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What Members Thought
Overall review:
I only liked four of the eight stories here.
Could not understand Division by Zero and the Evolution of Human Science.
I stopped reading Seventy-Two Letters halfway and skimmed through Hell is the Absence of God.
They are just way too confusing and the subjects are not interesting for me. That is why it takes four months for me to finish this book.
I like the other four a lot. Tower of Babylon is fascinating, Understand is downright fun and Liking What You See: A Documentary is geniu ...more
I only liked four of the eight stories here.
Could not understand Division by Zero and the Evolution of Human Science.
I stopped reading Seventy-Two Letters halfway and skimmed through Hell is the Absence of God.
They are just way too confusing and the subjects are not interesting for me. That is why it takes four months for me to finish this book.
I like the other four a lot. Tower of Babylon is fascinating, Understand is downright fun and Liking What You See: A Documentary is geniu ...more
My favorites:
"Story of Your Life" - This was my favorite in the collection! The narrative style reflects the plot events, and plus, it's all about learning languages (and physics), with some emotional connection thrown in! Yay!
"Liking What You See: A Documentary" - Well-done documentary style. There's a smallish plot thrown in with Tamera, which keeps it a little more interesting.
Stories that were ok:
"Division by Zero"
"Understand"
"The Evolution of Human Science"
Stories I didn't like:
"Hell Is the ...more
"Story of Your Life" - This was my favorite in the collection! The narrative style reflects the plot events, and plus, it's all about learning languages (and physics), with some emotional connection thrown in! Yay!
"Liking What You See: A Documentary" - Well-done documentary style. There's a smallish plot thrown in with Tamera, which keeps it a little more interesting.
Stories that were ok:
"Division by Zero"
"Understand"
"The Evolution of Human Science"
Stories I didn't like:
"Hell Is the ...more
What do you say about an author who has written about 15 short stories over 2 decades and one who has won 4 Hugos, 4 Nebulas and 4 Locus awards for them?
Apart from the fact that after finishing this collection, you feel like shaking every serious science fiction fan and forcing them to read this amazing collection of ideas.
Apart from the fact that after finishing this collection, you feel like shaking every serious science fiction fan and forcing them to read this amazing collection of ideas.
Sublime, incredibly tight writing and filled with ideas that one will think of for the following weeks. Anyone who even purports the slightest to like science fiction should read this book. Ted Chiang is definitely one of the top writers of his generation.
Jan 30, 2013
Jessica
marked it as to-read
Nov 16, 2014
Andrei Rybin
marked it as to-read
Feb 24, 2016
Lara
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Jan 06, 2017
Brian
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Jan 06, 2017
Beth
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Feb 27, 2017
Amie
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Jun 25, 2019
Laurie
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Oct 31, 2019
Carrie
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Jan 09, 2020
Tim
marked it as to-read
Feb 25, 2021
Cliff
is currently reading it
Aug 21, 2021
Rod
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Sep 07, 2021
Jason
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