What to say here? This is one tough read. I got through it, and I can see the through line (with help from the author at the end). I cannot discern the why of it. It is based in Sri Lankan culture and its fight for independence. Maybe if you have deeper knowledge of that you will appreciate it more. There's a lot of good and interesting parts, but it only comes together by juxtaposition. Oof. 3 stars for the parts my poor mind was able to comprehend.
Tuesday, September 2, 2025
Stories of Your Life and Others, by Ted Chiang
I've been reading some of the individual stories in this volume as they came out over the years. It's a really different experience reading all of them together, and I don't think it's better. There's a pattern to Ted Chiang's writing--taking an idea and playing with it through characters, but really focusing on the idea--that works better when you experience it fresh, as opposed to repeating it in a story collection. Still, there were stories I really enjoyed:
"Understand": Some reviewers compare it to "Flowers for Algernon". I see that, but what I like about this one is that it has the best attempt at conveying what it is to be superintelligent in language non-superintelligent people (everyone) can understand. The rest of the plotting was needed to bring forth the idea."Division by Zero": Didn't like this one. I am familiar with Godel's Incompleteness proof--that there are true statements in mathematics that cannot be proven--and to me it has just as much impact as the equality in the story. If that's not enough try the history of the concept of infinity, and how it drove Georg Cantor mad.
"The Story Of Your Life": I enjoyed reading the short story, but to really experience the plot you need to see the movie "Arrival". This is the one and perhaps only time I have thought that the movie was better than the book. The Eric Heisserer screenplay intensifies the choice the linguist makes in having a child. And having visuals for a nonlinear orthography helps a lot.
"The Evolution of Human Science": I don't think this story was impressive in its time, but it takes on new meaning as we develop AI. Artificial intelligences could very well do science we can't comprehend.
"Hell Is the Absence of God": A really good one. The idea of a world in which the presence of angels is apparent, disruptive and not entirely positive is fascinating.
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