From the Bookshelf of Spells, Space & Screams: Collections & Anthologies in Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Horror…

Stories of Your Life and Others

Ted Chiang

Start date: June 15, 2023

Finish date: July 14, 2023

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What Members Thought

Dec 12, 2023 Lena rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, collection, locus-award

Liking What You See: A Documentary ★★★★★
Amazing. I felt like I was watching this documentary (and I ❤️ a good documentary). A chip implant named CALLI adjusts the fusiform face area of the brain so that all faces look the same on a value scale. In other words, people with CALLI turned on cannot distinguish an ugly face from a beautiful one. The issue of lookism, patriarchy, advertising, individualism, etc - all sides of CALLI’s effects on our society are explored.

Hell Is the Absence of God ★★★ ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Mar 14, 2023 Chukwudima rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

I just finished Stories of Your Life and Exhalation by Ted Chiang not too long ago and they were some of the best stories I’ve ever read in my entire life.

Liking What You See is definitely the one I enjoyed the most, it’s about a world where technology eliminates a person’s ability to perceive physical beauty. This one was an absolute blast and I’d love to see it transformed into a mockumentary on Netflix or HBO.

Story of Your Life comes in second place, it’s a first contact story about a race I just finished Stories of Your Life and Exhalation by Ted Chiang not too long ago and they were some of the best stories I’ve ever read in my entire life.

Liking What You See is definitely the one I enjoyed the most, it’s about a world where technology eliminates a person’s ability to perceive physical beauty. This one was an absolute blast and I’d love to see it transformed into a mockumentary on Netflix or HBO.

Story of Your Life comes in second place, it’s a first contact story about a race of aliens that arrive on Earth and how a linguist attempts to establish a means of communication with them along with the consequences that follow. I know that pitch was dry as hell, but I refuse to say anything else, I don’t want to spoil it.

Division by Zero is third, it’s about a mathematician whose work causes her to have an existential crisis. You know this story’s a good one because I suck at math.

Understand is fourth, it’s about a college dropout who undergoes a brain enhancement procedure after a terrible accident. If you enjoy stuff like Flowers for Algernon and Mr. Robot, then you’re bound to fuck with this.

Tower of Babylon is fifth, it’s a story about the literal construction of the tower as tall as the heavens from biblical scripture. I wish I could place this one higher, but everything above it is also a certified hood classic.

Seventy-Two Letters is sixth, it’s about a Jewish inventor who lives in an alternate universe where the golems of Jewish folklore actually exist and the traditions of Judaism actually affect the universe.

Hell is The Absence of God is seventh, it’s about an alternate universe where biblically accurate angels exist and perform acts of divine intervention. I don’t think my atheism affected my ability to assess the work, one of my favorites from Chiang draws inspiration from Christianity in a similar fashion. The story was really great and imaginative, but it didn’t speak to me in the same way that his others did.

Evolution of Human Science was the least compelling to me, it’s about a world where humanity splits into two camps: regular humans and metahumans, people genetically modified to possess superintelligence. The fact this story has no characters isn’t the reason I didn’t enjoy it, I’ve enjoyed plenty of stories like that before, the reason is that I didn’t leave the story feeling all that different than I had before I’d read it. Even the worst from Ted Chiang is still leagues above 99% of other people’s work, but I found his other stories way more enjoyable to read. ...more

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Feb 12, 2024 Orlando Mendez rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was my first dive into Ted Chiang's work and absolutely enjoyed it. Some hard science fiction for most of the stories but he touches on some interesting topics. I read a few stories in between my main reads and felt they made for some nice pallete cleansers. I will definitely check out his other publications.

Favorites:
Story of Your Life
Hell Is the Absence of God
Liking What You See: A Documentary ...more

Like · see review