Stories Of Your Life and Others is by two-time Nebula Award winning author Ted Chiang - indeed, one of the most honoured young writers in Science Fiction. This is exactly the kind of speculative fiction I love, with echoes of Philip K. Dick and Haruki Murakami. Yes, he is at that level. This collection is best known for Story of Your Life, a short story adapted into the acclaimed Oscar winning film Arrival, and subsequent editions have been republished under that title.
Understand, Division by Zero, Seventy-Two Letters, The Evolution of Human Science, and Liking What You See are stories included in this collection, along with another standout, Tower of Babylon, in which bricklayers of a primitive civilization build a tower into the stars, reaching beyond Heaven. Hell Is The Absence Of God is the fantastic story of a non-devout man who recently lost his wife in one of the Angelic visitations, now common world-wide, their sudden appearance bringing miraculous cure to some and death to others. At one of the regular support group meetings for those affected, he meets a woman born without legs who has just had them fully restored by an Angel - Chiang mixes the surreal with the everyday, setting them up to explore their spiritual beliefs as they travel to a holy site.
Story of Your Life is one of the finest I have ever read. It's hard to review something that had such an effect. Utterly fascinating. Deeply moving. After a spaceship arrives on Earth, a top linguistics expert is called in by the government to help identify sounds, perhaps an alien language. Part of a small team allowed inside the ship she discovers the purpose of their arrival. Still grieving the death of her daughter, her mind is opened and consoled by what she learns. Personally, I had a strong reaction to this story, a mind opening experience as I connected to its message - it is the closest I have ever read to what I believe existence truly is.
All my windows were opened.
This is science fiction that explores the mind. Everyday situations are combined with the fantastic, Chiang masterfully challenges your conceptions and tells you stories from the opposite side.
I can't recommend this book and the writing of Ted Chiang high enough.
2002 / Hardcover / 333 pages
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