Exhalation
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group · Print & ebook · June 30, 2020
A Short Stories pick for readers exploring Exhalation.
We earn from qualifying purchases.
- Who it’s for
- Nine stories turn questions of time, choice, and discovery into thought-provoking science fiction.
- Themes
- Choice and free will, Past mistakes and second chances, Humanity's oldest questions
- Genres
- Sci-Fi Short Stories, Short Stories (Single Author), Visionary Fiction
Nearest books
Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved.
The Paper Menagerie and Other StoriesKen Liu61% matchShares Sci-Fi Short Stories and Short Stories (Single Author)
The Dark ForestCixin Liu52% match
No Time to SpareUrsula Le Guin, Ursula K. Le Guin54% match
Permutation CityGreg Egan56% match
BlindsightPeter Watts, T. Ryder Smith53% match
DiasporaGreg Egan57% match
Way StationClifford D. Simak52% match
This Is How You Lose the Time WarAmal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone52% match
For younger readers: Everything Sad Is Untrue (a True Story), Unnatural Creatures, Exo
Start with three books, and this one can be the first.
Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.
Start with this bookAbout this book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • Nine stunningly original, provocative, and poignant stories—two published for the very first time—all from the mind of the incomparable author of Stories of Your Life and Others Tackling some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine, these stories will change the way you think, feel, and see the world.
Continue reading
They are Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic, revelatory. Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine. 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 second chances. In “Exhalation,” an alien scientist makes a shocking discovery with ramifications that are literally universal. In “Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom,” the ability to glimpse into alternate universes necessitates a radically new examination of the concepts of choice and free will.
Ideas With Aftershocks
Nine stories turn questions of time, choice, and discovery into thought-provoking science fiction.
Come here for
- Speculative questions with philosophical bite
- Stories that unsettle familiar ideas about free will
Expect
- A collection spanning ancient Baghdad to alien discovery
- Provocative, poignant takes on humanity’s oldest questions
Where it sits
| Sci-Fi Short Stories | 77% |
|---|---|
| Short Stories (Single Author) | 62% |
| Visionary Fiction | 34% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Literary Fiction
- Sci-Fi Short Stories
- Short Stories (Single Author)
- Authors
- Ted Chiang
- Publisher
- Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Published
- June 30, 2020
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Choice and free will · Past mistakes and second chances · Humanity's oldest questions
- Reading lane
- Literary Fiction