Potajito reviewed Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
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4 stars
ttee
Ted Chiang's first published story, "Tower of Babylon," won the Nebula Award in 1990. Subsequent stories have won the Asimov's SF Magazine reader poll, a second Nebula Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the Sidewise Award for alternate history. He won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1992. Story for story, he is the most honored young writer in modern SF.
Now, collected here for the first time are all seven of this extraordinary writer's stories so far--plus an eighth story written especially for this volume.
What if men built a tower from Earth to Heaven--and broke through to Heaven's other side? What if we discovered that the fundamentals of mathematics were arbitrary and inconsistent? What if there were a science of naming things that calls life into being from inanimate matter? What if exposure to an alien language forever changed our perception of time? …
Ted Chiang's first published story, "Tower of Babylon," won the Nebula Award in 1990. Subsequent stories have won the Asimov's SF Magazine reader poll, a second Nebula Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the Sidewise Award for alternate history. He won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1992. Story for story, he is the most honored young writer in modern SF.
Now, collected here for the first time are all seven of this extraordinary writer's stories so far--plus an eighth story written especially for this volume.
What if men built a tower from Earth to Heaven--and broke through to Heaven's other side? What if we discovered that the fundamentals of mathematics were arbitrary and inconsistent? What if there were a science of naming things that calls life into being from inanimate matter? What if exposure to an alien language forever changed our perception of time? What if all the beliefs of fundamentalist Christianity were literally true, and the sight of sinners being swallowed into fiery pits were a routine event on city streets? These are the kinds of outrageous questions posed by the stories of Ted Chiang. Stories of your life . . . and others.
ttee
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Not my type of sci-fi at the end of the day, a little too pop science focused. Loved tower of Babylon, story of your life (the more metaphysical and less pop-sci ones). Rest were ok.
Even if you find yourself less interested in one of the short stories, most will probably be very engaging. The short story "Story of your life", on which the movie "Arrival" is based on, is worth it. The story goes into much more depth than the movie.
This is one of those science fiction books that really manage to blow your mind with the possibilities that the writer proposes. As a short story collection, you're always left out wanting more of the stories. But they are as long as they have to be.
"Hell Is the Absence of God" has stuck with me since I first read it in a collection almost 20 years ago, and Arrival was an instant favourite film when it came out, but somehow it has taken me until the past few years to read more of Chiang's work. I'm glad that I did. Exhalation was brilliant, but I think this collection tops it—the combination of religious/mythical thinking and the methodical, engineering mindset gives each story a unique blend of rigor and depth. He makes worlds where impossible things happen but feel entirely believable, and tells stories that are laden with metaphor and commentary that don't feel didactic. They're magical and often beautiful, but never fanciful—which I mean as high praise.
At this point, I'll read anything from Ted Chiang after having read several short story collections and articles. If you only want to read one collection, I think Exhalation had more stories that will stick with me for a long time than the ones from this earlier collection, but I really enjoyed so many bits of this one too.
A collection of beautiful short stories, each mulling over one existential problem or another. They're worth it just to let your mind soak and contemplate the big questions you spend most of your time ignoring.
This is my favorite format of science fiction : short but thought provoking stories. Surprisingly, the story that gave the name to this book is far from being the best in my opinion. If you want mind-bending novels that are both fun and at the same time disturbing, this book is a must-read.
As I have grown older, more stressed, more worried, more cynical, and have read more books; I suppose I have gotten a bit blasé. It is not often that I read a book that stirs me so much that it feels like it sits in my body for days after, and poses questions and tells stories that somehow feel urgent to think about and mull over in my head. I am glad to report that this book showed me it is still possible.
Not all the stories are fantastic. But Chiang has that rare quality to his writing where even the stories that are not good are still good. I didn't care much for "Understand", "Division by Zero" or "Liking What You See". They are great ideas, and Chiang does a formidable job of diving into his own ideas and examining them from all angles. But sometimes, as in these …
As I have grown older, more stressed, more worried, more cynical, and have read more books; I suppose I have gotten a bit blasé. It is not often that I read a book that stirs me so much that it feels like it sits in my body for days after, and poses questions and tells stories that somehow feel urgent to think about and mull over in my head. I am glad to report that this book showed me it is still possible.
Not all the stories are fantastic. But Chiang has that rare quality to his writing where even the stories that are not good are still good. I didn't care much for "Understand", "Division by Zero" or "Liking What You See". They are great ideas, and Chiang does a formidable job of diving into his own ideas and examining them from all angles. But sometimes, as in these two stories, he seems to be too much into the idea itself and forget a bit about the story, and I find I do not feel much for or care much about the characters and their feelings or motivations. Even so, Ted Chiang at his poorest is still better than a lot of other writers at their best.
