Stories of Your Life and Others

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.

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. --- 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).

I liked most of the stories a lot. They are thought-provoking. Of course some are better than others, but I really really liked most of them.

So great. Insightful, contemplative, deeply intelligent short fiction. Like many others, I'm sure, I discovered this through the movie, but I must confess that the movie hit me like like a freakin' iron sledgehammer moving at mach 3. Enough so that I was reluctant to approach the source story -- but I was convinced by a colleague that it was worth it, and that all the stories in the collection are fantastic. Yep. The 'Stories of Your Life' short story that beget 'Arrival' is quite different in many respects, of course, and it left me with two feelings: admiration for screenwriters, who could take something good and concise and turn it into something equally good, longer, recognizable from source, and yet completely different. Secondly, a completely different appreciation for the emotional impact of the film: by giving me a different framework within which the themes of the movie can be placed, my take on the movie is now much improved. I might even be able to watch it a second time -- something I would not have thought possible before reading the source story. Win! Well done, Ted. All the stories in the collection are equally engaging and provoking: you can tell very quickly you're in the presence of a serious talent.

I bought this book to read 'Story of Your Life', after knowing the movie Arrival is based on this story. I read the story and as expected, it was mind blowing, and is beautifully written. Let me start with Story of Your Life. This is not another alien invasion story. It addresses a different scenario altogether. How to communicate with a species whose language is entirely different from any language that exists on the Earth? The way Ted Chiang introduces the beauty of science and linguistics along with love and relationship of a mother and a daughter is brilliant and beautiful. The way Louise explains watching her daughter grow up makes you fall in love with the character! I can write a three-page review just about this story. But I shouldn't limit this to just one story. Although I loved this one the most, I liked all the stories. Each story centres around a particular theme. It could be a problem, facet of the society in the present or past, varying from myths and religion to beauty and science. Two of my other favourites are ‘Hell Is the Absence of God’ and ‘Liking What You See: A Documentary’. The former focuses on religion while the latter deals with the perception of humans based on others' looks, or as he describes in the story, 'lookism’. The first is set within a world where the concepts of religion and faith are built upon facts and logic. Both are wonderful! Sometimes, I felt like I was watching an episode of 'Black Mirror' while reading these stories! If you have time to read, think and comprehend, I recommend you this book. This is the best Sci-Fi short story collection I've read so far.

Vi la película, lo que me llevó a leer el libro. Una lectura muy recomendada para los padres/madres, ya que te invita a vivir al máximo cada experiencia con los hijos (es mi percepción). No voy a decir más para no dar espoiler, solo a invitarlos a leerlo, vale la pena aunque no seas padre/madre aún, pero indudablemente le encontrarás más sabor si estas es esta etapa de tu vida.

Ted Chiang's short stories can probably be classified as science fiction, although they are quite different from anything else I have read in the genre. The thoroughness of his research is quite incredible, and since he has decided, rather than to mine away at one particular small field of interest, but to make every story completely different to the last, you can understand why he has had such a small output of work over the last twenty years. The overall quality of the stories in this book is probably higher than that of any other science fiction anthology I've read, with the possible exception of "I Robot", which is going back a bit. In fact, Chiang reminded me of Asimov both in the level of his research and knowledge, and his ability to to tell you something you didn't know, and then make you feel that it is the most important thing in the world whilst you are reading it. Each of the stories in the collection is quite different. The first story, for example, is a science fiction story set in biblical times about a worker on the Tower of Babel. Two things fascinate about this story: both the wealth of detail that really create a world that you can believe in, and also the suspense that the author creates as the tower gets further and further towards the vault of heaven. In "Understand", which is one of the two standout stories of the collection, Chiang looks at how increased intelligence might affect a human. I don't want to give more away, but the story is an incredible piece of writing: brimming with believable technical detail, but yet as exciting as any thriller you have ever read. The following two stories, "Division by Zero", and "Story of Your Life" are more thoughtful, but also concern, in their own way, the effect of knowledge on human beings, in these cases, mathematical, and linguistic. Once again, Chiang's remarkable ability to bring a technical vocabulary and depth of research to his subject means that these stories really convince you on a technical level. If Chiang has a flaw as a writer, it is that his characterisation is somewhat thin, and therefore his stories tend to lack some emotional resonance. This doesn't matter so much in a high concept story such as "Understand", but in the two stories just referred to, which rely on the emotional impact of events on characters, this makes them less affecting than they could be. Another aspect of this lack of characterisation is that Chiang describes places and objects with detail and precision, but you are left to guess what his people look like, and aren't given much clue to their wants and desires outside of the main object of the story. This flaw affects "Hell is the Absence of God", which is still a cracking Sci-Fi concept, with (as you might expect) theological ramifications. My favourite story in the book, however, was "72 Letters", which is a kind of Victorian steampunk story involving golems and scientists. I don't even like steampunk, but the wealth of thought and planning that has gone into the fictional world of this story is genuinely awesome, and on top of that, the story is gripping, the themes are intriguing and far-reaching, and it's a great thriller. Highly recommend this anthology to fans of speculative fiction, to rediscover the sense of wonder that you had reading sci fi as a young teenager.