-
Stories of Your Life and Others
- Narrated by: Abby Craden, Todd McLaren
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $17.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Exhalation
- Stories
- By: Ted Chiang
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Dominic Hoffman, Amy Landon, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tackling some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine, these stories will change the way you think, feel, and see the world. They are Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic, revelatory. Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine.
-
-
Masterful and singular
- By R on 05-15-19
By: Ted Chiang
-
Everything That Rises Must Converge
- By: Flannery O’Connor
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot, Karen White, Mark Bramhall, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This collection of nine short stories by Flannery O'Connor was published posthumously in 1965. The flawed characters of each story are fully revealed in apocalyptic moments of conflict and violence that are presented with comic detachment.
-
-
Pride goeth before the fall
- By Ryan on 08-14-13
-
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
- By: Ken Liu
- Narrated by: Corey Brill, Joy Osmanski
- Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With his debut novel, The Grace of Kings, taking the literary world by storm, Ken Liu now shares his finest short fiction in The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. This mesmerizing collection features all of Ken's award-winning and award-finalist stories.
-
-
Fantastic collection, great stories!
- By Renee Tang on 05-17-18
By: Ken Liu
-
Nightfall and Other Stories
- By: Isaac Asimov
- Narrated by: Jon Lindstrom
- Length: 15 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A collection of 20 classic short stories by Isaac Asimov, author of the Foundation series, featuring the definitive and only in-print version of “Nightfall”.
-
-
Happily surprised
- By Marcell Alzate on 08-22-21
By: Isaac Asimov
-
Ball Lightning
- By: Cixin Liu, Joel Martinsen - translator
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Chen’s parents are incinerated before his eyes by a blast of ball lightning, he devotes his life to cracking the secret of the mysterious natural phenomenon. His search takes him to stormy mountaintops, an experimental military weapons lab, and an old Soviet science station. The more he learns, the more he comes to realize that ball lightning is just the tip of a new frontier in particle physics. Although Chen’s quest provides a purpose for his life, his reasons for chasing his elusive quarry come into conflict with soldiers and scientists who have motives of their own.
-
-
if you loved the three body problem . a must
- By Boaz on 10-19-18
By: Cixin Liu, and others
-
The Hidden Girl and Other Stories
- By: Ken Liu
- Narrated by: Ramón de Ocampo, Cindy Kay, Michael Kramer, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From stories about time-traveling assassins, to Black Mirror-esque tales of cryptocurrency and internet trolling, to heartbreaking narratives of parent-child relationships, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories is a far-reaching work that explores topical themes from the present and a visionary look at humanity’s future. This collection includes a selection of Ken Liu’s speculative-fiction stories over the past five years - 17 of his best - plus a new novelette.
-
-
Best portrayal of mind-uploading I've ever read
- By Dante K. on 06-14-20
By: Ken Liu
-
Exhalation
- Stories
- By: Ted Chiang
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Dominic Hoffman, Amy Landon, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tackling some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine, these stories will change the way you think, feel, and see the world. They are Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic, revelatory. Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine.
-
-
Masterful and singular
- By R on 05-15-19
By: Ted Chiang
-
Everything That Rises Must Converge
- By: Flannery O’Connor
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot, Karen White, Mark Bramhall, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This collection of nine short stories by Flannery O'Connor was published posthumously in 1965. The flawed characters of each story are fully revealed in apocalyptic moments of conflict and violence that are presented with comic detachment.
-
-
Pride goeth before the fall
- By Ryan on 08-14-13
-
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
- By: Ken Liu
- Narrated by: Corey Brill, Joy Osmanski
- Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With his debut novel, The Grace of Kings, taking the literary world by storm, Ken Liu now shares his finest short fiction in The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. This mesmerizing collection features all of Ken's award-winning and award-finalist stories.
-
-
Fantastic collection, great stories!
- By Renee Tang on 05-17-18
By: Ken Liu
-
Nightfall and Other Stories
- By: Isaac Asimov
- Narrated by: Jon Lindstrom
- Length: 15 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A collection of 20 classic short stories by Isaac Asimov, author of the Foundation series, featuring the definitive and only in-print version of “Nightfall”.
-
-
Happily surprised
- By Marcell Alzate on 08-22-21
By: Isaac Asimov
-
Ball Lightning
- By: Cixin Liu, Joel Martinsen - translator
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Chen’s parents are incinerated before his eyes by a blast of ball lightning, he devotes his life to cracking the secret of the mysterious natural phenomenon. His search takes him to stormy mountaintops, an experimental military weapons lab, and an old Soviet science station. The more he learns, the more he comes to realize that ball lightning is just the tip of a new frontier in particle physics. Although Chen’s quest provides a purpose for his life, his reasons for chasing his elusive quarry come into conflict with soldiers and scientists who have motives of their own.
-
-
if you loved the three body problem . a must
- By Boaz on 10-19-18
By: Cixin Liu, and others
-
The Hidden Girl and Other Stories
- By: Ken Liu
- Narrated by: Ramón de Ocampo, Cindy Kay, Michael Kramer, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From stories about time-traveling assassins, to Black Mirror-esque tales of cryptocurrency and internet trolling, to heartbreaking narratives of parent-child relationships, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories is a far-reaching work that explores topical themes from the present and a visionary look at humanity’s future. This collection includes a selection of Ken Liu’s speculative-fiction stories over the past five years - 17 of his best - plus a new novelette.
-
-
Best portrayal of mind-uploading I've ever read
- By Dante K. on 06-14-20
By: Ken Liu
-
Blade Runner
- Originally published as Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
- By: Philip K. Dick
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was January 2021, and Rick Deckard had a license to kill. Somewhere among the hordes of humans out there lurked several rogue androids. Deckard's assignment: find them and then..."retire" them. Trouble was, the androids all looked exactly like humans, and they didn't want to be found!
