Exhalation

This collection is exactly what a short story anthology should (in my opinion) consist of: short stories with a beginning, middle, end and something to say. To often I read short stories that appear to be half-finished tales that the author started but didn't know how to finish. Each of the stories in this collection satisfyingly thought-provoking. Recommended.

Confession time: I am in love with Ted Chiang. Deeply. I fell hard in 2003 with his story “Liking What You See: A Documentary.” Today, having finished “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling” and “Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom,” I'm head over heels. What a beautiful mind. The stories in this collection all dance around the nature of consciousness; of personality, decisionmaking, determinism. Communication, empathy, freedom, culture, storytelling, adapting to change. Everything we think about what makes us human, he takes in interesting directions. All told with grace, empathy, humility, compassion and gentle humor. All of them, every one, making me stop reading afterward to reflect.

Whoever you are, wherever you are, read these. You'll grow.

You be good. I love you.

It's quite rare these days to encounter science fiction that feels this fresh and exciting. With the popularity of shows like Black Mirror many science fiction tropes have been overdone and cliched. This is science fiction at its best. Incredibly creative stories that are based on solid (although speculative) science. This is a must-read for anyone with an interest in sci-fi.

Heel interessante collectie, die toch wel een paar keer tot nadenken stemt en een paar schokmomentjes bezorgde. Het heeft een heel hoog Black Mirror gehalte, in de zin dat het vaak voort borduurt op gebeurtenissen die zouden kunnen gebeuren als we zo verder doen. Een paar verhalen lagen mij minder, maar al bij al fijne lectuur.

I found all of these to be drier than a vacuum cleaner. Ideas themselves are good but the way he writes is a mix of 1800s Frankenstein and 2000s white paper on social economics written by an AI. The only story that has stuck with me in a positive way is The Great Silence, but I've heard that one a long time ago on Curio.

Impressive range of stories, some that feel like timeless parables and others like dramatic Black Mirror episodes (of which at least one was based on a story written by Chiang irl).

Side note: my husband and I listened to this on a road trip and due to its disproportionately long length and annoying voices, the Digians have become an ongoing joke between us.

A collection of 9 short stories covering variety of science fiction topics from near future to far future and a few taking place in the past. Except for maybe 1 or 2 none of the stories in this collection are character driven they are all technical about the topic at discussion, embracing the science exactly what I like. Very hardware oriented and detailed. In the titular short story Exhalation, the inside of a brain of an advanced lifeform is explored in length quite intricately which can be challenging to follow but also fun at the same time. But even with all the technical stuff what I liked most were the central and underlying themes within the stories like ethics of humans towards AI, do our choices and decisions matter in the grand scheme of the universe etc. all of which pose big questions and are important to every one of us. A great collection overall definitely has got me thinking and worry about what the future has in store for us.

Another great short story collection! With The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling and The Great Silence, it had a slightly lower low than Chiang's other collection, but The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate and Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom made sure that the high stayed on the same level! Chiang is simply brilliant!

• The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate: 4 stars: surprisingly good for what it was.
  * Exhalation: 5-stars, top-notch, feels like 1950s era scifi, very good concept.
  * What's Expected of Us: 4.5 stars until it says some stupid stuff that implies it doesn't even remotely understand the concept, made me mad by being stupid: 2 stars.
  * The Lifecycle of Software Objects: 3.5 stars: feels like it had a bunch of points, none of which were well-explored.
  * Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny: 2 stars: boring, uninteresting.
  * The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling: 4 stars: good concept.
  * The Great Silence: 3 stars: good concept, fine for what it is, but what it is isn't a great read.
  * Omphalos: 4 stars: again, great concept, also feels like 1950s era scifi, but not developed as well as it could've been.
  * Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom: 4.5 stars: great concept, pretty good story, weird ending that distracts from some of its better points.

How do you talk about a short story collection? Some work, others don't but what's clear throughout is the thoughtful effort Chiang puts to these stories. He explores notions of time travel, free will, entropy, alternate realities and wrestling with notions of being and memory.

He's careful with his logic but what I appreciate is the his exploration of the human impact. A miniature device with a negative time delay that can send a signal back a second in time creates a catastrophic existential toll on some individuals. Meanwhile a time portal allowing travel back and forth across 20 years doesn't change the past but can change our understanding of it.

You never get the sense he's overly impressed with himself and his sci-fi conceits. He doesn't fall in the trap of trying to dazzle with outlandish futuristic worlds and clever scenarios (which abound nonetheless) but instead uses these ideas as a jumping off point to wrestle with something more human.

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.