Stories of Your Life and Others

Ted Chiang

2002

February, 2023

4/10 (DNF ~40%)

The ideas are unique and interesting, but the stories are lacking something. I can appreciate the writing and the expression of ideas, but I can't say I really felt or gained anything from reading.

The first story was the best of what I read. After that, it felt like everything was about math/science and being smart. The writing itself was good, but it felt "preachy" with math rather than religion.

Chiang obviously has an understanding of math/physics/computing, but as someone with an education in these areas, the ideas presented made me say "really?" rather than "what a cool idea". Maybe others would be more interested in his ideas outside the bounds of science if they don't even know what those bounds are to begin with.

Being short stories only hurt the book. By the time anything meaningful happened, the stories were already over. Short stories can be good. But ~40% through this book, I just couldn't care less about what happened next or what the other stories might be, so I stopped.

I can appreciate the book for its ideas and expression of those ideas, but as a collection of "stories", it just doesn't work.