-
-
This is the original Do Androids Dream of Electric
- By D. ABIGT on 08-29-10
By: Philip K. Dick
-
Solaris
- The Definitive Edition
- By: Stanislaw Lem, Bill Johnston - translator
- Narrated by: Alessandro Juliani
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At last, one of the world’s greatest works of science fiction is available - just as author Stanislaw Lem intended it. To mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of Solaris, Audible, in cooperation with the Lem Estate, has commissioned a brand-new translation - complete for the first time, and the first ever directly from the original Polish to English. Beautifully narrated by Alessandro Juliani ( Battlestar Galactica), Lem’s provocative novel comes alive for a new generation.
-
-
A comment on negative reviews
- By Burns on 09-20-11
By: Stanislaw Lem, and others
-
Spin
- By: Robert Charles Wilson
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One night when he was 10, Tyler stood in his backyard and watched the stars go out. They flared into brilliance, then disappeared, replaced by an empty black barrier. He and his best friends, Jason and Diane Lawton, had seen what became known as the Big Blackout. It would shape their lives.
-
-
Great Listen!
- By pems-integ-tests on 03-28-08
-
Project Hail Mary
- By: Andy Weir
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
-
-
Bazinga
- By Davidgonzalezsr on 05-04-21
By: Andy Weir
-
Bloodchild and Other Stories
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Malik Rashad, Allyson Johnson, Bahni Turpin
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A perfect introduction for new listeners and a must-have for avid fans, this New York Times Notable Book includes "Bloodchild," winner of both the Hugo and the Nebula awards and "Speech Sounds," winner of the Hugo Award. Appearing in audio for the first time, "Amnesty" is a story of a woman named Noah who works to negotiate the tense and co-dependent relationship between humans and a species of invaders. Also new to this collection is "The Book of Martha" which asks: What would you do if God granted you the ability—and responsibility—to save humanity from itself?
-
-
Intriguing. If you enjoy dystopias, fantasy, science fiction read this book!
- By Marilyn on 02-22-24
-
Children of Time
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Mel Hudson
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed stand-alone novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden.
-
-
A very pleasant surprise
- By Simon on 06-17-17
-
Determined
- A Science of Life Without Free Will
- By: Robert M. Sapolsky
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Robert Sapolsky’s Behave, his now classic account of why humans do good and why they do bad, pointed toward an unsettling conclusion: We may not grasp the precise marriage of nature and nurture that creates the physics and chemistry at the base of human behavior, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Now, in Determined, Sapolsky takes his argument all the way, mounting a brilliant (and in his inimitable way, delightful) full-frontal assault on the pleasant fantasy that there is some separate self telling our biology what to do.
-
-
Abridged - no Appendix!
- By Amazon Customer on 11-02-23
-
Transmission: A Science Fiction Thriller
- The Invasion Chronicles, Book 1
- By: Morgan Rice
- Narrated by: Wayne Farrell
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From number-one worldwide best-selling fantasy author Morgan Rice comes a long-anticipated science-fiction series debut. When SETI finally receives a signal from an alien civilization, what will happen next? A 13-year-old boy, dying of a rare brain disease, is the only one able to hear and decode signals from outer space. SETI confirms it is a real signal. What is the message? How will the world react? And most of all: are the aliens coming?
-
-
Buckle Up !
- By Kindle Customer on 10-02-20
By: Morgan Rice
-
Childhood's End
- By: Arthur C. Clarke
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer, Robert J. Sawyer - introduction
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Overlords appeared suddenly over every city - intellectually, technologically, and militarily superior to humankind. Benevolent, they made few demands: unify earth, eliminate poverty, and end war. With little rebellion, humankind agreed, and a golden age began.
-
-
Food for Thought
- By Kindle Customer on 11-17-08
By: Arthur C. Clarke
-
The Collected Works of Philip K. Dick: 11 Science Fiction Stories
- By: Philip K. Dick
- Narrated by: Kevin Killavey
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Collected Works of Philip K. Dick is a collection of 11 science fiction stories by Philip K. Dick.
-
-
Good Stories...well read.
- By cindilla on 12-18-12
By: Philip K. Dick
-
Slaughterhouse-Five
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: James Franco
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Traumatized by the bombing of Dresden at the time he had been imprisoned, Pilgrim drifts through all events and history, sometimes deeply implicated, sometimes a witness. He is surrounded by Vonnegut's usual large cast of continuing characters (notably here the hack science fiction writer Kilgore Trout and the alien Tralfamadorians, who oversee his life and remind him constantly that there is no causation, no order, no motive to existence).
-
-
Don't Quit Your Daytime Job, James
- By Keith on 11-20-15
By: Kurt Vonnegut
-
Rendezvous with Rama
- By: Arthur C. Clarke
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim, Robert J. Sawyer - introduction
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence.
-
-
Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto
- By Fredrik Pettersen on 08-03-09
By: Arthur C. Clarke
Publisher's summary
This new edition of Ted Chiang's masterful first collection, Stories of Your Life and Others, includes his first eight published stories. Combining the precision and scientific curiosity of Kim Stanley Robinson with Lorrie Moore's cool, clear love of language and narrative intricacy, this award-winning collection offers listeners the dual delights of the very, very strange and the heartbreakingly familiar.
Stories of Your Life and Others presents characters who must confront sudden change-the inevitable rise of automatons or the appearance of aliens-while striving to maintain some sense of normalcy. In the amazing and much-lauded title story (the basis for the 2016 movie Arrival), a grieving mother copes with divorce and the death of her daughter by drawing on her knowledge of alien languages and non-linear memory recollection. A clever pastiche of news reports and interviews chronicles a college's initiative to "turn off" the human ability to recognize beauty in "Liking What You See: A Documentary." With sharp intelligence and humor, Chiang examines what it means to be alive in a world marked by uncertainty and constant change, and also by beauty and wonder.
