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Ted Chiang

Stories of Your Life and Others Paperback – June 14, 2016

by Ted Chiang (Author)

4.5 13,825 ratings

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From the author of Exhalation, an award-winning short story collection that blends "absorbing storytelling with meditations on the universe, being, time and space ... raises questions about the nature of reality and what it is to be human" (The New York Times).

Stories of Your Life and Others delivers dual delights of the very, very strange and the heartbreakingly familiar, often presenting characters who must confront sudden change—the inevitable rise of automatons or the appearance of aliens—with some sense of normalcy. With sharp intelligence and humor, Chiang examines what it means to be alive in a world marked by uncertainty, but also by beauty and wonder. An award-winning collection from one of today's most lauded writers, Stories of Your Life and Others is a contemporary classic.

Includes “Story of Your Life”—the basis for the major motion picture Arrival

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publication date

June 14, 2016
Dimensions

5.15 x 0.88 x 7.97 inches
ISBN-10

1101972122
ISBN-13

978-1101972120
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Popular Highlights in this book

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For the first time, he knew night for what it was: the shadow of the earth itself, cast against the sky.
Highlighted by 2,453 Kindle readers
From the beginning I knew my destination, and I chose my route accordingly. But am I working toward an extreme of joy, or of pain? Will I achieve a minimum, or a maximum?
Highlighted by 1,982 Kindle readers
Like physical events, with their causal and teleological interpretations, every linguistic event had two possible interpretations: as a transmission of information and as the realization of a plan.
Highlighted by 1,573 Kindle readers

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A swell movie adaptation always sends me to the source material, so Arrival had me pick up Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life and Others: lean, relentless, and incandescent.”—Colson Whitehead, GQ

“Chiang writes with a gruff and ready heart that brings to mind George Saunders and Steven Millhauser, but he’s uncompromisingly cerebral.”—The New Yorker

“Blend[s] absorbing storytelling with meditations on the universe, being, time and space. . . . raises questions about the nature of reality and what it is to be human.”—The New York Times

“Shines with a brutal, minimalist elegance. Every sentence is the perfect incision in the dissection of the idea at hand.”—The Guardian

“Meticulously pieced together, utterly thought through, Chiang’s stories emerge slowly . . . but with the perfection of slow-growing crystal.”—Lev Grossman, Best of the Decade: Science Fiction and Fantasy, Techland

"Ted Chiang is one of the best and smartest writers working today. If you don't know his name, let's fix that. Now."—Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

"Ted Chiang astonishes. You must read him."—Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble

“United by a humane intelligence that speaks very directly to the reader, and makes us experience each story with immediacy and Chiang’s calm passion.”—China Mieville, The Guardian

“Ted is a national treasure . . . each of those stories is a goddamned jewel.”—Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing

“Confirms that blending science and fine art at this length can produce touching works, tales as intimate as our own blood cells, with the structural strength of just-discovered industrial alloys.”—Seattle Times

“Chiang derides lazy thinking, weasels it out of its hiding place, and leaves it cowering.”—Washington Post

“Essential. You won’t know SF if you don’t read Ted Chiang.”—Greg Bear

“Chiang writes seldom, but his almost unfathomably wonderful stories tick away with the precision of a Swiss watch—and explode in your awareness with shocking, devastating force.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred Review)

“The first must-read SF book of the year.”—Publishers Weekly (starred Review)

“He puts the science back in science fiction—brilliantly.”—Booklist (starred Review)

About the Author

Ted Chiang was born in Port Jefferson, New York, and holds a degree in computer science. In 1989 he attended the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Workshop. His fiction has won four Hugo, four Nebula, and four Locus awards, and he is the recipient of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. Stories of Your Life and Others has been translated into ten languages. He lives near Seattle, Washington.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

STORY OF YOUR LIFE

Your father is about to ask me the question. This is the most important moment in our lives, and I want to pay attention, note every detail. Your dad and I have just come back from an evening out, dinner and a show; it’s after midnight. We came out onto the patio to look at the full moon; then I told your dad I wanted to dance, so he humors me and now we’re slow-dancing, a pair of thirtysomethings swaying back and forth in the moonlight like kids. I don’t feel the night chill at all. And then your dad says, “Do you want to make a baby?”

Right now your dad and I have been married for about two years, living on Ellis Avenue; when we move out you’ll still be too young to remember the house, but we’ll show you pictures of it, tell you stories about it. I’d love to tell you the story of this evening, the night you’re conceived, but the right time to do that would be when you’re ready to have children of your own, and we’ll never get that chance.

Telling it to you any earlier wouldn’t do any good; for most of your life you won’t sit still to hear such a romantic -- you’d say sappy -- story. I remember the scenario of your origin you’ll suggest when you’re twelve.

“The only reason you had me was so you could get a maid you wouldn’t have to pay,” you’ll say bitterly, dragging the vacuum cleaner out of the closet.

“That’s right,” I’ll say. “Thirteen years ago I knew the carpets would need vacuuming around now, and having a baby seemed to be the cheapest and easiest way to get the job done. Now kindly get on with it.”

“If you weren’t my mother, this would be illegal,” you’ll say, seething as you unwind the power cord and plug it into the wall outlet.

