 3 pages long. It's good, but nothing to write a review about.
"Omphalos"
Maybe my least favorite in the whole book. It wasn't engaging for me, and I found myself bored until the end.
"Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom"
I enjoyed this one a lot. The concept of the prisms was interesting, and for a short story the character development was impressive.
"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate"
A fun 'prince of persia' style time-travel scifi story set in Persia/Middle eastern setting. It was a good start to the book.
"Exhalation"
My favorite story out of the whole book. Maybe
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it's the authors, too, because he named the book after it."What's Expected of Us"
Cool little story on free will. I thought it was fine for what it was.
"The Lifecycle of Software Objects"
This was the longest story of the book, and I wish it wasn't. It's not that it wasn't interesting, but it dragged on before it really got to the point/theme/moral. It was intertwined with weird themes about growing up, humanity, sexuality, and romance. I sort of wish this was replaced with 3 smaller stories about different subjects.
"Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny"
For some reason this reminded me of 'Amnesia: Justine' but I'm not sure why. It was fun to read, if not a bit strange?
"The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling"
Sort of reminded me of "Things Fall Apart" somehow. Interesting look at how society shapes what we consider truth.
"The Great Silence"
If I recall, it was like 3 pages long. It's good, but nothing to write a review about.
"Omphalos"
Maybe my least favorite in the whole book. It wasn't engaging for me, and I found myself bored until the end.
"Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom"
I enjoyed this one a lot. The concept of the prisms was interesting, and for a short story the character development was impressive.
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LibraryThing member NTKova
Lately, I’ve been loving short stories and anthologies. Basically, every short story that I’ve read I either loved outright, or it was good enough to be worthy of a read.
Well, the stories in Exhalation are definitely challenging this. Not that they’re all bad, it’s just that they are such a
It starts off strong with The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate. A time travel story in the style of 1,001 Arabian nights, a tale within a tale, which lends itself well to the paradoxes of time travel.
Then, Exhalation which is interesting enough. And then, What’s Expected of Us, which honestly, I have a hard time remembering at all.
And then, The Lifecycle of Software Objects. Oh my god! It was soooo looong… way too long. Honestly, I think it’s the size of a novella. But worse, it could have been edited down to half its length and would have lost nothing.
The following stories were better. Dacey’s Patent Automatic Nanny is a fun take on the early 20th century child rearing ideas and The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling is a philosophical exploration through an experiential story on the idea of having a prefect memory and its implications.
There are other stories in this anthology, but really, they’re all just ok.
I think part of the problem for this anthology is that, although all of these short stories were written by the same author, they are written in different styles, about different ideas, and are of an uneven quality. All this means is that they don’t go well together. They don’t pair favourably. It’s like having a pickle with warm milk and a steak. There is nothing inherently wrong with either one of those things, just not when they are put together.
Overall, I would skip it! Maybe just seek out the individual stories. I would recommend The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate.
Well, the stories in Exhalation are definitely challenging this. Not that they’re all bad, it’s just that they are such a
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mixed bag, that they kind of sour the whole anthology.It starts off strong with The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate. A time travel story in the style of 1,001 Arabian nights, a tale within a tale, which lends itself well to the paradoxes of time travel.
Then, Exhalation which is interesting enough. And then, What’s Expected of Us, which honestly, I have a hard time remembering at all.
And then, The Lifecycle of Software Objects. Oh my god! It was soooo looong… way too long. Honestly, I think it’s the size of a novella. But worse, it could have been edited down to half its length and would have lost nothing.
The following stories were better. Dacey’s Patent Automatic Nanny is a fun take on the early 20th century child rearing ideas and The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling is a philosophical exploration through an experiential story on the idea of having a prefect memory and its implications.
There are other stories in this anthology, but really, they’re all just ok.
I think part of the problem for this anthology is that, although all of these short stories were written by the same author, they are written in different styles, about different ideas, and are of an uneven quality. All this means is that they don’t go well together. They don’t pair favourably. It’s like having a pickle with warm milk and a steak. There is nothing inherently wrong with either one of those things, just not when they are put together.
