I am not really a short story person. I like long novels where I can engage the characters and the end comes after a long circuitous path. Then I read an article where they interviewed famous people and asked about their favorite books and Barack Obama said “Exhalation by Ted Chiang is a collection of short stories that will make you think, grapple with big questions, and feel more human. The best kind of science fiction.”  I thought that was intriguing and so I investigated, and it turns out that Exhalation was considered one of the  “10 Best Books of the Year”(2019) by the New York Times and had gotten similar accolades from the Washington Post.  So I caved and bought the book, and then it sat on my Kindle shelf for a long time. In fact it got so lost in all my other books that when I had to get a new iPad this year, it got sucked into an “Uncategorized” file and would have languished there if I hadn’t done some digital spring cleaning. As you can see, I am sometimes pretty stubborn about what I like and don’t like, but reading this book taught me two lessons: Do not be afraid to go outside your comfort zone, and if Barack Obama recommends a book, read it!

Exhalation is a grouping of various stories that wrestle with the great existential question of what it means to be human; questions about what is memory, and if we could contact alternative selves who made different choices than we did how would that impact our lives?

In the story Exhalation, an alien scientist makes a life changing discovery, that affects their entire life form, but the discovery is also applicable to our current human condition. In The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate, the ability to go back and undo past mistakes is examined with cautionary results. In The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling, the idea of how technology, in this case writing things down on paper, begins to change the way we think, feel, and understand the truth of things. Alternate realities and the the ability to see multiple alternative selves make different choices that than the ones we chose is the topic in Anxiety in the Dizziness of Freedom.

Chiang, is gifted writer, with profound things to say. He raises more questions that he answers, but I think that is what he is offering to us, the chance to engage in some of the hardest questions we face and to frame them in new and engaging ways, so that hopefully we can come to some new understandings. This was a delight to read!  Thoughtful, engaging, and it made me really wish some of these stories were full length novels!

Brenda’s Rating: ***** (5 out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Everyone!

Book Study Worthy? YES!

Read in ebook format.