Ted chiang's story of your life5/22/2023 ![]() ![]() Maybe the math is fantastical, but the meditation on how devotion to ideas or systems keeps our lives together is all too real. It's reminiscent of "Flowers for Algernon," but with some twists of its own.Ī mathematician's life unravels when she proves that arithmetic is inconsistent. A man trying an experimental drug to combat brain damage becomes hyper-intelligent. The idea is interesting (an impossibly tall tower under construction in a fantastical version of the ancient world), but I had trouble getting into it. This story is okay, but I didn't love it. Here's a bit on each work in this collection. It's no wonder his work is a top pick for Eric Schwitzgebel's list of philosophers' favorite science fiction. There are nice little notes on each story in the back of the book in which Chiang tells you which ideas inspired the stories (sometimes it's surprising). Ted Chiang is the opposite of prolific, having only published about a dozen works of short fiction in the last 25 years, but he's one of the best when it comes to using science fiction and fantasy to interrogate ideas. In addition to the good ones, a few more are okay, and there's one I didn't care for. ![]() Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life and Others includes several excellent stories/novelettes/novellas (including "Story of Your Life," which is the basis for the film Arrival). ![]()
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