Ted Chiang's short stories are real gems. Some are cut with great precision, some are overcut, and others are perfect in their simple brilliance. My personal favorite of this collection: "Hell is the absence of God".
I liked almost all the stories equally. Interesting themes were discussed, and I will revisit some of them in the future. My top 3 were: Story of your life Tower of Babylon Hell is the absence of God
I was initially intrigued to read this collection because of the short story „Story of your Life“ which is the basis for the movie Arrival. Since I loved the movie I wanted to see how it would work as a short story. It’s amazing how different they are but I loved them both!! I also really liked „Understand“ and „Liking What You See : A Documentary“. I had to DNF two of the stories because I didn’t like the subjects. For a detailed rating see the list below. Tower of Babylon 4/5 ⭐️ Understand 4/5 ⭐️ Division by Zero 3/5 ⭐️ Story of Your Life 5/5 ⭐️ Seventy-Two Letters DNF The Evolution of Human Science 2/5 ⭐️ Hell Is the Absence of God DNF Liking What You See : A Documentary 4/5 ⭐️
Every story in itself is fantastic, not always captivating you with the style it is written in or the setting in which it blossoms to expose its core idea but for the idea itself and how it will turn and twist. I started with Exhalation and that bar was set - high. This book, despite being a little weaker on the story telling part and the personal interest and style of stories that it presents, is still an absolute masterpiece of a collection of short stories with interesting views on the world and concepts that spark your brain to think after you've finished each one of them. Not as much as Exhalation though, I pondered my life because of that book.