Critic reviews
Featured Article: The Best Sci-Fi Book-to-Film/TV Adaptations
Beyond raising fascinating possibilities, the best works of science fiction ask big questions: What does it mean to be human? What will the future look like? What mysteries does the universe hold, and what do they mean for life on Earth? Whether you choose to escape via audiobook, movie, or television, these science fiction stories are truly out of this world—in all their incarnations.
Editor's Pick
Easily the most compelling set of short stories ever
"Containing the inspiration for the movie Arrival, Stories of Your Life and Others is a sublime collection that puts Ted Chiang’s virtuosic implementation of science front and center. More than that, each story is mathematical in its approach and structure, but the content somehow always transcends the human experience to ask profound questions about existence, emotion, and desire. The end result will leave you astounded that one writer could so precisely pinpoint the algorithms of sensation."
—Michael D., Audible Editor
More from the same
Related to this topic
-
The Soul of the Matter
- A Novel
- By: Bruce Buff
- Narrated by: Scott Aiello
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A scientist's claim that he's found the secrets of the universe's origin encoded in DNA sparks a race against time to uncover the truth in this fast-paced thriller of science and faith, power and murder, loss and redemption.
-
-
good unique story. Narrator was not great
- By Demetri on 09-25-16
By: Bruce Buff
-
Factoring Humanity
- By: Robert J. Sawyer
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the near future, a signal is detected coming from the Alpha Centauri system. Mysterious, unintelligible data streams in for ten years. Heather Davis, a professor in the University of Toronto psychology department, has devoted her career to deciphering the message. Her estranged husband, Kyle, is working on the development of artificial intelligence systems and new computer technology utilizing quantum effects to produce a near-infinite number of calculations simultaneously.
-
-
Novel alien first contact
- By Michael G Kurilla on 05-28-12
By: Robert J. Sawyer
-
A Stitch of Time
- The Year a Brain Injury Changed My Language and Life
- By: Lauren Marks
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lauren Marks was 27 when an aneurysm ruptured in her brain and left her fighting for her life. She woke up in a hospital soon after with serious deficiencies to her reading, speaking, and writing abilities, and an unfamiliar diagnosis: aphasia. This would be shocking news for anyone, but Lauren was a voracious reader, an actress, director, dramaturg, and pursuing her PhD. At any other period of her life, this diagnosis would have been a devastating blow. But she woke up...different.
-
-
Absolutely wonderful book
- By SJMT on 01-27-19
By: Lauren Marks
-
The Ghost in My Brain
- How a Concussion Stole My Life and How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Helped Me Get It Back
- By: Clark Elliott Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1999, Clark Elliott suffered a concussion when his car was rear-ended. Overnight his life changed from that of a rising professor with a research career in artificial intelligence to a humbled man struggling to get through a single day. At times he couldn't walk across a room, or even name his five children. Doctors told him he would never fully recover. After eight years, the cognitive demands of his job, and of being a single parent, finally became more than he could manage.
-
-
Mostly Tedious With Moments of Insight
- By Brent on 01-17-16
-
In the Light of What We Know
- By: Zia Haider Rahman
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 21 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One September morning in 2008, an investment banker approaching forty, his career in collapse and his marriage unraveling, receives a surprise visitor at his West London townhouse. In the disheveled figure of a South Asian male carrying a backpack the banker recognizes a long-lost friend, a mathematics prodigy who disappeared years earlier under mysterious circumstances. The friend has resurfaced to make a confession of unsettling power.
-
-
dreadful
- By sam on 06-05-15
-
A Question of Will
- Aliomenti Saga, Book 1
- By: Alex Albrinck
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Will Stark is a self-made multibillionaire, happily married, and a proud father. He arrives home to find his house destroyed and his family murdered and is himself rescued from certain death by a mysterious trio. His rescuers are part of a splinter faction of a centuries-old secret society that has developed incredible technological advances and unlocked the method to release humanity's innate potential. Will was mistakenly believed to be a key dissident and fugitive, on the run from the primary group, known as the Aliomenti.
-
-
WOW! What a great creative story!
- By Allen Anthony on 06-18-16
By: Alex Albrinck
-
The Soul of the Matter
- A Novel
- By: Bruce Buff
- Narrated by: Scott Aiello
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A scientist's claim that he's found the secrets of the universe's origin encoded in DNA sparks a race against time to uncover the truth in this fast-paced thriller of science and faith, power and murder, loss and redemption.
-
-
good unique story. Narrator was not great
- By Demetri on 09-25-16
By: Bruce Buff
-
Factoring Humanity
- By: Robert J. Sawyer
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the near future, a signal is detected coming from the Alpha Centauri system. Mysterious, unintelligible data streams in for ten years. Heather Davis, a professor in the University of Toronto psychology department, has devoted her career to deciphering the message. Her estranged husband, Kyle, is working on the development of artificial intelligence systems and new computer technology utilizing quantum effects to produce a near-infinite number of calculations simultaneously.
-
-
Novel alien first contact
- By Michael G Kurilla on 05-28-12
By: Robert J. Sawyer
-
A Stitch of Time
- The Year a Brain Injury Changed My Language and Life
- By: Lauren Marks
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lauren Marks was 27 when an aneurysm ruptured in her brain and left her fighting for her life. She woke up in a hospital soon after with serious deficiencies to her reading, speaking, and writing abilities, and an unfamiliar diagnosis: aphasia. This would be shocking news for anyone, but Lauren was a voracious reader, an actress, director, dramaturg, and pursuing her PhD. At any other period of her life, this diagnosis would have been a devastating blow. But she woke up...different.
-
-
Absolutely wonderful book
- By SJMT on 01-27-19
By: Lauren Marks
-
The Ghost in My Brain
- How a Concussion Stole My Life and How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Helped Me Get It Back
- By: Clark Elliott Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1999, Clark Elliott suffered a concussion when his car was rear-ended. Overnight his life changed from that of a rising professor with a research career in artificial intelligence to a humbled man struggling to get through a single day. At times he couldn't walk across a room, or even name his five children. Doctors told him he would never fully recover. After eight years, the cognitive demands of his job, and of being a single parent, finally became more than he could manage.