Overall, I would skip it! Maybe just seek out the individual stories. I would recommend The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate.
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LibraryThing member ChrisRiesbeck
Four stars mostly for "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate", which manages to combine Chiang's SF thought experiment style brilliantly with an Arabian Nights story with stories, all involving a gate (two actually) that lets you jump forward or backward exactly 20 years, and still have some
Highly recommended. Few other than Egan take ideas as seriously as Chiang.
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emotional heft within all this structural dancing. The emotional human side, so strong in his classic "The Story of Your Life" is otherwise often lacking in the other stories. "Exhalation" is my second favorite, for the way is gradually reveals another world (?) or perhaps a future Earth, with a very different physical substrate for cognition. But it is very much a thought experiment. "Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom" eventually resolves well emotionally but takes its time getting there. I understand why "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" has to go on as long as it does, but it made for a bit of slog. Highly recommended. Few other than Egan take ideas as seriously as Chiang.
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LibraryThing member hhornblower
It's not that I have a knee jerk reaction against short story collections, it just that I tend not to pick them up. Hopefully, after reading this great collection, that bias in me will begin to fade. I so thoroughly enjoyed this. Mr Chiang's writing is both analytical and engagingly heartfelt at
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the same time. Show Less
LibraryThing member RBeffa
There are several award winning stories in here (major and minor science fiction awards). The included material was:
The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate • (2007) • won best novelette Nebula and Hugo award 2008
Exhalation • (2008) • short story won 2008 BSFA and 2009 Hugo and Locus
What's
The Lifecycle of Software Objects • (2010) • Best novella Hugo and Locus 2011
Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny • (2011) • short story
The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling • (2013) • novelette, 2nd place for Hugo and Locus in 2014
The Great Silence • (2015) • short story (appeared in the Best American Short Stories of 2016)
Omphalos • novelette
Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom • novelette (2020 Nebula nominee)
Story Notes
A real plus for this collection of stories was the author including 10 pages of story notes at the end of the book discussing the origins of the stories and what he was trying to do with the story. It heightened my appreciation.
The first two stories get this collection off to a great start. I had read Exhalation about a decade ago when it was new but had forgotten how much I liked it. I really liked it. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate is also excellent and it was one I appreciated even more when I read the author's notes. Unfortunately this great start did not continue. The Lifecycle of Software Objects is a novella that takes up about a third of the book and it may have won the major awards but half way through I started losing interest - it became repetitive and then I was getting seriously uninterested. So bored that I didn't care what was happening or where it was going, if anywhere, and so I skipped the last 20-25 pages of the story. Tamagotchi 2.0. Squeeee! Not. Disappointment.
My enthusiasm was quite dampened but I did like most of the remaining stories, and as noted, the story notes at the end which helped me see what the author was going for. Another excellent and thought provoking story in here was "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling". Ted Chiang thinks things that I have not - and I like that. After reading the first few pages of Omphalos I went to the back of the book story notes to see what was going on. Aha. Very interesting idea for a story and I enjoyed it more with knowing what the author intended. Was that a cheat? I don't think so. I'll note that the final story went on too long as well and became boring.
In sum, an above average book marred by the large novella that paled compared to the rest.
The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate • (2007) • won best novelette Nebula and Hugo award 2008
Exhalation • (2008) • short story won 2008 BSFA and 2009 Hugo and Locus
What's
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Expected of Us • (2005) • short storyThe Lifecycle of Software Objects • (2010) • Best novella Hugo and Locus 2011
Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny • (2011) • short story
The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling • (2013) • novelette, 2nd place for Hugo and Locus in 2014
The Great Silence • (2015) • short story (appeared in the Best American Short Stories of 2016)
Omphalos • novelette
Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom • novelette (2020 Nebula nominee)
Story Notes
A real plus for this collection of stories was the author including 10 pages of story notes at the end of the book discussing the origins of the stories and what he was trying to do with the story. It heightened my appreciation.
