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Exhalation cover art

Exhalation

By: Ted Chiang
Narrated by: Ted Chiang,Edoardo Ballerini,Amy Landon,Dominic Hoffman
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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.

©2019 Ted Chiang (P)2019 Macmillan Digital Audio

What listeners say about Exhalation

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

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.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

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.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

mixed feelings

love the ideas in these stories, but some are a little too long for being 'short' story. the voices of the digiands were not credible and neither was their pronunciation. other stories were wonderful.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderous

A series of extraordinary short stories, that are intelligent and glistening with questions and ideas.
Highly recommended.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding!

Fantastic performance added an extra dimension to a collection of extraordinary tales. Highly, highly recommended.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Thoughtful speculative fiction

At least two stories in this collection are now among my favourite speculative fiction short stories that I've experienced.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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I've never read/listened to anything like it

the performance is great, short stories are unmatched.
a truly thought provoking book. Must read

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

a mix quality bag of stories

Time travel and multiverse stories were good, with some new perspectives and we'll written, the rest mediocre. The social media story was long, boring and poorly written.
Some of the narrator's characters voices were distracting and didn't add anything.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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I really quite liked that

Surprisingly interesting compilation of short science fiction stories with a twist. It's unlike the standard science fiction of space ships and battles. This book is more concerned about exploring philosophical questions in a scientific context.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

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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