That will be in the house on Belmont Street. I’ll live to see strangers occupy both houses: the one you’re conceived in and the one you grow up in. Your dad and I will sell the first a couple years after your arrival. I’ll sell the second shortly after your departure. By then Nelson and I will have moved into our farmhouse, and your dad will be living with what’s-her-name.

I know how this story ends; I think about it a lot. I also think a lot about how it began, just a few years ago, when ships appeared in orbit and artifacts appeared in meadows. The government said next to nothing about them, while the tabloids said every possible thing.

And then I got a phone call, a request for a meeting.

* * *

I spotted them waiting in the hallway, outside my office. They made an odd couple; one wore a military uniform and a crewcut, and carried an aluminum briefcase. He seemed to be assessing his surroundings with a critical eye. The other one was easily identifiable as an academic: full beard and mustache, wearing corduroy. He was browsing through the overlapping sheets stapled to a bulletin board nearby.

“Colonel Weber, I presume?” I shook hands with the soldier. “Louise Banks.”

“Dr. Banks. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us,” he said.

“Not at all; any excuse to avoid the faculty meeting.”

Colonel Weber indicated his companion. “This is Dr. Gary Donnelly, the physicist I mentioned when we spoke on the phone.”

“Call me Gary,” he said as we shook hands. “I’m anxious to hear what you have to say.”
We entered my office. I moved a couple of stacks of books off the second guest chair, and we all sat down. “You said you wanted me to listen to a recording. I presume this has something to do with the aliens?”

“All I can offer is the recording,” said Colonel Weber.

“Okay, let’s hear it.”

Colonel Weber took a tape machine out of his briefcase and pressed play. The recording sounded vaguely like that of a wet dog shaking the water out of its fur.

“What do you make of that?” he asked.

I withheld my comparison to a wet dog. “What was the context in which this recording was made?”

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

“It would help me interpret those sounds. Could you see the alien while it was speaking? Was it doing anything at the time?”

“The recording is all I can offer.”

“You won’t be giving anything away if you tell me that you’ve seen the aliens; the public’s assumed you have.”

Colonel Weber wasn’t budging. “Do you have any opinion about its linguistic properties?” he asked.

“Well, it’s clear that their vocal tract is substantially different from a human vocal tract. I assume that these aliens don’t look like humans?”

The colonel was about to say something noncommittal when Gary Donelly asked, “Can you make any guesses based on the tape?”

“Not really. It doesn’t sound like they’re using a larynx to make those sounds, but that doesn’t tell me what they look like.”

“Anything--is there anything else you can tell us?” asked Colonel Weber.

I could see he wasn’t accustomed to consulting a civilian. “Only that establishing communications is going to be really difficult because of the difference in anatomy. They’re almost certainly using sounds that the human vocal tract can’t reproduce, and maybe sounds that the human ear can’t distinguish.”

“You mean infra- or ultrasonic frequencies?” asked Gary Donelly.

“Not specifically. I just mean that the human auditory system isn’t an absolute acoustic instrument; it’s optimized to recognize the sounds that a human larynx makes. With an alien vocal system, all bets are off.” I shrugged. “Maybe we’ll be able to hear the difference between alien phonemes, given enough practice, but it’s possible our ears simply can’t recognize the distinctions they consider meaningful. In that case we’d need a sound spectrograph to know what an alien is saying.”

Colonel Weber asked, “Suppose I gave you an hour’s worth of recordings; how long would it take you to determine if we need this sound spectrograph or not?”

“I couldn’t determine that with just a recording no matter how much time I had. I’d need to talk with the aliens directly.”

The colonel shook his head. “Not possible.”

I tried to break it to him gently. “That’s your call, of course. But the only way to learn an unknown language is to interact with a native speaker, and by that I mean asking questions, holding a conversation, that sort of thing. Without that, it’s simply not possible. So if you want to learn the aliens’ language, someone with training in field linguistics -- whether it’s me or someone else -- will have to talk with an alien. Recordings alone aren’t sufficient.”
Colonel Weber frowned. “You seem to be implying that no alien could have learned human languages by monitoring our broadcasts.”

“I doubt it. They’d need instructional material specifically designed to teach human languages to nonhumans. Either that, or interaction with a human. If they had either of those, they could learn a lot from TV, but otherwise, they wouldn’t have a starting point.”
The colonel clearly found this interesting; evidently his philosophy was, the less the aliens knew, the better. Gary Donnelly read the colonel’s expression too and rolled his eyes. I suppressed a smile.

Then Colonel Weber asked, “Suppose you were learning a new language by talking to its speakers; could you do it without teaching them English?”

“That would depend on how cooperative the native speakers were. They’d almost certainly pick up bits and pieces while I’m learning their language, but it wouldn’t have to be much if they’re willing to teach. On the other hand, if they’d rather learn English than teach us their language, that would make things far more difficult.”

The colonel nodded. “I’ll get back to you on this matter.”

* * *

The request for that meeting was perhaps the second most momentous phone call in my life. The first, of course, will be the one from Mountain Rescue. At that point your dad and I will be speaking to each other maybe once a year, tops. After I get that phone call, though, the first thing I’ll do will be to call your father.

He and I will drive out together to perform the identification, a long silent car ride. I remember the morgue, all tile and stainless steel, the hum of refrigeration and smell of antiseptic. An orderly will pull the sheet back to reveal your face. Your face will look wrong somehow, but I’ll know it’s you.