The first two stories get this collection off to a great start. I had read Exhalation about a decade ago when it was new but had forgotten how much I liked it. I really liked it. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate is also excellent and it was one I appreciated even more when I read the author's notes. Unfortunately this great start did not continue. The Lifecycle of Software Objects is a novella that takes up about a third of the book and it may have won the major awards but half way through I started losing interest - it became repetitive and then I was getting seriously uninterested. So bored that I didn't care what was happening or where it was going, if anywhere, and so I skipped the last 20-25 pages of the story. Tamagotchi 2.0. Squeeee! Not. Disappointment.
My enthusiasm was quite dampened but I did like most of the remaining stories, and as noted, the story notes at the end which helped me see what the author was going for. Another excellent and thought provoking story in here was "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling". Ted Chiang thinks things that I have not - and I like that. After reading the first few pages of Omphalos I went to the back of the book story notes to see what was going on. Aha. Very interesting idea for a story and I enjoyed it more with knowing what the author intended. Was that a cheat? I don't think so. I'll note that the final story went on too long as well and became boring.
In sum, an above average book marred by the large novella that paled compared to the rest.
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LibraryThing member bragan
The stories in Ted Chiang's latest collection range from a few pages to a 111-page novella ("The Lifecycle of Software Objects"). If there's a common theme to most of them, it's something about the effect of technologies -- ranging from the plausible to the fanciful -- on how we understand
I didn't find this collection quite as compelling as Stories of Your Life and Others (aka Arrival), but that's such a high bar that it just means that this one was "only" very good.
My favorites, I think were "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," which combines a very scientifically-informed take on time travel with a delightful Arabian Nights-style fairy tale feel; "Omphalos," which is set on world for which young-Earth creationism is real and provable and yet science still leads to disappointment with humanity's place in the cosmos; and "Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom," in which people can talk to versions of themselves from parallel universes.
Chaing also includes some interesting author's notes on the stories at the end, which I enjoyed reading.
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ourselves and our reality, and especially on the question of free will.I didn't find this collection quite as compelling as Stories of Your Life and Others (aka Arrival), but that's such a high bar that it just means that this one was "only" very good.
My favorites, I think were "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," which combines a very scientifically-informed take on time travel with a delightful Arabian Nights-style fairy tale feel; "Omphalos," which is set on world for which young-Earth creationism is real and provable and yet science still leads to disappointment with humanity's place in the cosmos; and "Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom," in which people can talk to versions of themselves from parallel universes.
Chaing also includes some interesting author's notes on the stories at the end, which I enjoyed reading.
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LibraryThing member Guide2
Another amazing collection of short stories for Chiang. He really has the touch to go to the bottom of an idea or new concept. I had previously read about half the stories on this book, but re-reading them was still quite interesting. Highly recommended.
LibraryThing member JesseTheK
Outstanding. Unfussy prosese explores technological issues of our day and how humans think feel and interact.
LibraryThing member santhony
This is a collection of short stories whose basis is speculative fiction. As is usually the case in such collections, some are better than others. I had previously read the author’s Story of Your Life and Others, a similar work of short stories. I enjoyed this collection quite a bit more and
This is sold as a collection of science fiction short stories, but is not likely the science fiction that you might expect. Most are fiction stories, with science as the basis, hence “science fiction”. A couple had time travel, or time divergence as their themes and these were excellent. All in all, a number of very smart, thought provoking works.
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can’t really say that any of the works were absolute clunkers. This is sold as a collection of science fiction short stories, but is not likely the science fiction that you might expect. Most are fiction stories, with science as the basis, hence “science fiction”. A couple had time travel, or time divergence as their themes and these were excellent. All in all, a number of very smart, thought provoking works.