And Ted Chiang at his best is... A force of Nature. Apart from "Story of Your Life", the story behing the movie "Arrival", I absolutely adored stories like "The Tower of Babylon", "Seventy-Two Letters", and "Hell is The Absence of God", for very different reasons, as they are stories with very different atmospheres. I am a sucker for the "What if we assume that old fashioned world models are actually literally true and then examine what that would be like" kind of stories. It's not a genre Chiang has invented - one great example is [a:Philip José Farmer|10089|Philip José Farmer|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234714074p2/10089.jpg]'s novelette [b:Sail On! Sail On!|52489268|Sail On! Sail On!|Philip José Farmer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1564382468l/52489268.SX50_SY75.jpg|72440550] from 1952 - but he has certainly refined it and elevated it to new heights. And unlike most other examples I have seen, these stories do not only play with the idea of what such worlds would be like - the design, the make, of these worlds, and the experiences of the protagonists inside them, also make important and interesting philosophical points; philosophy that spans from cosmology to the human condition, suffering, loss and redemption. This may sound cheesy, but it's just not.
I am a little ashamed that I lived to be 43 years old to know Chiang's stories (apart from watching Arrival), but I'm gonna make up for it now!
I'm thrilled to have finally gotten around to the story that one of my favorite movies was based on. Story of Your Life made me appreciate the movie Arrival even more, while enjoying additional story elements from the source material here. I'm not very familiar with the world of sci-fi, but ever since Black Mirror went on hiatus I've had an unmet hankering for some good dystopian speculation that leaves you with that warm and fuzzy existential dread.
Chiang is my first exposure to short sci-fi. His stories are heavy on the math and science, and are so well done that I sometimes had trouble discerning where the fiction elements began. The other side of the coin here is that the stories often do focus more on the ideas than the characters or plot. But the ideas were so interesting that I didn't care.
Chiang's ability to write for so …
I'm thrilled to have finally gotten around to the story that one of my favorite movies was based on. Story of Your Life made me appreciate the movie Arrival even more, while enjoying additional story elements from the source material here. I'm not very familiar with the world of sci-fi, but ever since Black Mirror went on hiatus I've had an unmet hankering for some good dystopian speculation that leaves you with that warm and fuzzy existential dread.
Chiang is my first exposure to short sci-fi. His stories are heavy on the math and science, and are so well done that I sometimes had trouble discerning where the fiction elements began. The other side of the coin here is that the stories often do focus more on the ideas than the characters or plot. But the ideas were so interesting that I didn't care.
Chiang's ability to write for so many different perspectives on a novel topic was consistently impressive. For example: how does the world, and the various tribes and organizations within, react to random angelic visits that are akin to a natural disaster? This ability was most impressive in the final story, where seeing physical attractiveness is optional. I was blown away by this collection and am stoked for Exhalation. And don't skip the Story Notes at the end. They briefly cover Chiang's inspiration for each piece.
特德姜擅长把一个概念拓展成一个世界。他的故事是另一个世界的一片截面,常常是我们随着主角一起去探索世界。其力量感也正在于此。
我特别喜欢审美滤镜那篇。
The stories were interesting speculative journeys, but none of them really inspired me that much. Read up to Seventy Two Letters, and then my loan expired.
Chiang is really good at short stories. I appreciated how despite them being short stories they still felt substantial, something Exhalation (which I read first) didn't feel as consistent about. These also read a lot like Black Mirror episodes, and feel ripe for adaptations. I know Story of your Life was adapted into Arrival, but it feels like most of the stories here have similar potential.
These stories play with math, language, and science, situating their more technical aspects within various strange and internally consistent rule-sets which stretch into the fantastic while wearing the clothes of the scientific, all to tell deeply moving stories about people in strange worlds which are almost like our own. From a literal interpretation of the Tower of Babel wherein they reach to the heavens, to a mathematical formalism so destabilizing that it drives the theorist to despair, to a contemplation on beauty and appearance which refuses to ever quite take a side on its central question. One of the strengths of this collection is the worldbuilding, the way the details vary from story to story but they're all extremely immersive, exploring the strange corners of each premise while still feeling complete and focused. My favorites were "Tower of Babylon" and "Understand", closely followed by "Story of Your Life" (upon which …