-
-
Mostly Tedious With Moments of Insight
- By Brent on 01-17-16
-
In the Light of What We Know
- By: Zia Haider Rahman
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 21 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One September morning in 2008, an investment banker approaching forty, his career in collapse and his marriage unraveling, receives a surprise visitor at his West London townhouse. In the disheveled figure of a South Asian male carrying a backpack the banker recognizes a long-lost friend, a mathematics prodigy who disappeared years earlier under mysterious circumstances. The friend has resurfaced to make a confession of unsettling power.
-
-
dreadful
- By sam on 06-05-15
-
A Question of Will
- Aliomenti Saga, Book 1
- By: Alex Albrinck
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Will Stark is a self-made multibillionaire, happily married, and a proud father. He arrives home to find his house destroyed and his family murdered and is himself rescued from certain death by a mysterious trio. His rescuers are part of a splinter faction of a centuries-old secret society that has developed incredible technological advances and unlocked the method to release humanity's innate potential. Will was mistakenly believed to be a key dissident and fugitive, on the run from the primary group, known as the Aliomenti.
-
-
WOW! What a great creative story!
- By Allen Anthony on 06-18-16
By: Alex Albrinck
-
Infinity Born
- By: Douglas E. Richards
- Narrated by: Corey Gagne
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When DARPA's billion-dollar program to create artificial superintelligence is sabotaged, US operative Cameron Carr is tasked with finding the culprit. He's been on high-stakes missions before, but this time the stakes are nothing less than the future of humanity. Because the race to evolve a superintelligent computer is on, and power players around the world will stop at nothing to get there first.
-
-
Excellent ScoFi Mystery Thriller...
- By shelley on 08-14-17
-
The Coincidence Makers
- A Novel
- By: Yoav Blum
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What if the drink you just spilled, the train you just missed, or the lottery ticket you just found was not just a random occurrence? What if it's all part of a bigger plan? What if there's no such thing as a chance encounter? What if there are people we don't know determining our destiny? And what if they are even planning the fate of the world? Enter the Coincidence Makers - Guy, Emily, and Eric - three seemingly ordinary people who work for a secret organization devoted to creating and carrying out coincidences. What the rest of the world sees as random occurrences, are, in fact, carefully orchestrated events.
-
-
Amazing!
- By Gal Wolff on 07-31-18
By: Yoav Blum
-
Stand on Zanzibar
- By: John Brunner, Bruce Sterling - foreword
- Narrated by: Erik Bergmann
- Length: 21 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Niblock House is a rising executive at General Technics, one of a few all-powerful corporations. His work is leading General Technics to the forefront of global domination, both in the marketplace and politically - it's about to take over a country in Africa. Donald Hogan is his roommate, a seemingly sheepish bookworm. But Hogan is a spy, and he's about to discover a breakthrough in genetic engineering that will change the world...and kill him. Society is squeezed into hive-living madness by god-like mega computers and mass-marketed psychedelic drugs.
-
-
perfect audio experience
- By Darryl on 03-24-14
By: John Brunner, and others
-
Zendegi
- By: Greg Egan
- Narrated by: Parisa Johnston
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As tragedy strikes his multicultural family, Martin struggles to maintain his place in his adapted culture, and to provide for his child. Zendigi explores what it means to be human, and the lengths one will go to in order to provide for ones children. This emotional roller coaster explores a non-Western-European near future that both challenges ideas of global monoculture and emphasizes the humanity we all share.
-
-
realistic, human, but uneventful
- By ptb33 on 06-28-18
By: Greg Egan
-
The Fire Seekers
- The Babel Trilogy, Book 1
- By: Richard Farr
- Narrated by: Scott Merriman
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An undeciphered language in Crete. A rash of mysterious disappearances, from Bolivia to Japan. An ancient warning at the ruins of Babel. And a new spiritual leader, who claims that human history as we understand it is about to come to an end.
-
-
A fresh story!
- By AB on 02-08-15
By: Richard Farr
-
The Hercules Text
- By: Jack McDevitt
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a remote corner of the galaxy, a message is being sent. The continuous beats of a pulsar have become odd, irregular, and artificial. It can only be a code. Frantically, a research team struggles to decipher the alien communication. And what the scientists discover is destined to shake the foundations of empires around this world - from Wall Street to the Vatican.
-
-
Lots to recommend here!
- By Matthew on 10-19-18
By: Jack McDevitt
-
Scythe
- By: Neal Shusterman
- Narrated by: Greg Tremblay
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: Humanity has conquered all those things and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life - and they are commanded to do so in order to keep the size of the population under control. Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe - a role that neither wants. These teens must master the "art" of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.
-
-
Teenage Thumbs up
- By Lila Reading on 04-01-17
By: Neal Shusterman
-
Game Changer
- By: Douglas E. Richards
- Narrated by: Joe Hempel
- Length: 14 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What if it were possible to upload years of knowledge into your mind in hours? To become an expert in multiple scientific fields, become an MD, or learn several languages - in a single day? The benefit to humanity would be immense. But so would the danger.... Rachel Howard is a brilliant neuroscientist trying to make this capability a reality. But when she crosses paths with Kevin Quinn, a Secret Service agent desperately trying to kill the president, she finds herself at the epicenter of an insidious plot.
-
-
Richards fills the seat of the late great Crichton
- By Brian on 09-22-16
-
The Unincorporated Man
- By: Dani Kollin, Eytan Kollin
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 23 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Unincorporated Man is a provocative social/political/economic novel that takes place in the future, after civilization has fallen into complete economic collapse. This reborn civilization is one in which every individual is incorporated at birth and spends many years trying to attain control over his or her own life by getting a majority of his or her own shares. Life extension has made life very long indeed.