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LibraryThing member jmoncton
This set of short stories is brilliantly written. Ted Chiang is a master of 'show, don't tell' and in each story there is something in the world that is different than the world we know. But it's hard to figure out what exactly is going on. It might be a disappearing race of sentient parrots or
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self-aware robots who realize that there existence is limited, but each story dives right in and it's often a struggle to figure out what is this story's reality. But although it's a mental exercise, it's so rewarding and interesting to see how each of these stories relates to the foibles or quirks of our society and humanity. Impressive writing! Show Less
LibraryThing member albertgoldfain
There is a clear and deep idea at the heart of each story that really resonates with me. Reads like a simpler Borges.
LibraryThing member jasoncomely
Ted Chiang has a knack for manipulating timelines and does so in several stories, but there are no mind-blowing endings here, unlike Stories of Your Life.
LibraryThing member Radiohead1985
Thinky. Scientific. Philosophical.
Ted Chiang's writing is often compared to one of my favorite TV series, Black Mirror. Ted Chiang lives up to that reputation, intertwining stories of humans in the backdrop of science and technology.
A collection of 10-odd short stories revolving around a few big
If you are new to these topics, this book and multitude of perspectives it provides to each topic will be definitely be engaging.
My favorite stories were:
- The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling
- The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate
- Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom
- Exhalation
Ted Chiang's writing is often compared to one of my favorite TV series, Black Mirror. Ted Chiang lives up to that reputation, intertwining stories of humans in the backdrop of science and technology.
A collection of 10-odd short stories revolving around a few big
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questions. Themes like free will, time travel, religion and science, the future of technology run through the length of the book. Ted manages to keep the plots fresh and interesting, however, the writing feels at times hollow and repetitive. If you are new to these topics, this book and multitude of perspectives it provides to each topic will be definitely be engaging.
My favorite stories were:
- The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling
- The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate
- Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom
- Exhalation
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LibraryThing member bell7
The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate
Time travel meets the Arabian Nights with the fascinating tale of a man who walks through a mirror 20 years in the past, even knowing he can't change it. Beautifully told and a story that left me with a smile on my face.
Exhalation
What happens when a being intent
What's Expected of Us
Short but powerful story about the illusion of free will.
The Lifecycle of Software Objects
Explores how AI sort-of pets could grow and change over the course of several years. In contrast to the previous story, on the long side and I thought would've been more powerful if a little shorter - I'd grown bored with the idea by the time the story was over.
Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny
How might childhood be affected by being raised by AI instead of humans?
The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling
What would happen if we had technology that could allow us to video our entire lives? How would it affect our relationships and our perception of memory? Interspersed with the futuristic story, we get a second one that brings us back into the past in a society that has no writing and an individual who learns to read and write. Thought-provoking and one I've been thinking about a lot the past few days as I have been second-guessing my own memory of events.
The Great Silence
A rather funny story told in the voice of parrots who wonder why humans are looking outside of the universe for beings to talk to instead of talking to parrots right here on our planet. His "Story Notes" at the end explain that this story was part of a collaboration with Jenniver Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla in which they created a video installation with footage of the radio telescope in Arecibo and footage of Puerto Rican parrots that are endangered and live in a forest nearby. This story began as a third video screen, a fable told from the parrot point of view. I thought it stood alone pretty well, but I'm intrigued by the larger context here too.
Omphalos
An interesting mind exercise in which scientists have proof of a young earth and an astronomical observation causes them to rethink their place in the universe. It's told in the form of a prayer, and I'm sure I missed some of the scientific nuance, but it was a fascinating concept.
Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom
A little on the longer side in the collection, but a really fun story anyways. Prisms exist that allow us to see into alternate universes and talk to ourselves. Two employees of a store that allows their customers to use these prisms have a scam going and want to make some money - but what choices will they make, and will they matter?
My main judge for a collection of short stories is, would I read it again? And yes, this collection of very different short stories, some short some long, some challenging, some funny, many thought-provoking, is one I would happily reread.
Time travel meets the Arabian Nights with the fascinating tale of a man who walks through a mirror 20 years in the past, even knowing he can't change it. Beautifully told and a story that left me with a smile on my face.