“Yes, that’s her,” I’ll say. “She’s mine.”

You’ll be twenty-five then.

* * *

The MP checked my badge, made a notation on his clipboard, and opened the gate; I drove the off-road vehicle into the encampment, a small village of tents pitched by the Army in a farmer’s sun-scorched pasture. At the center of the encampment was one of the alien devices, nicknamed “looking glasses.”

According to the briefings I’d attended, there were nine of these in the United States, one hundred and twelve in the world. The looking glasses acted as two-way communication devices, presumably with the ships in orbit. No one knew why the aliens wouldn’t talk to us in person; fear of cooties, maybe. A team of scientists, including a physicist and a linguist, was assigned to each looking glass; Gary Donnelly and I were on this one.

Gary was waiting for me in the parking area. We navigated a circular maze of concrete barricades until we reached the large tent that covered the looking glass itself. In front of the tent was an equipment cart loaded with goodies borrowed from the school’s phonology lab; I had sent it ahead for inspection by the Army.

Also outside the tent were three tripod-mounted video cameras whose lenses peered, through windows in the fabric wall, into the main room. Everything Gary and I did would be reviewed by countless others, including military intelligence. In addition we would each send daily reports, of which mine had to include estimates on how much English I thought the aliens could understand.
Gary held open the tent flap and gestured for me to enter. “Step right up,” he said, circus barker-style. “Marvel at creatures the likes of which have never been seen on God’s green earth.”
“And all for one slim dime,” I murmured, walking through the door. At the moment the looking glass was inactive, resembling a semicircular mirror over ten feet high and twenty feet across. On the brown grass in front of the looking glass, an arc of white spray paint outlined the activation area. Currently the area contained only a table, two folding chairs, and a power strip with a cord leading to a generator outside. The buzz of fluorescent lamps, hung from poles along the edge of the room, commingled with the buzz of flies in the sweltering heat.

Gary and I looked at each other, and then began pushing the cart of equipment up to the table. As we crossed the paint line, the looking glass appeared to grow transparent; it was as if someone was slowly raising the illumination behind tinted glass. The illusion of depth was uncanny; I felt I could walk right into it. Once the looking glass was fully lit it resembled a life-size diorama of a semicircular room. The room contained a few large objects that might have been furniture, but no aliens. There was a door in the curved rear wall.

We busied ourselves connecting everything together: microphone, sound spectrograph, portable computer, and speaker. As we worked, I frequently glanced at the looking glass, anticipating the aliens’ arrival. Even so I jumped when one of them entered.

It looked like a barrel suspended at the intersection of seven limbs. It was radially symmetric, and any of its limbs could serve as an arm or a leg. The one in front of me was walking around on four legs, three non-adjacent arms curled up at its sides. Gary called them “heptapods.”
I’d been shown videotapes, but I still gawked. Its limbs had no distinct joints; anatomists guessed they might be supported by vertebral columns. Whatever their underlying structure, the heptapod’s limbs conspired to move it in a disconcertingly fluid manner. Its “torso” rode atop the rippling limbs as smoothly as a hovercraft.

Seven lidless eyes ringed the top of the heptapod’s body. It walked back to the doorway from which it entered, made a brief sputtering sound, and returned to the center of the room followed by another heptapod; at no point did it ever turn around. Eerie, but logical; with eyes on all sides, any direction might as well be “forward.”

Gary had been watching my reaction. “Ready?” he asked.

I took a deep breath. “Ready enough.” I’d done plenty of fieldwork before, in the Amazon, but it had always been a bilingual procedure: either my informants knew some Portuguese, which I could use, or I’d previously gotten an intro to their language from the local missionaries. This would be my first attempt at conducting a true monolingual discovery procedure. It was straightforward enough in theory, though.

I walked up to the looking glass and a heptapod on the other side did the same. The image was so real that my skin crawled. I could see the texture of its gray skin, like corduroy ridges arranged in whorls and loops. There was no smell at all from the looking glass, which somehow made the situation stranger.

I pointed to myself and said slowly, “Human.” Then I pointed to Gary. “Human.” Then I pointed at each heptapod and said, “What are you?”

One of the heptapods pointed to itself with one limb, the four terminal digits pressed together. That was lucky. In some cultures a person pointed with his chin; if the heptapod hadn’t used one of its limbs, I wouldn’t have known what gesture to look for. I heard a brief fluttering sound, and saw a puckered orifice at the top of its body vibrate; it was talking. Then it pointed to its companion and fluttered again.

I went back to my computer; on its screen were two virtually identical spectrographs representing the fluttering sounds. I marked a sample for playback. I pointed to myself and said “Human” again, and did the same with Gary. Then I pointed to the heptapod, and played back the flutter on the speaker.

The heptapod fluttered some more. The second half of the spectrograph for this utterance looked like a repetition: call the previous utterances [flutter1], then this one was [flutter2flutter1].
I pointed at something that might have been a heptapod chair. “What is that?”

The heptapod paused, and then pointed at the “chair” and talked some more. The spectrograph for this differed distinctly from that of the earlier sounds: [flutter3]. Once again, I pointed to the “chair” while playing back [flutter3].

