Exhalation is a thought provoking, mind expanding collection of stories all of which explore very specific ideas and scientific concepts, in the proceExhalation is a thought provoking, mind expanding collection of stories all of which explore very specific ideas and scientific concepts, in the process shedding new light on our past, present, and future. Almost every story is a gem, well worth the 17 year wait since Ted Chiang’s only previous collection (or two years in my case, since I was relatively late to him). I expect to re-read and re-think about these stories in the years to come. Specifics on some of the stories below with a certain number of spoilers, even though the stories themselves are not really plot driven. (I should say, I listened to the audiobook and the narrators were all excellent, a few different people so that voices and genders matched the stories themselves.)
“The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate”: 5 stars. You could almost convince me that this tale came straight from A Thousand and One Nights it reads so authentically with stories within stories. Even the introduction of time travel seems authentic with a person (or even a person’s hand) entering one portal and coming out another portal at a different time. But the time travel is not magical, but instead follows a rigorous set of rules (in the afterward Chiang explains they come from a lecture by Kip Thorne). Most importantly, in a well-constructed surprise twist people learn that they cannot actually change the past but have to accept their fate—and do so without falling into an paralyzing crisis about the lack of free will (see “What’s Expected of Us”).
“Exhalation”: 5 stars. It starts out as a fanciful description of a world where people have interchangeable lungs and clocks are all increasingly running fast but then turns into an exploration of the scientific rules underlying this world which center around the role that pressure differences play in animating machinery in people’s brains. As pressure becomes more even in the universe these people live in, their time slows leading to their eventual extinction. What a vision of entropy.
“What’s Expected of Us”: 5 stars. A very short story about the spread of a machine that lights up immediately before you push it, and the implications this has for people’s understanding of free will. I will not forget this one anytime soon, if ever.
“The Lifecycle of Software Objects”: 5 stars. More novella than story, it follows a group of people who adopt virtual-reality animals and watch and help them to grow and develop what almost seems like consciousness. Very little in the story is fanciful, is like the Tamagotchi digital pet where people have pellets to feed their pets but with the pets developing over time. The challenge people face is how to balance their emotional attachments to people vs. these creations, how these creations evolve over time, whether it is possible to build an AI that works immediately without decades of teaching, and ultimately whether people will sacrifice for virtual beings.
“Dacey’s Patent Automatic Nanny”: 3 stars. More of a trifle styled as an authentic history of a nineteenth century automaton nanny. Fewer ideas and less cleverly constructed than anything else in the book, it was nevertheless enjoyable.
“The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling”: 4 stars. Alternating stories about how an African tribe is transformed by the introduction of writing (which allows people to rely less on memory and subjectivity, but instead record objectively and reproducibly) and a futuristic technology that lets people video record and easily retrieve any experience they have in their lives, something that leads families into endlessly proving each other wrong by going to the proverbial videotape. The pros and cons of the triumph of objectivity over subjectivity are explored in this manner.
“The Great Silence”: 4 stars. I’m a sucker for Fermi Paradox stories and this is a pretty decent one, starring intelligent parrots.
“Omphalos”: 5 stars. A serious contender for my favorite story in the collection, it is about a world where scientists find extensive evidence of the creation of the earth and all its creatures a few thousand years ago, for example primordial trees with no rings at their center, primordial human remains with no belly buttons, and primordial clams with no layers. An archeologist devoted to using science to uncover more evidence of god’s creation falls into a crisis of faith when she is exposed to a new cosmological theory that is a clever twist on both Copernicanism (which decentered the earth from the universe) and special relativity. Brilliant, internally consistent, and with stronger characters and emotion than some of Chiang’s other stories.
“Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom”: 3 stars. My lack of love for this story may be my fault not Chiang’s and I will read it again at some point. An excellently rigorous and believable invention of a quantum machine that enables people to communicate across the “multiple worlds” spawned by different resolutions of uncertainty. The machine only allows communications across the branches since it was invented and it has a finite amount of information it can transfer. The transference itself creates disturbances that change the course in different dimensions. Chiang explores this consequences of this idea for a variety of people as they go through life and therapy. I loved the science, but did not love the people and at times found their stories a little confusing as it cut back and forth between them....more
An amazing conclusion to an amazing trilogy. This is the most epic of the three books and also the one that could be read most fluidly because a lot oAn amazing conclusion to an amazing trilogy. This is the most epic of the three books and also the one that could be read most fluidly because a lot of the world building was already accomplished in the first two. That said, it still wasn't a very easy read and a lot more of the world and its backstory unfolded over the course of this book, tying together everything that came before in a satisfying manner.