-
-
Hmm
- By CB on 06-15-09
By: Dani Kollin, and others
-
Schuyler's Monster
- A Father's Journey with His Wordless Daughter
- By: Robert Rummel-Hudson
- Narrated by: Johnathan McClain
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Schuyler Rummel-Hudson was 18 months old, a question about her lack of speech by her pediatrician set in motion a journey that continues today. When she was diagnosed with bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria (an extremely rare neurological disorder), her parents were given a name for the monster that had been stalking them from doctor to doctor, and from despair to hope, and back again.
-
-
Must-read for medical parents & those who ❤them
- By Kelly A. Wolske on 05-23-18
-
Quarantine
- By: Greg Egan
- Narrated by: Adam Epstein
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2034, the stars went out. An unknown agency surrounded the solar system with an impenetrable barrier, concealing the universe from humanity’s gaze. In 2067, Nick Stavrianos is hired to investigate the disappearance of a mentally disabled woman, Laura Andrews, from the institution where she was being cared for. Aided by a skull full of neural modifications, he follows her trail to the Republic of New Hong Kong, where an organization known as the Ensemble has uncovered Laura’s extraordinary secret: An ability that could transform the world.
-
-
Fantastic Story Let Down by Narration
- By Michael Oberhardt on 12-09-13
By: Greg Egan
-
WWW: Wake
- By: Robert J. Sawyer
- Narrated by: Jessica Almasy, Jennifer Van Dyck, A. C. Fellner, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Caitlin Decter is young, pretty, feisty, a genius at math - and blind. Still, she can surf the net with the best of them, following its complex paths clearly in her mind. But Caitlin's brain long ago co-opted her primary visual cortex to help her navigate online. So when she receives an implant to restore her sight, instead of seeing reality, the landscape of the World Wide Web explodes into her consciousness, spreading out all around her in a riot of colors and shapes.
-
-
A Great, if Incomplete, Concept
- By Seth H. Wilson on 04-14-09
By: Robert J. Sawyer
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Exhalation
- Stories
- By: Ted Chiang
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Dominic Hoffman, Amy Landon, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tackling some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine, these stories will change the way you think, feel, and see the world. They are Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic, revelatory. Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine.
-
-
Masterful and singular
- By R on 05-15-19
By: Ted Chiang
-
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
- By: Ken Liu
- Narrated by: Corey Brill, Joy Osmanski
- Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With his debut novel, The Grace of Kings, taking the literary world by storm, Ken Liu now shares his finest short fiction in The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. This mesmerizing collection features all of Ken's award-winning and award-finalist stories.
-
-
Fantastic collection, great stories!
- By Renee Tang on 05-17-18
By: Ken Liu
-
Transmission: A Science Fiction Thriller
- The Invasion Chronicles, Book 1
- By: Morgan Rice
- Narrated by: Wayne Farrell
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From number-one worldwide best-selling fantasy author Morgan Rice comes a long-anticipated science-fiction series debut. When SETI finally receives a signal from an alien civilization, what will happen next? A 13-year-old boy, dying of a rare brain disease, is the only one able to hear and decode signals from outer space. SETI confirms it is a real signal. What is the message? How will the world react? And most of all: are the aliens coming?
-
-
Buckle Up !
- By Kindle Customer on 10-02-20
By: Morgan Rice
-
Echopraxia
- By: Peter Watts
- Narrated by: Adam J Rough
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's the eve of the 22nd century: a world where the dearly departed send postcards back from Heaven and evangelicals make scientific breakthroughs by speaking in tongues; where genetically engineered vampires solve problems intractable to baseline humans. And it's all under surveillance by an alien presence. Daniel Bruks is a field biologist in a world where biology has turned computational.
-
-
A Must Read
- By Taylor Lewis on 12-21-15
By: Peter Watts
-
Everything That Rises Must Converge
- By: Flannery O’Connor
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot, Karen White, Mark Bramhall, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This collection of nine short stories by Flannery O'Connor was published posthumously in 1965. The flawed characters of each story are fully revealed in apocalyptic moments of conflict and violence that are presented with comic detachment.
-
-
Pride goeth before the fall
- By Ryan on 08-14-13
-
The Past Is Red
- By: Catherynne M. Valente
- Narrated by: Penelope Rawlins
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The future is blue - endless blue...except for a few small places that float across the hot, drowned world left behind by long-gone fossil fuel-guzzlers. One of those patches is a magical place called Garbagetown. Tetley Abednego is the most beloved girl in Garbagetown, but she’s the only one who knows it. She’s the only one who knows a lot of things: that Garbagetown is the most wonderful place in the world, that it’s full of hope, that you can love someone and 66% hate them all at the same time.
-
-
The most perfectly perfect book a F**kwit could ever want.
- By Steve Groves on 02-10-22
-
Exhalation
- Stories
- By: Ted Chiang
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Dominic Hoffman, Amy Landon, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tackling some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine, these stories will change the way you think, feel, and see the world. They are Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic, revelatory. Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine.
-
-
Masterful and singular
- By R on 05-15-19
By: Ted Chiang
-
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
- By: Ken Liu
- Narrated by: Corey Brill, Joy Osmanski
- Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With his debut novel, The Grace of Kings, taking the literary world by storm, Ken Liu now shares his finest short fiction in The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. This mesmerizing collection features all of Ken's award-winning and award-finalist stories.
-
-
Fantastic collection, great stories!
- By Renee Tang on 05-17-18
By: Ken Liu
-
Transmission: A Science Fiction Thriller
- The Invasion Chronicles, Book 1
- By: Morgan Rice
- Narrated by: Wayne Farrell
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From number-one worldwide best-selling fantasy author Morgan Rice comes a long-anticipated science-fiction series debut. When SETI finally receives a signal from an alien civilization, what will happen next? A 13-year-old boy, dying of a rare brain disease, is the only one able to hear and decode signals from outer space. SETI confirms it is a real signal. What is the message? How will the world react? And most of all: are the aliens coming?
