Exhalation - Ted Chiang

Another of the prescribed reads for my course this year, I was apprehensive when I picked up this book. My fears were again unfounded.

Exhalation is a collection of science fiction short stories. There were multiple cultures and concepts touched on over the entire collection, and I found each story to feel unique in its atmosphere and voice. From the middle-eastern “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate”, to the distant alien world in "The Great Silence", each world was uncannily unique yet familiar.

Out of all of them, I most enjoyed the titular story and "The Lifecycle of Software Objects". in their own ways, they both felt like a social commentary, without any kind of direct or forced moralistic approach. The former, feeling like a metaphor for complacency and even potentially climate change, and the latter our relentless overconsumption and moral distancing.

I enjoyed that this book made me stop and reflect on the world around me, and I plan to read it again sometime in the future.