The Broken Earth becomes almost a character in its own right as it battles to protect itself with huge consequences for humanity. Everything about the world and its people is so alien and imagined, unlike anything in our world or literature, and yet it all has a resonance in contemporary issues like race and the environment, with none of them being so heavy handed that they diminish the imaginative power but instead they enhance it.
Very glad I read this, will get my courage up to read all of it again sometime....more
I loved The Fifth Season. But it was a real effort to read with complex world, the shifting narration, and the lack of straightforward heroes, villainI loved The Fifth Season. But it was a real effort to read with complex world, the shifting narration, and the lack of straightforward heroes, villains, or even normal plot. I knew I would read the entire trilogy but felt like I stood at the edge of the second book staring down nervously for months before jumping in again. But jump I did and it was well worth it. It still was not a completely fluid read but somewhat more so as the world is slightly more familiar and the apparent number of characters is reduced (readers of The Fifth Season will understand the qualification to “number”).
But wow, what a depiction of a world organizing into small organized cells to keep out the chaos that is to come and of wild and uncontrollable magic. This second book of the trilogy follows directly from the first focusing on two Orogenes, people that can control geology and perform a form of magic, a mother and daughter who are separated but both working in some of the same context. Both are focused on preserving themselves and their group but also capable of great violence, including hurting those closest to them. And both are growing in power but still only dimly understand the purposes they can put their power to. By the end their purpose has become clearer and I will not wait long to read the third and final volume to find out if and how they succeed in fulfilling it....more
I listened to this with my daughter. I wanted to like it more but was never particularly enthralled by it. I liked the African magic world it created,I listened to this with my daughter. I wanted to like it more but was never particularly enthralled by it. I liked the African magic world it created, the writing was perfectly fluid, I loved the audiobook narrator, but I never really got into the characters or the plot and also never particularly felt impelled to read on. My daughter liked it more and wants us to listen to the second one together, we’ll see about that....more
I read this book and loved it as a kid. But I'm not sure I could recommend that anyone read it when you have the option I did not have as a kid: listeI read this book and loved it as a kid. But I'm not sure I could recommend that anyone read it when you have the option I did not have as a kid: listening to the absolutely divine Stephen Fry recording. Everything is just as fresh and humorous as it ever was. Plus it feels prescient about artificial intelligence, although partly that may be because some aspects of the packaging of AI have actually followed the book rather than just being anticipated by it. My 11 year old son listened with me and liked it just as much. (As an aside, I should say that we initially tried the originally radio play but was not nearly as good because the worse audio production, too short, and Fry does a variety of voices even better than a variety of people do.)...more
What a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful book. I mostly listened to this with my children (but read them parts), I was torn but pressed four stars. TheyWhat a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful book. I mostly listened to this with my children (but read them parts), I was torn but pressed four stars. They caught me, got upset, and so I have put it down as five.
A story of climbing boys and girls who clean chimneys in Victorian London. The first half is called "Innocence" and the second half "Experience," mirroring the William Blake poems that play such an important role in the book. The story itself is not exactly innocent in the first half, but it becomes considerably more "experienced" in the second--turning into an even darker portrayal of the danger and brutality of a horrible form of child labor that plays off Charles Dickens as well as more magically inclined authors.
The story itself centers around a girl, Nan Sparrow, who is almost killed in an accident but is rescued by a "monster," actually a Golem, made of soot. They learn to survive together in a tender story of friendship, as she is forced to confront villainous master sweeps (modeled a big on Fagin, without the Jewish part) and a largely indifferent society. In the backdrop is a larger story of social change.
I don't want to say much more. It is not overly plot driven, more about the characters and their relationship. But the plot kept everyone interested ad served the broader purpose. At the end, the author's not put's a good perspective on all of it and portrays it more as a rallying cry for continued social justice than just a period piece.