The heptapod replied; judging by the spectrograph, it looked like [flutter3flutter2]. Optimistic interpretation: the heptapod was confirming my utterances as correct, which implied compatibility between heptapod and human patterns of discourse. Pessimistic interpretation: it had a nagging cough.

At my computer I delimited certain sections of the spectrograph and typed in a tentative gloss for each: “heptapod” for [flutter1], “yes” for [flutter2], and “chair” for [flutter3]. Then I typed “Language: Heptapod A” as a heading for all the utterances.

Gary watched what I was typing. “What’s the ‘A’ for?”

“It just distinguishes this language from any other ones the heptapods might use,” I said. He nodded.

“Now let’s try something, just for laughs.” I pointed at each heptapod and tried to mimic the sound of [flutter1], “heptapod.” After a long pause, the first heptapod said something and then the second one said something else, neither of whose spectrographs resembled anything said before. I couldn’t tell if they were speaking to each other or to me since they had no faces to turn. I tried pronouncing [flutter1] again, but there was no reaction.

“Not even close,” I grumbled.

“I’m impressed you can make sounds like that at all,” said Gary.

“You should hear my moose call. Sends them running.”

I tried again a few more times, but neither heptapod responded with anything I could recognize. Only when I replayed the recording of the heptapod’s pronunciation did I get a confirmation; the heptapod replied with [flutter2], “yes.”

“So we’re stuck with using recordings?” asked Gary.

I nodded. “At least temporarily.”

“So now what?”

“Now we make sure it hasn’t actually been saying ‘aren’t they cute’ or ‘look what they’re doing now.’ Then we see if we can identify any of these words when that other heptapod pronounces them.” I gestured for him to have a seat. “Get comfortable; this’ll take a while.”

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage; Reissue edition (June 14, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1101972122
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1101972120
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.15 x 0.88 x 7.97 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3 in Science Fiction Anthologies (Books)
- #11 in Short Stories Anthologies
- #19 in Short Stories (Books)

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Amanda Mulligan

Great Short Stories That Leave You Thinking

Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2018

Verified Purchase

For some background, this usually isn't the genre of books I read (I love short stories, but I'm not usually into Sci-fi). However, I recently discovered the TV show Black Mirror, searched for books that were similar to the show, and found this book. And I am so happy I did!

As this is made up of individual stories, here are my individual reviews. Overall, I rate this book as a 5 despite what any of my individual reviews are because it really challenged my thinking and introduced some new concepts I've never even considered before. I can also say that I learned some things from this book that I did not know before, especially in the areas of science and religion.

1. Tower of Babylon - 4 stars
The story is based on the story of the Tower of Babel, a biblical story about a tower that was constructed to reach heaven. Ted Chiang took this to another level and answered the question, how would such a tower be engineered and what would the social implications of such a tower be? He explored concepts ranging from what would be needed resource wise to build the tower, what would the earth (and eventually space) look like from such a high tower, and how would it affect the people who were employed to build the tower? The story also questioned whether or not a tower would even be approved of from a religious standpoint, did God even want people to reach Heaven? Overall, this story was both entertaining and educating and it was a great start to a great collection of short stories.

2. Understand - 3 stars
I will admit, as someone who is not very good with science, some of the stories in this book were challenging to read through and understand 100% and this was one of them. This story looked at the idea of regenerating a person's brain after they had suffered from some sort of brain damage. It is quickly discovered that for some people, the technology used not only just recovered their brain's original capabilities, but increased their intelligence even further. The main character's intelligence is enhanced each time he receives an injection. The story is told through the main character's thoughts, which get more and more intelligent throughout the story. It examines what the implications of having someone with a high level of intelligence might be, to that person and others, whether good or bad.

Division by Zero - 2.5 Stars
As stated above, I am not very science oriented, however I love math, so this story was of interest to me. It examined the idea of what would happen if someone was able to prove that the basic assumptions behind most of mathematics were wrong and what effect would that have on someone? Could 1 be mathematically proven to equal 2 and if so, what would that mean? This story unfortunately did not take this concept beyond the main character and the effect it had on her. It did not apply the meaning to a larger group and that is why I only gave this 2.5 stars. I think this could have been developed more fully.

Story of Your Life - 5 stars
This is the story that leads many readers to this book and was adapted into the film Arrival. In this story, Earth is visited by aliens who speak a different language than anyone on Earth. A team of scientists, including the main character who is a linguist, are employed to find a way to communicate with the aliens to see what they want and also what could be learned from them. Through alternating story lines, it is revealed that the main character had a daughter who dies untimely and looks at her life from the time she was born until her death. As the main character begins to examine the way the aliens write, it is discovered that their way of thinking is not linear, but rather spontaneous. They experience the past, present, and future all at the same time, which challenges our way of thinking in terms of past, then present, then future. This is definitely the most emotional story of the group. I had to go back and re-read a few paragraphs as this is one of the tougher reads, but it is worth it.

Seventy Two Letters - 4 Stars
I will admit, I had to read and re-read the first couple of pages before I understood what this story was about. The story takes place in a time in the past (it seemed to be around the industrial revolution). Nomenclature, "the devising or choosing of names for things" is presented as an magical idea that asks the question "Is there a name that can be assigned to an object that is so perfect that it can make the object come to life?" The story looks at the idea of assigning names to inanimate objects to make them move and perform certain tasks. It pushes the boundaries even further by asking, can a name be chosen that so perfectly describes a human that it can create life? This was one of the other stories I had a hard time reading because of the over abundance of scientific terms, however it is also one of the stories I can't stop thinking about.

