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title = "Arrival - Ted Chiang"
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date = 2017-02-28
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[taxonomies]
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tags = ["books", "ted chiang", "reviews", "scifi", "fantasy", "5 stars"]
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+++
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[GoodReads Summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31625351-arrival):
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From a soaring Babylonian tower that connects a flat Earth with the heavens
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above, to a world where angelic visitations are a wondrous and terrifying part
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of everyday life; from a neural modification that eliminates the appeal of
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physical beauty, to an alien language that challenges our very perception of
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time and reality... Chiang's rigorously imagined stories invite us to question
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our understanding of the universe and our place in it.
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<!-- more -->
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{{ stars(stars=5) }}
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I'll be honest (again) and admit that I bought the book because of the movie
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(again -- the same thing happened with [book:All You Need Is
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Kill|6255949]/Edge of Tomorrow). This time, though, I haven't seen the movie
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yet, so I basically "read the movie" before watching it.
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Thing is, this is *not* just about Arrival. It's a collection of stories by
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Ted Chiang -- one of them is "The Story of Your Life", which is the base for
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the movie. You have "Tower of Babylon", which is kinda like a fantasy story if
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said tower actually reached the heavens; "Understand", which takes a stab in a
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"Limitless" kinda-way; "Division By Zero", which talks about mathematics but
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it is actually about people (Pro-tip: if you read, keep an eye on the
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"chapter" numbers; it will explain the story); "Story of Your Life", which,
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again, is the base for the Arrival movie; "Seventy-Two Letters", about a world
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where golems and controlling stuff with written stuff actually exists; "The
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Evolution About Human Science", a short story about a future when humans can't
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keep up with their own science; "Hell is the Absence of God", about angels
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(although the author explains it in the end, it felt much more like "this is
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hell" than anything else); and "Liking What You See: A Documentary", which
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feels like a huge discussion about beauty and propaganda.
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In general, all stories are pretty easy and interesting to read -- reading the
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whole book in two days may be a testament of this. The whole style reminded me
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of Asimov's writing, although I could skip half paragraphs without missing
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anything in the story, while that wouldn't be an option in Asimov stories.
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The endings are also kinda loose, but because there are hidden clues about the
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story itself in other parts -- like in "Division By Zero" -- I guess I just
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didn't *get* them yet.
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