-
-
Buckle Up !
- By Kindle Customer on 10-02-20
By: Morgan Rice
-
Echopraxia
- By: Peter Watts
- Narrated by: Adam J Rough
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's the eve of the 22nd century: a world where the dearly departed send postcards back from Heaven and evangelicals make scientific breakthroughs by speaking in tongues; where genetically engineered vampires solve problems intractable to baseline humans. And it's all under surveillance by an alien presence. Daniel Bruks is a field biologist in a world where biology has turned computational.
-
-
A Must Read
- By Taylor Lewis on 12-21-15
By: Peter Watts
-
Everything That Rises Must Converge
- By: Flannery O’Connor
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot, Karen White, Mark Bramhall, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This collection of nine short stories by Flannery O'Connor was published posthumously in 1965. The flawed characters of each story are fully revealed in apocalyptic moments of conflict and violence that are presented with comic detachment.
-
-
Pride goeth before the fall
- By Ryan on 08-14-13
-
The Past Is Red
- By: Catherynne M. Valente
- Narrated by: Penelope Rawlins
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The future is blue - endless blue...except for a few small places that float across the hot, drowned world left behind by long-gone fossil fuel-guzzlers. One of those patches is a magical place called Garbagetown. Tetley Abednego is the most beloved girl in Garbagetown, but she’s the only one who knows it. She’s the only one who knows a lot of things: that Garbagetown is the most wonderful place in the world, that it’s full of hope, that you can love someone and 66% hate them all at the same time.
-
-
The most perfectly perfect book a F**kwit could ever want.
- By Steve Groves on 02-10-22
-
The Breakers Omnibus
- Books 1-3 and Prequel Novella
- By: Edward W. Robertson
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 42 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Books 1-3 and the prequel novella of the Breakers series.
-
-
So glad I downloaded this one.
- By Stevie Havoc on 11-16-15
-
The Complete Short Stories
- By: Saki
- Narrated by: Rupert Degas
- Length: 22 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
H.H. Munro (Saki) is one of the undisputed masters of the short story. In this complete compendium, the full gamut of his subjects and themes is experienced. His stories are imbued with humorous satire, biting irony, and often the macabre, all of which have one target: the stupidities and hypocrisies of Edwardian upper-class society.
-
-
Condensed Wilde
- By John on 11-17-22
By: Saki
-
Until the End of the World
- By: Sarah Lyons Fleming
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cassie Forrest isn't surprised to learn that the day she’s decided to get her life together is also the day the world ends. After all, she’s been on a self-imposed losing streak since her survivalist parents died: she’s stopped painting, broken off her engagement to Adrian and dated a real jerk. Rectifying her mistakes has to wait, however, because Cassie and her friends have just enough time to escape Brooklyn for her parents’ cabin before Bornavirus LX turns them into zombies, too.
-
-
a feel good zombie apocylapse
- By Mike Naka on 02-23-14
-
Expanded Universe, Vol. 1
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Robert A. Heinlein has been hailed as one of the most forward-thinking science fiction writers of all time, and Expanded Universe (presented in two volumes) offers the perfect collection of his works to provide listeners with true insights into his uniquely creative mind.
-
-
Old friends spoiled by poor narration
- By Gary on 06-07-21
-
Zodiac
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Ax Norman
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sangamon Taylor's a New Age Sam Spade who sports a wet suit instead of a trench coat and prefers Jolt from the can to Scotch on the rocks. He knows about chemical sludge the way he knows about evil - all too intimately. And the toxic trail he follows leads to some high and foul places. Before long, Taylor's house is bombed, his every move followed, he's adopted by reservation Indians, moves onto the FBI's most wanted list, makes up with his girlfriend, and plays a starring role in the near-assassination of a presidential candidate.
-
-
kinda meh
- By L P SCHUTT JR on 05-14-20
By: Neal Stephenson
-
Lock In (Narrated by Wil Wheaton)
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Not too long from today, a new, highly contagious virus makes its way across the globe. Most who get sick experience nothing worse than flu, fever, and headaches. But for the unlucky one percent - and nearly five million souls in the United States alone - the disease causes "Lock In": Victims fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. The disease affects young, old, rich, poor, people of every color and creed. The world changes to meet the challenge.
-
-
Fun! Things you might want to know:
- By Alexis on 08-29-14
By: John Scalzi
-
Opening Moves
- The Gam3, Book 1
- By: Cosimo Yap
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Earth is changing. The alien invasion brought social upheaval, advanced technology, and an armada of peacekeeping robots. But Alan, a college student pursuing a now-useless degree, cares little about all of this. He has only one thing on his mind: the Game. A fully immersive virtual reality, the Game appears to be a major part of the invading civilization. Alan can't wait to play, recklessly diving into the digital universe. Soon though, Alan realizes the Game is anything but simple, and the stakes are higher than he ever imagined.
-
-
LitRPG with a real story
- By White Rabbit on 01-29-19
By: Cosimo Yap
-
The Hidden Girl and Other Stories
- By: Ken Liu
- Narrated by: Ramón de Ocampo, Cindy Kay, Michael Kramer, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From stories about time-traveling assassins, to Black Mirror-esque tales of cryptocurrency and internet trolling, to heartbreaking narratives of parent-child relationships, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories is a far-reaching work that explores topical themes from the present and a visionary look at humanity’s future. This collection includes a selection of Ken Liu’s speculative-fiction stories over the past five years - 17 of his best - plus a new novelette.
-
-
Best portrayal of mind-uploading I've ever read
- By Dante K. on 06-14-20
By: Ken Liu
-
Necronomicon
- By: H. P. Lovecraft
- Narrated by: Richard Powers, Bronson Pinchot, Stephen R. Thorne, and others
- Length: 21 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Originally written for the pulp magazines of the 1920s and '30s, H. P. Lovecraft's astonishing tales blend elements of horror, science fiction, and cosmic terror that are as powerful today as they were when first published. This tome brings together all of Lovecraft's harrowing stories, including the complete Cthulhu Mythos cycle, just the way they were when first released.