The Evolution of Human Science - N/A
This is a very short essay that I skipped over.

Hell is the Absence of God - 5 Stars
This is truly one of the greatest stories in this book. It explores the concept of religion, of heaven vs. hell, and right vs. wrong. There is one main character and 2 supporting characters who all share one common thing, they live in a world where angels literally show up and perform miracles or damage. For some, such as the main character, it is damage in the form of his wife being killed during the visit of an angel. The characters subsequently end up in a support group to try to process how the angel's visit was supposed to affect their lives. In this world, people often get glimpses into heaven and hell and know who ended up where after they died. For the main character, he knows his wife is in heaven and must now to try to find a way to earn himself a way into heaven so that he can be with her again. However, he struggles with this as he is angry at God for taking away his wife in the first place. This was a truly great, thought provoking story, that was also one of the easier reads of the whole book.

Liking What You See: A Documentary - 4 Stars
This story is told from the viewpoints of many different characters (although the first character in the story reoccurs throughout the rest). A new science has come out that can make a person be oblivious to the idea of beauty; when people have this technology turned on in their brain, they can not distinguish an ugly person from a good looking person appearance wise. The only thing they can see is inner beauty. The story then asks the question, if this technology is available, should it be used? What effect does outer beauty have on our lives and could it be a good or a bad thing to take away these effects? This was also one of the easier reads and I think it is extremely relevant to today's society as some people get plastic surgery and alter their outer appearance, but are not necessarily good people on the inside.

Overall, I am happy I read this book and I still am thinking about the individual stories and their meanings. They are certainly not easy reads, but if you like to challenge yourself and your way of thinking, this is a great book to read. Ted Chiang is a masterful author who clearly not only understands multiple fields of science and religion, but takes these concepts and challenges them.

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AustinTiffany

Excellent Collection of "What If" Short Stories

Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2016

Verified Purchase

This is actually the first set of short stories I've ever read. Bit of background, I have a deep aversion to short-story collections, especially if it's by a mix of authors. Feels like eating a couple of potato chips and nothing more: frustrating. And indeed, that colors my review just a bit, both overall and also on a number of individual stories in this collection, but more on that later.

OVERALL REVIEW: the collection is excellent. This actually feels a bit like reading a collection of Black Mirror episodes; each story is a sort of runaway exploration of a singular "what if?" concept. In fact, each story is written in a distinct style, especially impressive since these were written over the course of many years. Several are in first person, some are told in a distant, omniscient 3rd person, one is told in a confusing 1st and 2nd person narrative. Some are distinctly emotional and colored in vivid emotional tones, some are distant and cold and detached feeling. The stories run the range of ancient, Biblical settings to late 19th century, to modern day, to near future. But overall, this collection of short stories feels satisfying in the sense of each one being standout.

Now I'll give short reviews on each individual story, spoiler free:

TOWER OF BABYLON
This takes place in ancient Babylon, and is ostensibly historically accurate; all the place and people names are real. But this story centers around these ancient people improbably building an enormous tower to heaven, to LITERALLY open the vaults of heaven. The story is told from such a mechanically sound and realistic sense, with so much detail, that as the reader, you're more than willing to set aside some disbelief and go with the premise. The twist to this story is actually just as mechanically mindful as the rest of the telling of the story was, and despite the nature of it, I found it oddly satisfying and quaint.

UNDERSTAND
This story, like Tower of Babylon, and most of the stories, starts out on solid footing before shooting into the sky. The premise is solid and instantly believable in today's world of medical breakthroughs, and involves a patient being brought back from a vegetative state with an experimental drug. But the drug results in some unexpected side-affects ... Ultimately, I found the ending to be bizarre and just about senseless. It's one of those endings that makes me wonder if I'm just too dense or slow to read into it enough to be blown away. That said, the author's literary style during the telling of the story is spot-on, perfectly illustrating through narrative structure the rapid changing of the character themselves.

DIVISION BY ZERO
This is one of the less fantastical stories in this collection, but still uses a specific narrative design to tell a story both literally and figuratively. Of course, this story is also about math, one of my weakest areas, so much of the story kind of flew over my head. However, one of the two characters is not a mathematician, so this creates an opening for some exposition for the less versed readers. In the end, the story is not as much about math ... and I sort of got the ending to this story, but it's one of those things where it would probably help to discuss this with a reading club or a literature class to tease out all of the layered meanings.

STORY OF YOUR LIFE
This is the short-story that is inspiring the movie "Arrival". It's also one of the more interesting and mind bending stories, since it switches narrative styles constantly, and involves flashbacks. Essentially (without spoilers, but this helps first-time readers), there are two time-lines: the main story, in which communication occurs with aliens, and various flashbacks. Making this more intriguing is that the main story is told in 1st person, but the flashbacks are told in 2nd person, in a strange sort of future tense. There's a reason for this, be assured. The eventual ending is emotional in a way I didn't expect and left me wondering about the implications set up. I look forward to seeing the movie version of this, because, like several of these short-stories, this deserves a full-length movie and/or novel adaption.