Is middle grade, not sure I would have thought to read it without my children, but in that case I would really have missed out....more
A strong debut collection of short stories, the best of these were memorable and excellent, but sometimes they were more tiresome and felt derivative A strong debut collection of short stories, the best of these were memorable and excellent, but sometimes they were more tiresome and felt derivative of the author’s mentor, George Saunders. The stories are dark, slightly (or fully) surreal, exaggerated macabre/comic takes on race, commercialism and death in America. My favorite was the first story “The Finkelstein 5” which beings with a white man who chain sawed 5 black children for no particularly good reason and is on the verge of being aquitted. In the story black people an turn their “blackness” up and down on a scale of 1 to 10 and do so to avoid dangerously upsetting the racist white people. I also particularly liked “Light Spitter” about the ghost of a school shooter and his victim. The titular “Friday Black” was an exaggerated take on the death toll mounting on Black Friday (I read it a day too early). And some stories, like “Zimmer Land”, were good but felt overly bound to their concepts—in this case a theme park where white people can act out their racist fantasies by shooting and killing black actors.
Overall, I would happily read Nana Kramer Adjei-Brenyah’s next book, but in the hopes of seeing more growth and not just more of the same of these stories....more
An amazingly satisfying conclusion to an amazingly satisfying trilogy. By turns hilarious, suspenseful, insightful, it is impossible to put any of theAn amazingly satisfying conclusion to an amazingly satisfying trilogy. By turns hilarious, suspenseful, insightful, it is impossible to put any of these books down. They are set in an "Interdependency" which was established by humans as a set of habitats around star systems that are linked by "flow streams" which allows faster than light travel between them. The flow streams are collapsing severing the different systems, a big problem because the interdependency is organized around a set of noble houses each of which has a monopoly on one type of good or service so none of which can exist on their own. Against this backdrop an epic set of schemes, counter schemes, some competent, most of them incompetent, play out. I don't think a single chapter dragged in any of the books, and the twists were as surprising ex ante as they were completely inevitable ex post. So go get the first one and start on this now!...more
I read the Mortal Engines quartet by Philip Reeve with my children and loved it. This book was written before it and was not nearly as good. It is in I read the Mortal Engines quartet by Philip Reeve with my children and loved it. This book was written before it and was not nearly as good. It is in the silly scifi genre with a tinge of steampunk, like a worse Douglas Adams. Set in an alternative history where Isaac Newton discovered a powerful anti-gravitational engine powered by alchemy, the British Empire has all of its ossified traits but is now spread throughout the solar system. A brother and sister enter into a mortal battle with white spiders based on the planet Saturn and team up with an interplanetary pirate named Jack. You get the idea. Was genuinely witty at times, but the "adventures of" genre has its limits in terms of a genuinely suspenseful plot and the silliness undermines the world building and the characters are all pretty stock. But not terrible or anything and my children liked it....more
Wow wow wow wow wow. Blown away by this graphic novel--as if Cervantes, the authors of a thousand and one nights, the Grimms, and Angela Carter all goWow wow wow wow wow. Blown away by this graphic novel--as if Cervantes, the authors of a thousand and one nights, the Grimms, and Angela Carter all got together with a brilliant and original illustrator.
Stories within stories within stories, all refracted and retold in a feminist fashion, but all fitting together brilliantly to explain the overarching frame stories. The outer frame is quasi-biblical, the next frame is like The Man Who Was Recklessly Curious from Don Quixote, then the Thousand and One Nights, and then a set of stories within that some of which were from Grimm and not sure on the others. But you do not need to recognize any of this to recognize that be completely enchanted and drawn in, wanting to read night after night as the tales progress, learning more about the two main characters (the noble woman Cherry, her smart/witty maid Hero, and their lesbian relationship), enjoying the parallels and the resonance between the different stories.
