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Exhalation
- Narrated by: Ted Chiang, Edoardo Ballerini, Amy Landon, Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Anthologies & Short Stories
Non-member price: $18.22
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Publisher's Summary
This much-anticipated second collection of stories is signature Ted Chiang, full of revelatory ideas and deeply sympathetic characters. In ‘The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate’, a portal through time forces a fabric seller in ancient Baghdad to grapple with past mistakes and the temptation of second chances. In the epistolary ‘Exhalation’, an alien scientist makes a shocking discovery with ramifications not just for his own people but for all of reality. And in ‘The Lifecycle of Software Objects’, a woman cares for an artificial intelligence over 20 years, elevating a faddish digital pet into what might be a true living being. Also included are two brand-new stories: ‘Omphalos’ and ‘Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom’.
In Exhalation, Ted Chiang wrestles with the oldest questions on earth - what is the nature of the universe? What does it mean to be human? - and ones that no one else has even imagined. And, each in its own way, the stories prove that complex and thoughtful science fiction can rise to new heights of beauty, meaning and compassion.
What listeners say about Exhalation
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Heli Lahteela-Tabone
- 18-02-2020
Really interesting scifi short stories
All the stories explore the idea of a fictional technology or idea or premise and how it would affect an everyday life. It's honestly my favourite kind of scifi. Suggesting a likely or unlikely-but-interesting change in society and following the implications on a small scale is very cool. They're also generally fairly optimistic stories, which is very pleasant. Not every story caught me, but lots of them stayed with me for days and weeks after reading. Possibly they'll stay forever.
1 person found this helpful
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- Zhuo Jia Dai
- 04-12-2019
Only the first story is really good. The rest, meh
The first story about the Merchant was pretty good. Then the stories explored intriguing themes but were not as interesting to listen to
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- pootlebaby
- 22-11-2019
Wonderous
A series of extraordinary short stories, that are intelligent and glistening with questions and ideas.
Highly recommended.
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- michael strong
- 14-10-2019
Outstanding!
Fantastic performance added an extra dimension to a collection of extraordinary tales. Highly, highly recommended.
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- Tiffany
- 16-08-2019
Enjoyed the book but hated the female narrator
The stories and author's notes were interesting but the female narrator was terrible. She was robotic and lacked nuance. Other narrators were good.
1 person found this helpful
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- Magnus M. Hustveit
- 13-09-2019
Anthology thought experiments perfectly executed
Ted Chiang combines excellent writing with interesting scenarios in a way which engages deeply. If you are not thinking after listening to this book, it's on you.
1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 08-04-2021
Ted Chiang is great
I really enjoyed this book, the storys are fun to follow and really trigger deeper thoughts, a must read for sure.
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- Panashe
- 01-01-2021
Simple ideas
The author does a great job of taking simple or rather well known ideas to their not so obvious conclusions- a nice sci-fi collection.
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- Seamus Fagan
- 23-09-2020
Different
I liked the ideas and the way they are woven into stories. well worth a listen.
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- Ed Dowding
- 17-10-2019
contains lots of content from previous books
so alas it is not as good value as I'd hoped, but still sufficiently entertaining
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- Strayficshion
- 08-03-2020
A collection to revisit
It's almost inevitable that a collection will miss a five star rating because some part of it doesn't appeal and that's the case here. These are stories with the nature of parables - and so slightly moralistic at times - but that, wherever they're set, have a science/speculative fiction slant. The title story, Exhalation, is superb and The Lifecycle of Software Objects is a dissection of difference, AI, and what constitutes sentience in virtual world entities. Sentience comes up again in The Great Silence, this time in a tale spanning Arecibo, the Fermi Paradox, and parrots, while Omphalos gently and carefully challenges one person's profound faith in a deity. Humanity with its strengths and failings is the driving force for all of these stories; how we think and feel and relate to others and what happens when technology becomes a part of the picture. It isn't dystopian, it doesn't preach, and nor does it labour its message of who and what we are; but it does make us think.
The stories vary considerably in length (I listened on Audible where they ranged from around six minutes to over three hours) and the style is often an account delivered from a particular and singular perspective. It's one of the books I will return to because there's likely to be much that I've missed.
I'll just add that the Author's notes, which pop up at the end of each story and are delivered by the author and give a little bit of the background theoretical context, are slightly jarring in audio but will be much less so in text. I will re-visit these too.
12 people found this helpful
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- Scallywag
- 03-10-2019
Entrancing
I've read some negative reviews of this collection, but I loved it. Each story is carefully developed, beautifully written and completely absorbing. “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling” is one of the best things I've read in ages. I even loved the parrot story, which people say is the weakest in the book. From the first, beautifully crafted Arabian Nights-style tale about time, and redemption, I was engaged. Every page of this collection is suffused with optimism. It's clever, kind, thoughtful and thought provoking and I highly recommend it. Yes, even the parrots.
7 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-06-2020
Fascinating ideas, plodding storytelling.
A fascinating exploration of ideas, just don't expect gripping storylines or intresting characters. . .
5 people found this helpful
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- Michael Dullaghan
- 24-05-2020
Short stories from Ted Chiang's bottom drawer.
Performance lacked lustre. Notes from the author were used to pad out a collection of works that failed to live up to Ted Chiang's reputation. Unsatisfactory conclusions and no effort to develop characters other than that of the narrator. A disappointment.
3 people found this helpful
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- Elliot Burns
- 17-12-2020
Thought provoking
Incredibly refreshing perspectives and imaginative concepts all tied to very human stories that are important in today's world
2 people found this helpful
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- darren
- 10-08-2019
good but slow
I do realise that Ted's stories can be slow over a novel, but I hoped these may have been less of a plod. several chapters were given to one arc about AI which seemed a real waste of potential, whereas others lost the plot as they meandered along.
this isn't punchy short sci-fi, but worth listening to if you're a fan
2 people found this helpful
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- Dylan fan
- 01-12-2020
Mind expanding stories for philosophical
The ideas here are complex and some of the stories required more than one listen.
1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 14-03-2021
relatos futuristas mostrando nuestra humanidad
Me ha gustado, pero voy poco a poco, el autor es increíble. Muy versátil.
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- Mr. Paul M. Quirk
- 08-02-2021
Mixed bag
This collection had some ideas, some better executed than others. On the one about the computer based characters I was bored long before the end. The “big brother” style of the narrators part was tiresome and the story dragged out too long.
The parrot story was great but left me questioning that if parrots were so smart couldn’t they have figured out a way to communicate?
The “filling lungs” story was interesting but had me saying “he’s described entropy” long before the end.
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- David Adams
- 29-01-2021
speculative fiction~☆
an enjoyable production with a diverse range of voices and stories.
especially enjoyed the author's commentary at the end of each story.
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