SEVENTY-TWO LETTERS
This takes place in an alternate reality version of late 19th century / early 20th century England. It's hard to say, because the central premise is that the world is built on using combinations of the Hebrew alphabet (a 72 letter combination) to invoke a "name" to induce certain magical qualities in things. I know what I said must sound stupid, but like all of these short stories, the author sets this up in a way that is well grounded, logical, and believable enough for you to set aside disbelief. The author also does a fantastic job of adopting the type of language, slang, and style that would be appropriate for a story told in this time era, making it that much more immersive. That said, I thought the ending was too sudden and weak and like the central conflict was barely resolved.

THE EVOLUTION OF HUMAN SCIENCE
This is the shortest story in the collection, and is written in the style of a magazine article. Thus, it's also only a dozen or so pages in length. Therefore, this functions less like a story, and more like a bit of open-ended speculation on the author's part. This makes this entry the weakest and least satisfying in the collection.

HELL IS THE ABSENCE OF GOD
This is one of the more fantastical and imaginative stories in this collection. It's heavy on the religious speculation, but not preachy by any means. In fact, I liked this story for it's rather interesting and almost darkly comical depiction of a real-world Christian God and his angels. I can't say much more without spoilers, but suffice to say, I rather liked this story. The ending feels trite and odd, but I think I kind of understood it in the context of the rest of the story. And the author's narrative style is perfect, taking on a detached but wizened sort of air, like that of a classic parable or fable.

LIKEING WHAT YOU SEE: A DOCUMENTARY
This story is told in a faux documentary style, like the sections are transcripts of recordings taking from various people being interviewed, along with a few news broadcasts and speeches. There is no back and forth question style here, but more like someone was asked to give their full-length thoughts on something and the story here is that. It actually works pretty well for the premise, which is that a neural implant is developed which deprives people of the ability to recognize facial beauty. This is actually based in true observational science of people that have suffered a brain lesion in a particular part of the brain that controls this. Anyway, the idea is interesting, and explored evenly from both sides of the issue, as to whether such a technology is good or bad. This is less a story and more of a work of speculative, train-of-thought type of story, but it's still very satisfying as a work of fiction.

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Overall, I recommend buying this collection of stories. I'd love to see a few of them optioned as TV shows, movies, or full length novel adaptions (beyond just Story of Your Life / Arrival).

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crchipwiz

First short story collection I couldn’t put down

Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2023

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Deducted a star because two of the stories were hard to get through, but the rest were mind blowing. I’m going to be thinking about the heptapods for the rest of my life.

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FeydRautha

Brillant !

Reviewed in France on September 5, 2016

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Ce recueil de nouvelles a été traduit en français, sous le titre La Tour de Babylone, mais il n'existe pas encore en format électronique. C'est la raison qui m'a fait le lire en anglais. Le style de Ted Chiang est cristallin, ses descriptions sont limpides, et sa grammaire est très précise (notamment sur l'utilisation des temps). La lecture de ce recueil en anglais est donc sans difficulté particulière.

Informaticien de formation, l'écrivain américain Ted Chiang n'est pas un auteur des plus prolifiques. De 1990 à 2015, il n'a produit que 15 nouvelles de science-fiction mais plusieurs d'entre elles se sont vues récompensées par des prix prestigieux (dont 4 fois le Nebula, 4 fois le Hugo, 4 fois le Locus...) à ce point qu'il s'est même permis de refuser une nomination au Hugo pour une nouvelle qu'il estimait bâclée (Liking what you see). Suprême consécration, sa nouvelle la plus connue, Story of your life, a été adaptée au cinéma par Denis Villeneuve pour une sortie fin 2016 sous le titre Premier Contact.

Ce recueil contient les huit premières nouvelles de Ted Chiang, de Tower of Babylon publiée en 1990 à Liking What You See, publiée en 2002. Ces nouvelles, comme celles qui suivront, s'inscrivent dans un genre particulier de la SF puisqu'on touche ici à ce que l'on nomme la Hard-SF, c'est à dire une science-fiction qui repose sur l'état actuel des connaissances scientifiques, ou sur des anticipations très réalistes, des technologies souvent décrites de manière très détaillée, et une forte propension à mener des réflexions sociétales sur tout cela. C'est un genre dans lequel on trouve des auteurs comme Alastair Reynolds, Stephen Baxter, Kim Stanley Robinson, Greg Bear, Greg Egan, Vernor Vinge, Charles Stross...et le précurseur Arthur C. Clarke. Dans le genre, Ted Chiang est très proche de Greg Egan, sans l'obsession de ce dernier pour le transhumanisme et en étant plus abordable et moins sombre. Tout cela pour dire que si vous n’aimez ni les maths ni les sciences, vous n'aimerez pas ce recueil de nouvelles.

J'ai personnellement trouvé ce recueil brillant. Les nouvelles sont courtes, donc on n'y trouvera pas des développements des personnages très profonds. Le but est de partir d'une idée, et d'en explorer les conséquences. Les notes que j'attribue ci-dessous individuellement à chaque nouvelle n'ont rien à voir avec la note globale (5/5) mais donne plutôt un classement des nouvelles entre elles et de l'intérêt que j'y ai trouvé.