Many times these types of retellings do not work for me (I confess that I found The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror unreadable and had to stop) or is lacking. Angela Carter pulled it off brilliantly but much of the refracted feminist versions of fairy tales since then seems like pale imitations or needlessly complicated or overly simplistic. The One Hundred Nights of Hero is none of these, but instead really adds to everything it retells and fits them together in a really clever manner. I can't wait to read her other book....more
Artificial Condition is the second in what is supposed to be a four-part scifi series about a “Murderbot,” a mostly robot with organic material traineArtificial Condition is the second in what is supposed to be a four-part scifi series about a “Murderbot,” a mostly robot with organic material trained to provide security for humans but gone rogue to look out for itself. The novella finds the muderbot free from humans for the first time going off to investigate the circumstances of a massacre it purportedly committed prior to the first book of the series. In the process it becomes close a brilliant AI on a ship that has a sentimental spot for humans and the two collaborate remotely as the murderbot returns to its roots.
These two are both great characters, imaging what machines might be like in a world established by humans, looking in from the outside and trying to understand and feel the emotions. But none of the humans themselves are particularly notable characters. The plot is fine. But none of it is quite interesting or good enough to make me sure that I will read books three or four when they come out. But I don’t regret reading the first two....more
This Nebula-winning novella had a relatively straightforward plot, serviceable writing, and only one interesting character--but that character was so This Nebula-winning novella had a relatively straightforward plot, serviceable writing, and only one interesting character--but that character was so interesting it made the entire book worthwhile. The character was a cyborg who is part of a series of manufactured AIs with biological material to make them function better that are generally strictly controlled by their governor modules and treated like machinery. But the cyborg that narrates this book, the first in a four-part series, has turned off it's governor module, developing free will--that it mostly wants to use to watch endless science fiction serials while largely shirking most of its responsibilities as a security bot protecting the humans exploring a strange new planet. Moreover, the character--who calls itself Murderbot--generally hates all of the humans it is designed to protect.
The explication is very light and within a page or two of the opening we are off on a close call from aliens followed by a mysterious mass murder of another group of humans, and an adventure in which Murderbot takes cues from the thrillers it has watched. The book never really explains the rationale for the menace and most of the resolution is skipped over and addressed in retrospect. The plot is just interesting enough to keep you reading but hardly the reason to come for the book.
Lurking in the background some aspects of the universe the book is set in are explained, including the rapacious "company" that leases cheap and badly functioning equipment for the expedition, and a division of worlds with some being free, including differences in how they treat bots. I expect more of all of this in the future books which I probably will end up reading at some point....more
A minimalist fable-like story of a father and daughter in a totalitarian state where secret police shoot people on sight for undefined crimes, includiA minimalist fable-like story of a father and daughter in a totalitarian state where secret police shoot people on sight for undefined crimes, including violating curfew or playing music. My daughter got me this for father's day because it centers around a tender father-daughter relationship, which is just about the only emotionally resonant aspect of the book. (As an aside, the only other book focused on a father-daughter relationship I can think of is Fun Home.) The rest of the book follows the father and the daughter. The father, William, goes from a job as an epitaphorist (a writer of epitaph's for gravestones, many of them short witty phrases that capture a person's essence--if not the actual facts about them) to falling in with a group of secret revolutionaries. The daughter, Molly, ends up with a kindly old couple with a puppet theater where she puts on a puppet show that retells and merges into the book The Curfew.
Overall had a lot of good writing, was interesting from beginning to end, was actually reasonably easy reading dressed up as experimental, and with so much white space 200 pages zipped by. But it's lack of real emotional depth or character and the pat simplicity of its dystopic vision explains why it has not become the father-daughter counterpart to The Road....more
Enjoyable humorous space opera, this is the second installment in a trilogy about future descendants of Earth who have spread out across space to set Enjoyable humorous space opera, this is the second installment in a trilogy about future descendants of Earth who have spread out across space to set up an "interdependency" based on trading between far flung habitats connected by a spacetime "flow" that is a set of wormholes. The entire socio-political edifice is overseen by an Emperox, who combines political, spiritual and mercantile leads. Overall it as a byzantine/medieval setup of intrigue, deceit and amorality that all seems, nevertheless, to hold together. But as the flow starts to collapse and worlds are going to be separated it all comes apart.
The second book was as fast paced as the first but the characters were a little more locked in to their either good or bad sides, in some tension with the grey amoral world the book is set in. There are some surprises but no major ones as all the double crossing is done by various bad guys against each other. But it all stays interesting.
