No story feels out of place or like an intruder. Chiang created a collection of stories that all meshes together. Collectively, each story forced upon a small crisis of identity in how I relate to technology in my own world, and I am a more self-aware person for it. Below is a short review of each story but over-all, Exhalation: Stories made me think. With a total of nine stories, “Exhalation: Stories” is a must-read for everyone looking for a new book over quarantine.Exhalation: Stories is a collection of short sci-fi stories written by Ted Chiang. Ted Chiang presents a thoughtful narrative throughout his whole collection. Do our choices really matter? Are there other universes out there with different timelines and outcomes?

This short story suggests that there are an infinite amount of possibilities for the future and prompts these questions for our own world. Many characters fall into the trap of constantly monitoring what choices their other-selves make and evaluate the morality of their own actions. With a box called a “prism,” people are able to communicate with their alternate selves. This collection finishes with “Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom”, which delves into the subject of alternate universes. Chiang cleverly exposes contradictions within religion while presenting an honest moral that humans should not view themselves as superior. As both an atheist and someone passionate about science myself, I found this story fascinating. However, in “Omphalos,” secular scientists are often the ones ridiculed.

In our world, many scientists are atheists, and topics like evolution and the creation of life are seen as places where faith and science clash. “Omphalos” explores the intersections of religion and science, presenting a fictional world where the existence of God is a widely accepted fact. Chiang’s fiction explores this curious topic while sprinkling in humor every once in a while, prompting smiles from readers. It even brings up the topic of legal rights for AI - a debate that may become a reality for us in the future. One of my favorite pieces in the collection, titled “The Lifecycle of Software Objects,” investigates the development of AI and how people connect to them. Chiang successfully takes common science fiction tropes like time travel, aliens, and artificial intelligence and transforms them into heart-touching stories. Ted Chiang’s collection of speculative short stories, “Exhalation: Stories” makes readers rethink how they view the world.

Ted chiang omphalos