La première nouvelle, Tower of Babylon (1990, prix Nebula 1991), pourrait très bien être tirée du recueil Fictions de Jorge Luis Borges. Il s'agit d'un conte fantastique qui réinterprète le mythe de la tour de Babylone et se situe au moment où la construction de celle-ci s'achève. La tour entièrement faite de brique atteint la voûte céleste et il faut 4 mois d'ascension pour atteindre son sommet. Les maçons s'apprêtent à accomplir leur dernière tâche : percer la voûte céleste afin, peut-être, d'atteindre le paradis. Malgré le thème, et une fin intéressante mais pas des plus originales, la nouvelle offre une lecture très plaisante. 3/5

On entre plus dans le vif du genre avec la seconde nouvelle, Understand (1991, prix Hugo 1992), dans laquelle Ted Chiang revisite le thème du roman Des Fleurs pour Algernon de Daniel Keyes. La nouvelle est l'histoire de Léon, qui suite à un grave accident lui causant de sévères dommages au cerveau, reçoit un traitement expérimental qui va reconstruire ses neurones au-delà de tout espoir. Son intelligence va progressivement se développer jusqu'à dépasser très largement les capacités humaines. Se soustrayant assez facilement à la surveillance du gouvernement, il va finir par entrer en contact avec un autre sujet test de ces expérimentations. L'intérêt de la nouvelle repose sur l'exploration des possibilités d'une intelligence extrême. On est ici assez proche des écrits Greg Egan dans le traitement. 5/5

Division by zero (1991) est le récit de la détresse psychologique d'une brillante mathématicienne qui cherchant à démontrer l'un des derniers grands postulats des mathématiques, celui de la consistance de l'algèbre, aboutit à une démonstration irréfutable de son inconsistance. C'est l'ensemble de l'édifice des mathématiques qui s'écroule. Encore une fois, on est très proche de Greg Egan. La mise en perspective de la dé-consécration des mathématiques avec la vie de couple de notre mathématicienne donne lieu à une mise en équation finale bien vue. 4/5

Story of your life (1998, prix Theodore Sturgeon 1999, pris Nebula 2000) est l'un des sommets de ce recueil. Ted Chiang y revisite le thème du premier contact avec une intelligence extra-terrestre. C'est sans doute la raison qui a fait qu'Hollywood s'est jeté sur l'occasion d'en faire une adaptation au cinéma pour le film Premier Contact dirigé par Denis Villeneuve pour une sortie prévue fin 2016. Après avoir vu les premiers trailers, et comme on pouvait s'y attendre, le film est très librement inspiré par la nouvelle. Ne vous attendez pas à trouver de l'action, une lutte pour la survie de l'humanité, ou des explosions à tout va dans la nouvelle Story of your life, l'arrivée d'extra-terrestre n'est qu'un prétexte à explorer le relativisme linguistique. L'hypothèse linguistique de de Sapir-Whorf est dans sa version forte que la structure du langage affecte la perception du monde de celui qui l'utilise. C'est le thème que Ted Chiang aborde en le poussant dans une voie extrême. C'est tout simplement brillant ! 5/5

Autre temps fort de ce recueil, Seventy-two letters (2000, prix Sidewise 2000) propose une histoire alternative sur le mode Steampunk. L'histoire se déroule donc à Londres, dans l’Angleterre victorienne en pleine industrialisation. L'originalité de la nouvelle est que Ted Chiang reprend le mythe du Golem de la tradition juive de la Kabbale : des automates fait de terre sont animé par un nom, construit sur des permutations des noms possible de Dieu. Les enseignements mystiques du Sefer Yetsira sont détournés par l'académie des sciences pour donner une nouvelle science, la Nomenclature, destinée à rechercher les noms qui vont pourvoir animer de manière optimale ces automates, tout en le mêlant à une autre science naissante à l'époque : la thermodynamique. Le capitalisme industriel naissant s'empare évidemment de cette science, les noms font l'objet de brevets, et les retombées économiques potentielles sont énormes. Mais l'humanité doit faire face à un proche danger, celui de son extinction. En effet, les conclusions des recherches en biologie et en thermodynamique ne lui donnent plus que 5 générations avant de devenir définitivement stérile. Brillant nomenclateur, Robert Stratton est embarqué dans un projet secret, faisant appel aux connaissances sur les golems, qui a pour but de sauver l'humanité en lui procurant un nouveau moyen de se reproduire. Il réalisera bientôt les conséquences politiquement désastreuses de ses recherches en termes d'eugénisme.... Cette nouvelle est à nouveau brillante. Ted Chiang réussi le tour de force de mêler de façon très cohérente science réelle (thermodynamique) et croyances (kabbale, générations spontanées, etc...) pour livrer une nouvelle à l'atmosphère steampunk mais aux développements bien au-delà du genre. La solution à laquelle Stratton abouti en conclusion de la nouvelle est brillante et amusera beaucoup les lecteurs qui ont deux onces de connaissance en biologie. 5/5

The Evolution of Human Science est un très court texte de deux pages, originellement publié dans la revue scientifique Nature, est qui a pour unique but d'amuser les scientifiques sur le thème de la fracture entre recherche scientifique ultra spécialisée et grand public. 2/5

