That might have actually been more interesting. I'd honestly have rather read a series of essays about the concepts. There were a few interesting conceptual ideas, and that's all I got out of it. The endings didn't make me go 'wow' like other short story writers often do. The writing style was straightforward, but has a lot of 'telling' and not enough 'showing'. The remaining stories just seemed so flat. The first focused on a time travel portal and the latter investigated the idea of having multiple lives (quantum?) where different versions of an individual might take separate life paths making different decisions along the way. The two book end stories, 'The Merchent and the Alchemist's Gate' and 'Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom' were the only two I even enjoyed reading.

So, honestly, I thought I'd be really into this book. which are short science fiction vignettes made for television (also loved Star Trek). And while I'm not a huge science fiction reader, I really really love Black Mirror. And, each in its own way, the stories prove that complex and thoughtful science fiction can rise to new heights of beauty, meaning, and compassion. Also included are two brand-new stories: 'Omphalos' and 'Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom.' In this fantastical and elegant collection, Ted Chiang wrestles with the oldest questions on earth-What is the nature of the universe? What does it mean to be human?-and ones that no one else has even imagined. And in 'The Lifecycle of Software Objects,' a woman cares for an artificial intelligence over twenty years, elevating a faddish digital pet into what might be a true living being. In the epistolary 'Exhalation,' an alien scientist makes a shocking discovery with ramifications not just for his own people, but for all of reality. In 'The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate,' a portal through time forces a fabric seller in ancient Baghdad to grapple with past mistakes and the temptation of second chances. This much-anticipated second collection of stories is signature Ted Chiang, full of revelatory ideas and deeply sympathetic characters.

Exhalation short story