I should add I listened to the audio recording read by Wil Wheaton who was excellent, felt like a genuine performance....more
I loved this Hugo-nominated novella (or actually more like a short story). A character named Sarah Pinsker (like the author) receives an invitation anI loved this Hugo-nominated novella (or actually more like a short story). A character named Sarah Pinsker (like the author) receives an invitation and makes her way to "Sarahcon"--a gathering of hundreds of Sarah Pinsker's from across the multiverse all staying in one island hotel. Most of them have a variety of histories/memories in common but diverged at various points and ended up in all different occupations, interests, and the like. As she is getting to better know her self/selves, one of the Sarah's is murdered, and the main character is called in to investigate by virtue of the fact that she is an insurance investigator. But really she is investigating her multiple selves.
The mystery has a clever and satisfying solution, but that is not the point--overall the story is humorous, insightful, and makes you think long after it is over. I can't wait to read more by Sarah Pinsker(s)....more
Wow. An excellent continuation of Monstress, with continually unfolding world building, a plot/backstory that is increasingly mysterious, and strikingWow. An excellent continuation of Monstress, with continually unfolding world building, a plot/backstory that is increasingly mysterious, and strikingly original artwork, Monstress Volume 2 was just as good as Volume 1....more
I listened to this with my children and we all enjoyed it so much that we unanimously decided to start volume two immediately upon completing this oneI listened to this with my children and we all enjoyed it so much that we unanimously decided to start volume two immediately upon completing this one. It is a wonderfully realized world of West African magic without any of the overly heavy handed exposition, a reasonably interesting plot (albeit a somewhat conventional quest story—collect the magical objects and bring them to a specific place by a specific date to save everything otherwise you will lose everything), and reasonably interesting characters (albeit at time psychologically simplistic or implausible). But overall an original and epic feeling that was completely enjoyable....more
I enjoyed this book, just like I enjoyed two previous Dara Horn novels (All Other Nights and A Guide for the Perplexed). I also found it thought provoI enjoyed this book, just like I enjoyed two previous Dara Horn novels (All Other Nights and A Guide for the Perplexed). I also found it thought provoking about some of the biggest issues, including life and death.
The story is about Rachel, a woman who appears to be a grandmother in her eighties but is actually two thousand years old. She has married and buried numerous husbands and given birth to and watched die hundreds of children. This has left her exhausted and wanting to end her life—or for her life to end—but this is impossible for her. She can’t fully and honestly relate to anyone but her lover and the father of her first child, Elazar, the son of the High Priest of the Temple who also has eternal life but can go hundreds of years or more without being with Rachel.
The story alternates between Rachels upbringing in ancient Judaea—before the destruction of the temple—and modern times where the blockchain makes an appearance as a way to guarantee eternal life for data. At times passionate and romantic, at times humorous (e.g., Rachel’s confessions to a disbelieving therapist), always reading that feels relatively light but contains deeper thoughts and insights....more
I confess, my children forced me into this series, and I ended up really liking it. I'm not sure I would have read it without a 9 and 10 year old. ButI confess, my children forced me into this series, and I ended up really liking it. I'm not sure I would have read it without a 9 and 10 year old. But my eyes were tearing up by the ending--which was just as good as the first paragraph of the first book.
A Darkling Plain was the most epic of the series, with literally the entire fate of the earth in the balance, as it fluently moved back and forth between the different sets of characters that had developed over the previous three books, keeping the plot interesting and building to a satisfying conclusion for all of them....more
I confess The Hungry City books are really growing on me. A series about a future where giant traction cities wage battles against an extremist group I confess The Hungry City books are really growing on me. A series about a future where giant traction cities wage battles against an extremist group promoting static settlements while underwater burglars, aerial balloonists, and a group of people hidden away in North America engage in various manners. Some of the best characters are truly excellent, like Uncle who is a Fagin-like figure running a group of burglar boys, Pennyroyal who is a foolish, venal, cowardly liar who in this book has become the Mayor of a town, and some of the locations themselves are like great characters--in this book the floating pleasure city of Brighton. The plot is also quite fun as well.
Overall, everything one could hope for in a book to read to/with a 9 and 10 year old--if not quite what I would read on my own....more
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