Exhalation

I don't usually read short stories but this one was recommended to me. Maybe I had too high expectations? Anyway, I enjoyed the first stories "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate", "Exhalation" and the "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" and "Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny". But I had a hard time engaging with all the other stories. I didn't find the ideas that interesting and for the most part, I didn't care at all about the characters/narrator of the story. Most of the stories were disturbingly weird to me. I was a little bit disappointed overall.

Ted Chiang is an incredible storyteller. I only read two of these stories (the ones nominated for Hugo, "Omphalos" & "Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom," so I still get more from this one. For now, though, I loved "Anxiety" so much. I love the concept of the prisms, especially their limitations and the resulting economy. Chiang created a very strange world, quite haunting, haunted by need and greed. I loved the story.