Reviews

It was my first time reading Ted Chiang, and I very much enjoyed reading these short stories, each with its own style: some only a few pages, some over 100 pages, which take classic sci-fi “futuristic” ideas (time travel, robots and androids, virtual worlds vs reality) and yet make them so accessible and real and human. Using these stories as vehicles, Chiang poses questions about what it means to be human, how we communicate with each other, and how we remember. Sometimes, I felt the stories ended a bit abruptly, and the ideas were not always fleshed out, which is why I ultimately gave the collection 4 stars.

jacobturn's review against another edition

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reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

For fans of Arrival (the movie) and/or Black Mirror, this is a must read. Not a souped-up sci-fi fantasy — a collection of 9 stories about the limitations of our biology and social order, as well as the consequences of our tools broadly defined to include language and religion. Read Lifecycle of Software Objects, Exhalation, and Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom if nothing else. Chiang isn’t my favorite sci-fi writer or my favorite short story writer but my favorite sci-fi short story writer and made me want to read again.

heatherdanskin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

lorenzadlung's review against another edition

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5.0

What would happen if there was a gate for time travel? You'd travel years into the past or into the future, but you couldn't change a thing... What if we were all robots exploring how our minds work but realising that our time on earth is finite? What if there's no free will? What if we'd converse with ourselves in parallel universes? These are just a few questions that Ted Chiang entangles in his brilliant science-fiction short stories that make up a compelling read. Highly recommended!

theishu's review against another edition

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4.0

The author’s notes at the end enriched my experience and perception of each story. So hang on till the end. Ted Chiang himself took inspiration from the works of the Philip K. Dick, the physicist Kip Thorne, and several other scholars. So his stories are rooted in possibility and yet reach quite far into the imagination.

Noteworthy stories in this collection:

The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate
Exhalation
The Lifecycle of Software Objects
Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom

branson's review against another edition

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2.0

A friend once told me that they "read science fiction for the ideas." Unfortunately, Chiang made me realize that I don't read science fiction for only the ideas.

The environments, plots points, and characters felt as if they exclusively served the purpose of fulfilling a thought experiment. And yes, there are some genuinely provoking ideas throughout the book. Some of the ideas will stick with me, but I wish they would have a better flavor in my memory.

So packaging can be theater. And for me - in a book, it should be. I might read for ideas, but I also read for fun. I read for investment in characters and to feel the tension and release of a good story. If I want to fully appreciate an idea, I would like to engage with it beyond the scope of a thought experiment. I'm looking to engage with new situations through scenery, emotion, and made up people that I want to learn about.

An explanation packaged into a parable engages only one of the many senses I use to consume a story; the concepts of Exhalation carry weight, but the way they have been formed is one dimensional.

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