Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
An alien species visits Earth in that tale. The narrative is told from the viewpoint of a linguist who is attempting to understand their language. One of the most fascinating aspects of the story is how Chiang thinks through the details of what the grammar of a non-temporal, visual language might be, how it might affect cognition, and how to develop a language that is spatially organized in a two-dimensional plane rather than linearly and temporally organized, like human languages. Their written language is fascinatingly visual and non-temporal.
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
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Ted Chiang is a modestly prolific author of short stories and novellas. He has infamously few stories published. But a significant number of his pieces make a significant effect and garner accolades. His tales are so philosophically layered. His first collection of short stories is the one I’ve selected. Exhalation, a new collection he recently released, is also quite good. However, the first one holds a special place in my heart because it was the one that first inspired me to appreciate Ted Chiang’s creative output. In the world of science fiction short stories, he was undoubtedly well known.
One of the best stories in this book is unquestionably this one. It investigates the idea of religion, as well as heaven against hell and right versus wrong. They all live in a world where angels literally appear and work wonders or harm, and there is one major character and two supporting characters. Some people, like the main character, suffer harm when their wife is killed during an angelic visitation. After that, the protagonists join a support group to try to understand how the angel’s visit was supposed to impact their lives. People frequently see glimpses of paradise and hell in this world and are aware of where deceased individuals are today. For the main character, he is aware that his wife is in heaven and must now work to earn his way there in order to be with her once more. But he has trouble doing this since he blames God for taking his wife away in the first place. This story was one of the best and most thought-provoking in the entire book, yet it was also one of the simpler ones to read.
This is an unusual combination of science fiction, philosophy, fantasy, and possibly metaphysics. The topics covered in the collection include mathematics, religion, golems and the kabbala. It deftly incorporates all of these elements—as well as more—into intriguing storylines and unexpected pairings. While some stories are better than others, they are all nonetheless worthwhile to read.