Exhalation
What happens when a being intent
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on discovering how thoughts are made takes a look at how his own brain processes things? His place in the universe may never be the same.What's Expected of Us
Short but powerful story about the illusion of free will.
The Lifecycle of Software Objects
Explores how AI sort-of pets could grow and change over the course of several years. In contrast to the previous story, on the long side and I thought would've been more powerful if a little shorter - I'd grown bored with the idea by the time the story was over.
Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny
How might childhood be affected by being raised by AI instead of humans?
The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling
What would happen if we had technology that could allow us to video our entire lives? How would it affect our relationships and our perception of memory? Interspersed with the futuristic story, we get a second one that brings us back into the past in a society that has no writing and an individual who learns to read and write. Thought-provoking and one I've been thinking about a lot the past few days as I have been second-guessing my own memory of events.
The Great Silence
A rather funny story told in the voice of parrots who wonder why humans are looking outside of the universe for beings to talk to instead of talking to parrots right here on our planet. His "Story Notes" at the end explain that this story was part of a collaboration with Jenniver Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla in which they created a video installation with footage of the radio telescope in Arecibo and footage of Puerto Rican parrots that are endangered and live in a forest nearby. This story began as a third video screen, a fable told from the parrot point of view. I thought it stood alone pretty well, but I'm intrigued by the larger context here too.
Omphalos
An interesting mind exercise in which scientists have proof of a young earth and an astronomical observation causes them to rethink their place in the universe. It's told in the form of a prayer, and I'm sure I missed some of the scientific nuance, but it was a fascinating concept.
Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom
A little on the longer side in the collection, but a really fun story anyways. Prisms exist that allow us to see into alternate universes and talk to ourselves. Two employees of a store that allows their customers to use these prisms have a scam going and want to make some money - but what choices will they make, and will they matter?
My main judge for a collection of short stories is, would I read it again? And yes, this collection of very different short stories, some short some long, some challenging, some funny, many thought-provoking, is one I would happily reread.
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LibraryThing member breic
A good collection of stories. All were enjoyable, and at least two were engrossing.
"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate": This was a standard time-travel story. It is well done in its particulars, but time-travel stories always give me a deja-vu feeling.
> The right side of the hoop precedes the
"Exhalation": "The filling stations are the primary venue for social conversation, the places from which we draw emotional sustenance as well as physical. We all keep spare sets of full lungs in our homes, but when one is alone, the act of opening one's chest and replacing one's lungs can seem little better than a chore." Chiang takes this concept and draws it out in an interesting direction, using lungs, air and air pressure in the fictional world as concrete analogies for bigger concepts in the real world. Chiang does this a lot in this collection, and I found it fun and unexpected (maybe too obvious for some, but I need to be hit on the head for symbolism to work).
"What's Expected of Us": "The light flashes if you press the button. Specifically, the light flashes one second before you press the button." This concept elaborated. It didn't work as well.
"The Lifecycle of Software Objects": I had read this story before, somewhere. On a reread, it was still fun, but it needs a rewrite; it could have been so much better. The dilemma at the end wasn't convincing.
> The customer base has stabilized to a small community of hard-core digient owners, and they don't generate enough revenue to keep Blue Gamma afloat. The company will release a no-fee version of the food-dispensing software so those who want to can keep their digients running as long as they like, but otherwise, the customers are on their own.
… Skipping over a few, weaker stories …
"Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom": This was my favorite story in the collection.
> Every prism—the name was a near acronym of the original designation, "Plaga interworld signaling mechanism"—had two LEDs, one red and one blue. When a prism was activated, a quantum measurement was performed inside the device, with two possible outcomes of equal probability: one outcome was indicated by the red LED lighting up, while the other was indicated by the blue one. From that moment forward, the prism allowed information transfer between two branches of the universal wave function. In colloquial terms, the prism created two newly divergent timelines, one in which the red LED lit up and one in which the blue one did, and it allowed communication between the two. … Information was exchanged using an array of ions, isolated in magnetic traps within the prism. When the prism was activated and the universal wave function split into two branches, these ions remained in a state of coherent superposition, balanced on a knife's edge and accessible to either branch. Each ion could be used to send a single bit of information, a yes or a no, from one branch to the other. The act of reading that yes/no caused the ion to decohere, permanently knocking it off the knife's edge and onto one side. To send another bit, you needed another ion.
