Exhalation

Apart from a couple of short stories I personally found a bit stale — “The Lifecycle of Software Objects” and “Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny” —, this is a stellar collection. The three first short stories are simply gorgeous and mesmerising, proud children of Ted Chiang's flow and tone. The last two stories are in turn surprising tales about science gone... awkward: “Omphalos”, my favorite, is a wonderful alternative-history epistolary adventure that left me wanting for way more... and “Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom” — which could be its own movie only if directed by Alexander Payne — struck me as a sordid and yet uplifting drama.

In a nutshell, Chiang continues to address powerful questions about technology and science. It changes our lives, it gives us new tools and it's up to us, and us alone, to make a good use of them.