Hell is the Absence of God (2001, prix Hugo 2002, prix Nebula 2002, prix Locus 2002) est une nouvelle dans laquelle Ted Chiang imagine notre société si les interventions divines étaient une réalité quotidienne et l'apparition d'anges des événements faisant fréquemment la une des faits divers. Le souci est que ces interventions sont totalement arbitraires. Chaque apparition d'un ange est d'ordre catastrophique où pour 6 ou 7 guérison miraculeuse, il y a aussi 8 victimes, des dizaines de blessés, et des millions de dégâts. Chacun tente donc de donner un sens à ces visites, en fonction de comment il est directement ou indirectement touché par cet arbitraire. La nouvelle conte le combat intellectuel et spirituel de Niel Fisk, handicapé de naissance, dont la femme meurt violemment, lardée de débris de verre, lors d'une apparition d'un ange. Neil va essayer de donner sens à cela. La conclusion de ce parcours est attendue et évidente. Cette nouvelle est très drôle, si vous n'êtes pas croyant évidemment, et peut être perçu comme un pamphlet contre les croyances religieuses. 4/5

Liking what you see : a documentary, se présente sous la forme d'une série d'interview et explore les implications sociétales et éthiques de la perception de la beauté. Ted Chiang fait ici appel aux sciences cognitives et à la psychologie évolutionniste. Il imagine une technologie qui serait à même de modifier la perception de la beauté, en l'inhibant, pour donner au sujet la possibilité de percevoir pleinement les caractéristiques physiques d'autrui mais sans pouvoir en faire un jugement de valeur conscient ou inconscient en terme de beauté. La nouvelle est l'occasion de déconstruire les préconceptions culturelles et raciales, mais aussi de faire une réflexion sur l'importance sociétale de la notion de beauté, en injectant au milieu du débat l'influence des compagnies privées de cosmétiques. Encore une fois, c'est brillant et Ted Chiang emmène son idée de départ dans des directions fascinantes avec un talent certain. 4/5

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Fredy James

Masterful writing and brilliant idea

Reviewed in Australia on September 13, 2023

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Really enjoyed reading the whole book. The best is "understand".
Easy to read and follow the storylines. As a English as a second language person , some of the words required the use of dictionary :-).

BethanyW

Thought provoking

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 14, 2023

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Really thought provoking, smart and creative stories. Loved the mix of sci-fi, science, and fable. It took me a while to read but I kept coming back to it which is always a good sign 😊

iClaire

Excellent collection of short stories

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 24, 2022

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I LOVE the movie ‘The Arrival’ and when I found out it was based on these short stories I quickly added this book to my must reads. I figured the best way to review this book is in chapters/stories so here goes:

TOWER OF BABYLON
I found this unexpectedly very engaging and fun to read. Being a short story writers often try to cram too much back story or details in. Not with this book! It gets straight to it and whilst a bizarre story of man building a tower to heaven it’s strangely compelling to read (if a little scientifically inaccurate).

UNDERSTAND
This story was great! Fast paced, edgy and gripping and could totally be the origin of the movie ‘Limitless’ starring Bradley Cooper. It got a little technical towards the end and I didn’t even try to wrap my head around the inner workings of the mind but a very entertaining read.

DIVISION BY ZERO
This was an odd one for me, I’m not entirely sure what the ending was or in fact what the story was really about. It seemed to be more about the relationship than mathematical equations but I could be wrong?

THE STORY OF YOUR LIFE
This is simply a beautiful story, it translated so well to the big screen for ‘The Arrival’ which was my sole reason for buying this book as I loved it so deeply. Probably the longest short story of the book so far but wow was it wonderful. Don’t expect anything more or less than what you already gained from the movie. Just sit back and enjoy!

SEVENTY-TWO LETTERS
With humanity on the brink of becoming sterile can automata inspire a revolutionary way to recreate life? This was a tricky read as not only was it set in a mystical world, it was based around technology that doesn’t exist. I loved the concept and the philosophical questions it raised but I didn’t feel the ending was worthy to the read.

THE EVOLUTION OF HUMAN SCIENCE
At just 3 minutes reading time, this is by far the shortest ‘story’ I’ve ever read! It was more like a news report from the future than a story in traditional terms. I can’t say if I liked it or not as it was over before it begun. The terminology again was even more complex and at this point my brain feels suitably frazzled!

HELL IS THE ABSENCE OF GOD
I’m not religious but this short story was really good. Imagine a world where heaven and hell are common place, visitations from angels are both a gift and a terrible experience. This is the world that Neil lives in. After loosing his wife during a visitation he makes it his life’s mission to join her in heaven. Really imaginative short story that was a light relief after such heavy subject matter.

LIKING WHAT YOU SEE: A DOCUMENTARY
This short story is set in a future where you can choose not to see beauty. Told from many characters perspectives as they’re being interviewed and from newsreels insights this is an interesting read that once again draws quite a few moral dilemmas.

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F

Smart, stimulating, real Sci-fi

Reviewed in Australia on August 9, 2023

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A great series of short stories that brings you into future scenarios, all smart, all good food for your brain.
This is what real sci-fi should be: exploring the future of human actions, choices, policies, inventions, and live with the consequences. There are no heroes to save the day, just humans facing everyday struggles in a ever changing world.
Super recommended.

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Stories of Your Life and Others Paperback – June 14, 2016

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