This explanation doesn't make much sense, as physics goes, but Chiang's elaborations of this multiple branching worlds concept were just fun to think about. The main plot line perhaps wasn't as interesting as some of the throwaway ideas along the way.
> The product that was most successful at winning over naysayers was one aimed at those who had lost a loved one: the data brokers would find a branch where the person was still alive and forward their social-media updates, so the bereaved could see the life their loved one might have lived.
> A popular use of a prism was to enable collaboration with yourself, increasing your productivity by dividing the tasks on a project between your two versions; each of you did one half the job, and then you shared the results. Some individuals tried to buy multiple prisms so that they'd be part of a team consisting solely of versions of themselves
> But when I have a choice to do the right thing or the wrong thing, am I always choosing to do both in different branches? Why should I bother being nice to other people, if every time I’m also being a dick to them?
"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate": This was a standard time-travel story. It is well done in its particulars, but time-travel stories always give me a deja-vu feeling.
> The right side of the hoop precedes the
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left by several seconds. To pass through the hoop is to cross that duration instantly."Exhalation": "The filling stations are the primary venue for social conversation, the places from which we draw emotional sustenance as well as physical. We all keep spare sets of full lungs in our homes, but when one is alone, the act of opening one's chest and replacing one's lungs can seem little better than a chore." Chiang takes this concept and draws it out in an interesting direction, using lungs, air and air pressure in the fictional world as concrete analogies for bigger concepts in the real world. Chiang does this a lot in this collection, and I found it fun and unexpected (maybe too obvious for some, but I need to be hit on the head for symbolism to work).
"What's Expected of Us": "The light flashes if you press the button. Specifically, the light flashes one second before you press the button." This concept elaborated. It didn't work as well.
"The Lifecycle of Software Objects": I had read this story before, somewhere. On a reread, it was still fun, but it needs a rewrite; it could have been so much better. The dilemma at the end wasn't convincing.
> The customer base has stabilized to a small community of hard-core digient owners, and they don't generate enough revenue to keep Blue Gamma afloat. The company will release a no-fee version of the food-dispensing software so those who want to can keep their digients running as long as they like, but otherwise, the customers are on their own.
… Skipping over a few, weaker stories …
"Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom": This was my favorite story in the collection.
> Every prism—the name was a near acronym of the original designation, "Plaga interworld signaling mechanism"—had two LEDs, one red and one blue. When a prism was activated, a quantum measurement was performed inside the device, with two possible outcomes of equal probability: one outcome was indicated by the red LED lighting up, while the other was indicated by the blue one. From that moment forward, the prism allowed information transfer between two branches of the universal wave function. In colloquial terms, the prism created two newly divergent timelines, one in which the red LED lit up and one in which the blue one did, and it allowed communication between the two. … Information was exchanged using an array of ions, isolated in magnetic traps within the prism. When the prism was activated and the universal wave function split into two branches, these ions remained in a state of coherent superposition, balanced on a knife's edge and accessible to either branch. Each ion could be used to send a single bit of information, a yes or a no, from one branch to the other. The act of reading that yes/no caused the ion to decohere, permanently knocking it off the knife's edge and onto one side. To send another bit, you needed another ion.
This explanation doesn't make much sense, as physics goes, but Chiang's elaborations of this multiple branching worlds concept were just fun to think about. The main plot line perhaps wasn't as interesting as some of the throwaway ideas along the way.
> The product that was most successful at winning over naysayers was one aimed at those who had lost a loved one: the data brokers would find a branch where the person was still alive and forward their social-media updates, so the bereaved could see the life their loved one might have lived.