-
-
This has bugged me for a while...
- By mike on 06-23-16
By: H. P. Lovecraft
-
The Einstein Prophecy
- By: Robert Masello
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As war rages in 1944, young army lieutenant Lucas Athan recovers a sarcophagus excavated from an Egyptian tomb. Shipped to Princeton University for study, the box contains mysteries that only Lucas, aided by brilliant archaeologist Simone Rashid, can unlock. These mysteries may, in fact, defy - or fulfill - the dire prophecies of Albert Einstein himself.
-
-
Very good but you sort of want more...
- By Matthew on 09-13-15
By: Robert Masello
-
The Accidental Alchemist
- By: Gigi Pandian
- Narrated by: Julia Motyka
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Unpacking her belongings in her new hometown of Portland, Oregon, herbalist and reformed alchemist Zoe Faust can't help but notice she's picked up a stowaway. Dorian Robert-Houdin is a living, breathing three-and-half-foot gargoyle - not to mention a master of French cuisine - and he needs Zoe's expertise to decipher a centuries-old text. Zoe, who's trying to put her old life behind her, isn't so sure she wants to reopen her alchemical past... until the dead man on her porch leaves her no choice.
-
-
Brixton ruined this for me.
- By Meep on 02-05-17
By: Gigi Pandian
-
Level Five
- Killday, Book 1
- By: William Ledbetter
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Level Five, the debut near-future thriller by Nebula Award winner William Ledbetter, AIs battle for dominance, and nanotechnology is on the loose. And all that stands in the way of the coming apocalypse is a starry-eyed inventor who dreams of building a revolutionary new spacecraft and an intelligence agency desk jockey faced with the impossible choice of saving her daughter - or saving the world.
-
-
Techno thriller? Or hard science fiction? Either way, it’s excellent!
- By Martin L. Shoemaker on 07-22-18
What listeners say about Stories of Your Life and Others
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Carolina
- 09-15-14
Amazing collection of short stories
Originally published at: A Girl that Likes Books
This was the September pick for the Sword and Laser book club
First impression
I have to admit that I was reluctant at first to give this book a try. First because I haven't read a lot of short stories so I wasn't sure this collection would grab me. Second, I went with the Audio version because my library didn't have it and I decided just to go with my Audible credit. The only other collection of short stories I've read recently was METAtropolis (also in audio) and while I enjoyed it, it didn't amaze me. Let me tell you, Stories of Your Life and Others might be the book that convinced me to try short stories more often.
Final thoughts
The collection is fantastic, I wasn't even finished and I kept telling people they had to give it a try. While very different, the short stories flow nicely. The fact that this time there were all written by the same person is really evident, even though the voice on each story changes quite a bit changing point of views and even presenting one as a documentary.
Goodreads describes the collection as multiple stories where the characters encounter sudden change. However, more than just sudden change, I believe that the common thread that this collection has is preconceptions and destroying or debunking them. From the concept of beauty to mathematics and even procreation, Chiang gives a new light to all of these subjects with touches of science fiction and even a bit of fantasy.
All the worlds presented are beautifully constructed; at no point did I get the feeling that what was being presented made no sense in the respective universe, and this is extremely important to me. This is not to say that the elements that made these stories feel outside of our world weren't there. They are obviously there without making it feel overdone and so my mind entered each story smoothly.
As might be expected, I liked some of the stories better than other, my favorites being Story of your Life and Others, which deals with the concept of language and physics, and Liking what you See, which deals with the concept and perception of beauty. Extra points for Understand not using the "we only use 10% of our brains" trope and actually going with something different.
Both narrators did a terrific job. Only at Liking What you See do we get to hear them at almost the same time, but I think they were perfect choices all the way through.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
117 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nathan
- 10-22-14
Short story collection for the thinking person
How could the tower of babel be built, how would a mad scientist view the world, What if we could make ourselves unaffected by people's looks, and what if Angel sightings were common everyday occurrences and we could see the deceased in heaven or hell? These are some of the stories this collection examines with their social, scientific and psychological impact. Some stories better than other, aimed more at plot and themes so some readers may find them boring.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
63 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jim "The Impatient"
- 02-11-17
LOOKISM
TOWER OF BABYLON, UNDERSTAND, HELL IS THE ABSENCE OF GOD, LIKING WHAY YOU SEE
This was a hard book to rate. It has eight stories or novelettes. Of the eight I absolutely loved the four stories mentioned above and the other four, bored me to tears. Chiang's writing is super intelligent, but most of the stories come off mostly as science papers, not stories. Chiang, digs into each subject with gusto and examines it from every angle. Basically if you like the subject matter, than you will love the paper, but if you are not interested to begin with, your not going to become interested. I will talk about the ones I loved and keep in mind I hated the others.
LIKING WHAT YOU SEE
This was my favorite, mostly because it is a subject matter I have always been interested in and one in which most writers ignore. It is all about beauty, what is beauty, and how people react to beauty or lack of. In this futuristic story, a technology has been invented that makes people blind to beauty. Some societies have this tech installed in their kids and at eighteen they can decide if they want it removed. I think we all agree that our looks aid in our confidence and in our success or lack of. It affects how people are treated in society. A young good looking woman walks in a room and it is as if the other women don't even exist. As a sidebar, not talked about in this book, my son recently mentioned that the average height of American Men is 5'9". The woman in the room were surprised and thought that was a little on the short side. It occurred to me, that the reason they thought that was that when they see a shorter man, they don't see him. He is not significant, he is a non person and does not matter. He does not exist in their minds.
