This was a collection of short stories that was like nothing I'd ever read before. I'm still processing them, as I'm sure I will for time to come. What if the tower of Babel was real, and humans did reach all the way to heaven? What would they find when they broke through into heaven? The answer was surprising and elegant, but as satisfying as the ending was, the journey up the tower was worth the price of admission as well, with the descriptions of the tower, building it, and how the people lived there. This is how I found each of the short stories. The theme gave me more than enough to think about, but the way each story unfolded itself was beautiful. Some of the stories even impacted me in surprising ways, with tears or a deepened understanding of love.

I can't recommend this collection highly enough. ( )

Ted Chiang has the unique ability to combine hard sf concepts with human, touching stories. I didn't like every story but Story of Your Life, Understand and Division by Zero are simply outstanding. ( )

Ted Chiang has the unique ability to combine hard sf concepts with human, touching stories. I didn't like every story but Story of Your Life, Understand and Division by Zero are simply outstanding. ( )

How can one author have so little output, yet have such an impact. This book contains all the short stories Ted Chiang published between 1990 and 2001. That is only eight stories (one of which written for this collection.) Yet, they have garnered three nebula awards, a Theodore Sturgeon Memorial award (and three nominations), a Locus award (and six nominations – oh yeah, this collection also won one), a Hugo award (and five nominations) a World Fantasy Award nomination, and one James Triptree, Jr. award. (And I’m not going to say I’ve found them all.) That is a 30-year career for many authors.

So, this becomes the worst kind of review – one which talks about what the stories have accomplished, rather than what the stories really are. But this is too long a list to be ignored. Anyone can win one award, and there can be a fluke where even the grandest hack wins two. But seven (and eleven nominations)???

Within the pages of this book is a collection of unbelievable stories. Okay, some aren’t as strong as others. But that is like saying Yosemite just isn’t up to the standards of the Grand Canyon. These are stories that take strange concepts, wrap them in an engrossing story, and suck you in before you even know it has happened to you. I will just speak to two of the stories (award winners – imagine that.) Before I recognized the name of the author (in other words, not even recognizing they were by the same person) the stories “Tower of Babylon” and “Hell is the Absence of God” were emblazoned in my memory. Both take Biblical concepts (one, the story of the Tower of Babel and the other…well, the premise for hell and for angels) and accept them as literal truths. These make good premises, but in Chiang’s hands he has delved deeply into what these can really mean. I have read both stories numerous times. But, reading them this one more time, I still found new depth and meaning to the stories.

Quite simply, read this collection and be amazed. ( )

This is a short-story collection book, Sci-Fi, this is, hands down, one of the best books I've ever read, and I've read a lot of books. ( )