Story of Your Life

by Ted Chiang

What would it mean to know the future? At one level we already know the most important aspect of the future, in that we know that we are mortal; moreover, we know that as long as we're alive, we will experience both happiness and heartbreak. This awareness of what lies ahead of us is an essential aspect of being human. But how much more would we want to know?

Is there a limit to the amount of detail we could apprehend before it becomes more than we can bear? In this celebrated novella, the basis for the Oscar-nominated motion picture Arrival, a woman finds herself confronting these questions in a way she never could have expected.

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fiction, School, Novella, Book Club, Philosophy

65 pages, Paperback

About the author

Ted Chiang is an American science fiction writer. His Chinese name is Chiang Feng-nan. He graduated from Brown University with a Computer Science degree. He currently works as a technical writer in the software industry and resides in Bellevue, near Seattle, Washington. He is a graduate of the noted Clarion Writers Workshop (1989) and has been an instructor for it (2012, 2016). Chiang is also a frequent non-fiction contributor to the New Yorker, where he writes on topics related to computing such as artificial intelligence.

Chiang has published 18 short stories, to date, and most of them have won prestigious speculative fiction awards - including multiple Nebula Awards, Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, and British Science Fiction Association Awards, among others. His short story "Story of Your Life" was the basis of the film Arrival (2016). He has never written a novel but is one of the most decorated science fiction writers currently working.

Chiang's first eight stories are collected in "Stories of Your Life, and Others" and the next nine, in "Exhalation: Stories".

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Story of Your Life" is the best hard sci-fi story I've read so far. It's proper hard sci-fi--it doesn't misuse terminology or apply it incorrectly just to drive the plot. It's extremely well-researched across various fields, including aspects of computational philosophy. I'd recommend everyone read it, if only to see what hard sci-fi truly entails. This reread was incredibly rewarding and thought-provoking. I read it closely and I learned a great deal.

The story delves into several areas, starting with linguistics. It examines how language is used for communication, explores the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (the idea that language influences thought), writing systems and the challenges of linguistic fieldwork with an unknown language. Then, it touches on physics--the variational principle and how it describes physical phenomena. Finally, it explores the philosophy of science, focusing on determinism and teleology, and the connection between our perceptions and objective reality.

It's fascinating how Ted explores the central theme without using made-up scientific jargon, except the aliens' name. Some readers might find the story a bit dense due to the use of scientific terminology, such as "ligature," "orthography," "coordinate systems," "calculus of variation," and "xenobiology" to name a few, but actively engaging with these concepts is rewarding.

[Kirsten Bedford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many tears were shed. Many.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is profound. Somber, in that it embraces a teleological effect that creates the cause which humanity rejects, or at least science does in modern times. Yet we know so little, being creatures of our environment, constrained by our perception of reality by the “looking glass” from which we perceive everything. Simultaneous experience, action actualizing what is already known will happen; these are mind bending topics, and I am better for having read the truth this story conveys.

[Abbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to re-read this after finally seeing the movie and thinking I'd misremembered a lot.

I did not.

The movie appears to have been closer to "loosely inspired by" this story -- at least in all of the aspects that made this story memorable to me, personally.

This story is great and I'm glad I re-read it!

[⠄･ ⋆ ･ ⠄lu ⠂⋆ ･ ⠄⋆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leí la traducción de mi amiguísimo santi, podrán? No 💋💋💋
10/10 😘🤌🏻

[Jai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought provoking. I saw the movie before reading the short story so I think it colors my view of the story: I liked it but wanted more. I think they work better side by side.

[readsbylamisa]

I’m wondering why they changed Gary to Ian in the movie 🤔

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

works way better than the movie tbh,, plus no jeremy renner

[Ray LaManna · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting mix of science fiction and some deep philosophical thinking about the nature of time.

[Aditya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will have to reread this many times to fully understand it but wow this was insane

[Niladri · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting exercise into what it would realistically be like to decipher an alien language, although the story and narration feels kind of weak. If you love linguistics or language learning, with a dose of existentialism, give it a shot.