TOWER OF BABYLON
This is the closest to a real story. As mentioned in the STORY NOTES, the Hebrews story of the Tower is more detailed, than what is in the bible. The Hebrew Tower, takes day to walk around and a year to climb. This all makes for a mind boggling picture in your head.
HELL IS THE ABSENCE OF GOD
This is a kind of biblical, paranormal story with angels that do as much harm as good. It is also a very detailed and thoughtful look into faith.
UNDERSTAND
I guess it takes a genius to write about being a genius. We are always being told we only use a small percentage of our brain. In this story Chiang explores what would happen if you could use your whole brain and it comes with a few twists.
The other stories I probably would have liked, had they been subject matter I cared about. Division by Zero, is very mathy and turned my brain to mush. My wife, who is a math teacher would have probably loved it. The Story of Your Life, is a linguistic study. It is a story about aliens and how we would learn to speak with them. Included in the story is a woman talking to her dead child. How these tied together, I don't know as I could not finish the story. While I am interested in how we could ever communicate with aliens, that are not humanoid in any way, I could not get into the nuts and bolts of it all. Seventy Two Letters is about golems, automatons and magic. In the Story Notes, Chiang mentions the Jewish Religion as the spark for the story. I should have been interested, but it just seemed like he sucked all the fun out of it. The Evolution of Human Science was written for the Journal, Nature. Thank God, it is very short, for it has the power to put the common layman into a coma.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
47 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark
- 07-15-17
Odd stories except for the Arrival
I bought this book because I enjoyed the movie the Arrival; and because of the acclaim Mr Chiang has received for his writing. I enjoyed the story of your life; - the basis for the movie the arrival, it was very thought provoking. In some ways it reminded me of Life of Pi. However, the other short stories in this collection, were kind of odd. I think Mr Chiang is more of an artist than an author. HIs stories remind me of abstract art - some people seem to really get what the artist is trying to communicate, others people may just see a bunch of shapes. A perfect example is one of the stories "division by zero". Most of the other reviews in audible are very positive, but I wouldn't recommend this one. Narration was good.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
36 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- RK
- 01-03-17
Masterpiece of short fiction
I got interested in Ted Chiang's work after watching the recent Amy Adams movie, The Arrival. I was thoroughly engrossed in that movie and wanted to read the work that inspired it. That's how I came across this collection of short stories.
I can only say, thank god I did. I have not been this engrossed in a story or stories in years. Not since the first time I read Titans and the Lions of Al Rassan by Gavriel Kay. What's so amazing about Chiang is that his way of writing just hooks you right from the beginning, essential for short story form. He drops you into a new world. It doesn't bother explaining everything immediately. He lets the reader figure out the rules of the world and that discovery is half the magic.
In addition the characters feel real and are all engrossing. Even Stratford and the other characters from 72 Letters, the only story I didn't really like, were engaging and wanting to know what happens kept me going right to the end. The other stories were all fantastic, with my two favorite probably Understand and Hell is the Absence of God. I was most engrossed in these stories, but most moved by Stories of Your Life.
Finally the narration by Abby Cardenas and Todd Mclaren was phenomenal. As much as the stories engrossed me listening to these two kept me completely riveted. I hope to listen to more narrations by them in the future.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
34 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Fred
- 10-26-16
Intriguing concepts, but didn't hold my interest
What disappointed you about Stories of Your Life and Others?
This is one of the few audiobooks I’ve purchased that I struggled to get through. I’m a sci-fi fan and although many of the author’s concepts were intriguing, I was expecting a little more excitement in the stories. I found it difficult to care about the characters and stay interested with the plots. If you enjoy long lectures on science, mathematics, and theology you’ll probably appreciate this book more than me
What didn’t you like about Abby Craden and Todd McLaren ’s performance?
Abby and Todd did the best they could with the material they had.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
32 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Neatoizer
- 02-10-15
Uniquly Imaginative and Deep worlds
These are some of the best scifi stories I've read in awhile. Many of them ive in a deep world that could easily be turned into full novels. The characters are interesting and engading and the plots are wild.
This is scifi that even non-scifi people will love
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
32 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ruddyadam
- 10-04-19
Never a free ride with Ted Chiang
Ever since the ending credits of Arrival, I have like, loathed that movie. But at the same time I have this insatiable draw, even now, to watching it. See, I 100% DO NOT WATCH movies to get my heart torn out and kicked around. And to be honest, I specifically avoid them. It's just not how I like to spend my free time.
But... really good sci-fi makes my brain tingle in all the right ways. And the brain-bending sci-fi that Ted Chiang dishes up is just super tasty.
So you see, that's the rub... with Arrival, as with The Stories of your Life, and with a number of Ted Chiang's stories, you can't have that delicious eclair without getting gut punched while you're eating it. It is just something he does not allow.
It's like this. He knows he's got you - somehow he knows - so he's going to manhandle your emotions like a straight up savage while he's got you, and to top it all off, when he's done and you're stumbling away, you stop and are like, "Whoa, hey man, wait a sec, don't go... how about some more?" So Frustrating!!
But the sci-fi. Those ideas! The gymnastics he makes my brain and my morals and my sense of reality go through! No other author has this stuff going on like Ted Chiang does. Nobody. He has me like, looking into myself and questioning what I am seeing in there. And dredging up the deep-seated emotions from the bowels of my mind...
So what am I trying to say?? What do I think of Ted Chiang??
Well, I guess he's my favorite. Of all time. Even if he never gives you a free ride.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
27 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mary
- 06-21-17
Very complex book, heavy on scientific theory
This book is not an easy read. Very complex scientific theories and erudite concepts. Good narration for deep thoughts. Challenging but parts are wothwhile.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
27 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- austin
- 06-23-16
Way too over-hyped. Maybe I'm missing something?
I did my very best to try to get through all of these chapters. the writing is solid at times but overall it's rather boring. I'm wondering if I'm missing something? This audio book received such high reviews. I'm wondering if the stories were lost on me
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
24 people found this helpful