> A popular use of a prism was to enable collaboration with yourself, increasing your productivity by dividing the tasks on a project between your two versions; each of you did one half the job, and then you shared the results. Some individuals tried to buy multiple prisms so that they'd be part of a team consisting solely of versions of themselves
> But when I have a choice to do the right thing or the wrong thing, am I always choosing to do both in different branches? Why should I bother being nice to other people, if every time I’m also being a dick to them?
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LibraryThing member AliceaP
When I read Stories of Your Life and Others in 2017 I was blown away by Ted Chiang's writing. It's unique to find a short story collection where so many of the stories are standouts (and memorable) but his first collection managed to do both. I found it mind-boggling that he hadn't written more so
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when I heard Exhalation was coming out I added it to my library holds list. With the memory of the stories from the first book still pretty fresh in my mind, I went into Exhalation with high expectations...and was slightly disappointed. This collection veered much more strongly toward artificial intelligence and existentialism while his previous work was varied (and exceptional). The best story from this collection was actually Exhalation which was about robots constructed with artificial lungs (yes, it's creepy). I can't really remember any of the rest except one about a robotic nanny which had a great philosophical bent to it. Quite a few stories were novella length which I think contributed to why it didn't feel as diversified as the first collection since not as many stories could be included. (A/N: Many of the stories were collected from various publications over the years and some are as old as 10 years.) That isn't to say that I didn't still appreciate his artistry as a writer because without a doubt he is a brilliant wordsmith but when you come out of the gate with such a winner like Stories of Your Life and Others it can be difficult to reach that height again. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ My overall assessment: 6/10 Show Less
LibraryThing member KatyBee
An excellent collection of intelligently written science fiction stories. Ted Chiang explores time portals, alternate universes, and raising sentient digital pets in his own creative and philosophical way. He is really working on another level than most short story writers today. I appreciated his
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insightful story notes as well. Show Less
LibraryThing member nancyjean19
I loved these creative, thought-provoking stories. There's something so calm and clear about Chiang's writing style, which helps the meaning of the stories shine through the science. He managed to make me care about both the characters and, sometimes, their software objects. I appreciate science
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fiction that's clever without sacrificing the human story. I also loved the little explanations behind each story at the end. So charming. Highly recommend! Show Less
LibraryThing member waldhaus1
Ted Chiang is both a nimble and thoughtful storyteller. His stories examine many fawcinating questions from free will to the entropic running down to the world in sstories that are interesting as well as thought provoking. He introduces a new take on time travel, and re-examines free will from a
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variety of perspectives all of whick reawaken interest in that question. Show Less
LibraryThing member fred_mouse
Chiang has managed a collection where every story is amazing, refreshing, and different. I can't pick out a favourite, but looking at the contents page, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate, Exhalation, and The Lifecycle of Software Objects are the most memorable just by looking at the names.
LibraryThing member Mithril
The shorter stories are solidly imaginative, but was surprised that the longest short story (Lifecycle of software objects) does not work well.
LibraryThing member NeedMoreShelves
Sci-fi short story collections are not always my jam - I tend to engage more with those that fall closer to the fantasy side of the spectrum - but Ted Chiang might be the author to change by mind. The creativity and diversity of subject in this collection made it a delight to read.
Standouts for me
Standouts for me
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include: The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate, combining time travel and The Arabian Nights; Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom, in which all selfs are possible, and so is communicating with them; and Omphalos, in which humanity received indisputable evidence of God. In fairness, though, I can't think of a miss in the bunch. Great collection - very highly recommended. Show Less
Awards
Locus Award (Finalist — Collection — 2020)
LA Times Book Prize (Finalist — 2019)
Bram Stoker Award (Nominee — Collection — 2019)
Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award (Winner — 2020)
Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire (Shortlist — 2021)
Chinese American Librarians Association Best Book Award (Winner — Fiction/Poetry — 2020)
Booklist Editor's Choice: Adult Books (Genre Fiction — 2019)
NPR: Books We Love (2019)
Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year (Short Fiction — 2019)
The A.V. Club best books (2019)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Adults (Selection — 2019)
Pages
368
ISBN
1101947888 / 9781101947883