[Luis Enrico Nicolas · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Despite knowing the journey and where it leads, I embrace it and welcome every moment of it.” I didn’t know this story would hit me the way it did. I picked it up curious about the sci-fi, but I left changed. I wasn’t expecting to feel this much from a story about language and time. At the surface, it's about a linguist trying to communicate with an alien species. But at its core, it’s about perception—how the way we understand language and time can transform how we live. It's not just about aliens. It's about being human. What struck me is how quiet and profound the story is. Ted Chiang doesn’t write to impress—he writes to reveal. The way he uses language as a tool for reshaping reality? That blew my mind. It’s poetic, scientific, and emotional, all at once.

[Jaden Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible story that is slightly different but just as good as the movie Arrival, for which it was the source material. I prefer the portrayal + explanation of Louise’s changing worldview and abilities in the book compared to the movie. I am a sucker for a good book about time, and this does not disappoint. I think I enjoyed the movie’s portrayal of her interaction and relationship with the heptapods better, and the visual + sound experience of them in the movie is so incredible.
I recommend reading this 10000%. I am going to read some other stories in the collection now because I can’t believe this guy could write a story this delicate yet strange.

[Connor Hook · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfectly circular tale, and I love how ambiguity plays such a role, and the reader is left to devise a lot of things themselves.

Kind of thematically similar to Slaughter House 5, I suppose, and I wonder if that was a significant inspiration.

40 pages is an excellent length for this to be read in one 90 minute chunk.

The first time I read this was immediately after watching the Sci Fi movie, which somewhat biased me. I enjoyed it much more as a standalone short story read years later, my perception wasn't so colored.

[Manoshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*

I didn’t know that this short story inspired one of my favorite films of all time. I definitely need to reread this in the future knowing all of the information that I know now and I feel like it will take a few rereads to fully understand the complexities of language learning that is explored within the story. I loved it as much as the film and I found the topic to be incredibly fascinating all around!

[Perla Delgado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hace mucho que no leía un cuento con una estructura circular empleada de una forma tan bonita y no recuerdo ninguno que juegue con la temporalidad de la manera en que Ted Chiang lo hace aquí.

Hace no mucho tiempo ví también la película y, aunque los cambios entre uno y otra son mínimos, me gusta muchísimo más el rumbo del cuento y lo detallado que es en cuanto a las cuestiones lingüísticas.

[Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Depressing and disturbing, but in a good way. I already knew how it would end since I saw the movie based on it, but I think this work was probably more disturbing to me personally than the movie. Rock climbing??? No, no, no!! And I loved it. Definitely a thought-provoking novella that makes you question time, language, and perspective.

[Aidan W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

yea v nice read! such a beautiful story; sweet and emotional and so much interesting science, linguistics, and concepts of free will and time subjectivity going on! Cozy, deep, cool.

However, I know it's a short(ish) story and all, but this all felt like the basis and foundations of something, rather than a novella!

Controversially, I saw the movie a long time ago and it blew me away - to the point I wanted to read this 8 years later! But it all fell a bit flat - maybe it was the China etc. plot point the movie added.

[Abbey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tears were shed

[katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

tbh i think i was too sleepy and/or too dumb when i read this to understand everything that happened 😭 but i did enjoy what i understood LOLLL and im sure it'll be even better on a reread!

[Eva B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfection

[Breeze · Rating 4 out of 5]

My heart 💔

[Ruth Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talking with the aliens is giving Project Hail Mary

[Asia Wade · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for a class but if I had known that Arrival was originally a book I would’ve read it anyway. This is my favorite short story I have ever read. The movie is top 5 movies of all time for me but the story is even better. I cannot recommend this highly enough.

[David Moralishvili · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very fascinating read. I like how the story tackled the concept of knowing one's future. Just because you know what will happen, doesn't make the lead up or experiences any less meaningful.

[Evan Raefield · Rating 2 out of 5]

plot held up by simple gimmicky mechanic, dialogue is just a series of explanations with marvel level witty commentary sorry guys

[Jessica Liu · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author uses a lot of semicolons.

[bianca · Rating 4 out of 5]

different from the movie, but the message behind it still stands strong

[Samvit Nangali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goddamn so good.
Love this better than Arrival tbh.
Love the fact that Louise characterizes her actions not as free will but rather an urgency to “perform” what she already knows she will do or say. It’s a big act on stage for her after immersing herself in Heptopod B.
Incredibly moving and I had chills.

[Matt Millado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soo sick I love this story