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randomprogrammer 's review for:
Stories of Your Life and Others
by Ted Chiang
The whole collection is just masterful. The stories are engaging and well-written, and as soon as you begin to ponder on them you are struck by the insight, creativity, and intelligence of their author. It is not without reason that some of these stories have been turned into movies.
In the comments at the end, the author says, "One of the things we admire most in fiction is an ending that is surprising but inevitable." This is fully evidenced in his writing. The endings are uniformly wonderful.
Todd McLaren, great narrator.
Tower of Babylon - 3.5/5
Interesting and well written, with a nice math thing going on there, but not quite as much punch as I had hoped for.
Understand - 4.5/5
I find most literary portrayals of genius to be frankly uninspired. Uncreative, uninteresting, unrealistic, and seemingly conceived by authors who barely manage to be above average themselves. Understand was captivating, thrilling, and let shine the author's own formidable intelligence. The mechanics of the ending were wonderful, but I question the need for any battle at all. It must simply be the case that they could have achieved their aims in concert without death.
Division by Zero - 4/5
Lovely idea. Not the most engaging. Interesting ideas of empathy, sympathy, and understanding. Great ending.
Stories of Your Life - 4.5/5
Great intertwining, great plot, great emotion. The author touches on so much. Linearity of time, linguistics, determinism. As usual, the author has punchy endings.
72 Letters - 3.5/5
Pretty good. I don't know that Chiang does action as well as contemplation. The idea is really neat -- a world where homunculi and golems are real and normal. I love that Chiang never babies you into a story, he immerses you in the world and lets you swim. The ending is a really interesting view of the philosophical implications of DNA.
The Evolution of Human Science - 3/5
Can't even remember the ending.
Hell is the Absence of God - 5/5
DAYUM. What a great story. I have the feeling it could be read by a devout or an atheist with similar pleasure. I love how it speaks of the arbitrariness of God's acts, the senseless casualties of miracles, the internal struggle with blessing and curse. The idea that god is truly real, but people struggle to love him and go to hell anyway. Really the whole thing is masterfully crafted. And the ending. I was so worried it would be trite and disappointing. It was perfect.
Liking what You See - 4/5
Are we more fully realized when we minimize the physical part of our natures? This is simply great. All the different viewpoints. The comparisons to magic. The incredible foresight of filters etc.
In the comments at the end, the author says, "One of the things we admire most in fiction is an ending that is surprising but inevitable." This is fully evidenced in his writing. The endings are uniformly wonderful.
Todd McLaren, great narrator.
Tower of Babylon - 3.5/5
Interesting and well written, with a nice math thing going on there, but not quite as much punch as I had hoped for.
Understand - 4.5/5
I find most literary portrayals of genius to be frankly uninspired. Uncreative, uninteresting, unrealistic, and seemingly conceived by authors who barely manage to be above average themselves. Understand was captivating, thrilling, and let shine the author's own formidable intelligence. The mechanics of the ending were wonderful, but I question the need for any battle at all. It must simply be the case that they could have achieved their aims in concert without death.
Division by Zero - 4/5
Lovely idea. Not the most engaging. Interesting ideas of empathy, sympathy, and understanding. Great ending.
Stories of Your Life - 4.5/5
Great intertwining, great plot, great emotion. The author touches on so much. Linearity of time, linguistics, determinism. As usual, the author has punchy endings.
72 Letters - 3.5/5
Pretty good. I don't know that Chiang does action as well as contemplation. The idea is really neat -- a world where homunculi and golems are real and normal. I love that Chiang never babies you into a story, he immerses you in the world and lets you swim. The ending is a really interesting view of the philosophical implications of DNA.
The Evolution of Human Science - 3/5
Can't even remember the ending.
Hell is the Absence of God - 5/5
DAYUM. What a great story. I have the feeling it could be read by a devout or an atheist with similar pleasure. I love how it speaks of the arbitrariness of God's acts, the senseless casualties of miracles, the internal struggle with blessing and curse. The idea that god is truly real, but people struggle to love him and go to hell anyway. Really the whole thing is masterfully crafted. And the ending. I was so worried it would be trite and disappointing. It was perfect.
Liking what You See - 4/5
Are we more fully realized when we minimize the physical part of our natures? This is simply great. All the different viewpoints. The comparisons to magic. The incredible foresight of filters etc.