Books by author: Ted Chiang

I read this novella on a flight, and I was grateful to be able to absorb it in one sitting. Ted Chiang is a gifted author — one whose prose reads effortlessly — and he knows his subject deeply. In this case, the topic is artificial intelligence, and every detail of the future that he describes is utterly believable and completely consistent with what we know today about business, software, society, and intelligence itself. I found myself caring both for the human characters and the "software objects" of the story's title. Very little of the plot is predictable, but it is entirely logical and self-consistent. It's simply a damn fine read.

This is a lovely collection of short stories by the celebrated author. Chiang has won a slew of awards for his short fiction but has never written a novel. His work reads like a modern Borges, lightened with a little bit of Vonnegut, and twisted with a tiny bit of Philip K. Dick. It's a successful mix, though Chiang isn't nearly as prolific as any of those three authors, and his work is not always on the same level.

There are eight stories here, which apparently is everything Chiang has published. I particulary liked "Division By Zero", in which a mathematician loses her mind when she proves that mathematics is inconsistent, "Understand", a "Flowers for Algernon"-like tale of chemical enhancement with a interesting twist, and "Seventy-Two Letters", in which the genetic code of the golem is explored.

The collection is full of remarkable ideas and apt storytelling, but it feels like it's missing something. I found myself wanting — but failing — to love these works. I look forward to reading more by Chiang, though at this rate, it will be another decade before the next collection.