Exhalation

by Ted Chiang

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • Nine stunningly original, provocative, and poignant stories—two published for the very first time—all from the mind of the incomparable author of Stories of Your Life and Others

Tackling some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine, these stories will change the way you think, feel, and see the world. They are Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic, revelatory.

Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine.

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 second chances. In “Exhalation,” an alien scientist makes a shocking discovery with ramifications that are literally universal. In “Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom,” the ability to glimpse into alternate universes necessitates a radically new examination of the concepts of choice and free will.

• ISBN10: 1101972084
• ISBN13: 9781101972083
• Publish Date: 30 June 2020 (first published 7 May 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Vintage Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 368
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781101972083

Reviews

[pamela]

As always, Ted Chiang has written an excellent collection of short stories in Exhalation. He simplifies complex ideas in innovative ways, and really explores what it means to be alive, and how we exercise free will.

While some stories spoke to me more than others, and I felt like the novella-length stories could have benefited from the more in-depth worldbuilding and character development that would have come from being long-form novels, overall, the collection was truly excellent.

There is a reason that Ted Chiang is the poster-child for speculative fiction, and for anyone who likes to think about what they read, or expose themselves to new ideas and ways of thinking, Exhalation is an absolute must-read.

[mercurial]

4.5/5

[jamiereadthis]

This suffered big time because of Terra Ignota. I’m sorry, book. I really wanted to love you, but your pages felt lifeless next to the ideas contained there. Maybe we’ll meet again.

[empressbrooke]

Three stars is a very rough summary of how I felt overall about this collection. My feelings about the individual stories varied wildly. I lost steam at the title story and dragged it out for a few days, and the novella length The Lifecycle of Software Objects was very interesting in content and ideas, but didn't feel super engaging story-wise. The last two (which it seems have never been published before this collection) actually made me the most enthusiastic, especially the final one, "Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom."

[luddite]

Such an excellent collection of stories. Just so very good.

'The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling' is my favourite, by far, for how the story dovetails with an anthropological description of writing. Reading 'Omphalos' during the holidays -- a story which revolves around the role of faith in science and research -- was illuminating and interesting. And the beauty of the redemption arc in 'Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom' was a perfect end to the series.

Highly recommended.