Play Book Tag discussion

I finished this book and got a review posted by the skin of my teeth! :oD

This is a book jam-packed with amazing concepts!

Chiang's intelligence drips off each page. Some of the stories were fours stars for me because they contained fantastic characterisations and plots. However, a couple of these eight stories were just far too boring.

But I highly recommend this book to any Sci-Fi lovers and those who might be curious about the 2016 film, Arrival, which the title story, Stories Of Your Life, was based upon. I tried watching the film after finishing the story but gave up because it had turned such a beautiful story into such a dreary portrayal; the aliens were seen as massive enemies and even though I gave up the film with 30 minutes to go, it looked like the semiotic language was something Louise was infected with, rather than something she learned that gave her a new way of thinking. The story was much more inspirational and interesting than the film.

There are also stories in this collection that give fascinating background concepts to fertility, beauty, AI and intelligence as we know them - mostly based around humans creating drugs etc. that interfere with nature. I think this is an important lesson for our time - do we not have enough proof from the Pandemic that we have to change the way we treat nature and work with it rather than squeeze out all its goodness for our selfish uses?

There is also an interesting story about Golems, which I find fascinating after reading The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker. However, this short story isn't as entertaining and deals mostly with the concept of religion versus science.

The short story about using technology to turn off the part of the brain that recognises beauty is also worth reading because of its comments on society's now unrealistic portrayal of Insta-beauty.

Overall, I gave it four stars because of its brilliant ideas. It's definitely worth a read.