Stories of Your Life and Others

Stories of Your Life and Others is a collection of short stories published in 2002 by the American science fiction and fantasy writer Ted Chiang. The book contains eight stories that belong to science fiction, science fantasy, alternative history, and magic realism genres. Seven of the eight stories appeared in previous publications. In the stories, Chiang explores concepts including the ethics of science, the benefits and dangers of intelligence, and cultural differences in alternate realities. In 2016, the title story was adapted into an Oscar-winning movie Arrival, and individual stories won numerous prestigious science fiction awards, including two Nebula Awards and a Hugo Award.

The edition of Stories of Your Life and Others used for this guide is an e-book by Vintage, published as a movie tie-in under the title Arrival in 2016.

Plot Summary

The first story, “Tower of Babylon” (originally published in 1990), takes place in ancient Babylon and deals with the centuries-long building of a tower to reach the Seat of God within Heaven’s Vault.

“Understanding” (1991) follows an ordinary man who has receives an experimental new drug to revive him from a vegetative state. He develops superhuman intelligence which he uses for self-serving purposes until he comes across another man like him, whose aim is to save the world.

“Division by Zero” (1991) is about a mathematician, Renee, who discovers a mathematical formation that proves all science is inconsistent. As she loses faith in mathematics, she ceases to find meaning in life. Meanwhile, her husband Carl stops feeling empathy for her depression.

“Story of Your Life” (1998) is a novella about an alien visitation. Linguist Louise Banks and physicist Gary Donnelly begin the process of understanding the aliens’ two-dimensional language and their concept of physics, which radically differs from humanity’s understanding of time and space. Humans learned to experience things sequentially, with cause-and- effect meaning, while aliens see the present, past, and the future all at once. As she learns their language, Louise begins to think like the aliens and is able to see her own future, deciding to embrace it even though it she knows it will result in the loss of her daughter.

“Seventy-Two Letters” (2000) is a steampunk novella about an alternate Victorian era, during which scientists use nomenclature, the ancient Jewish ritual of naming, to animate automata that serve as primitive robots. Robert Stratton is a designer of such automata, and his goal is to create an automaton able to replicate itself. Contacted by Lord Fieldhurst, president of the Royal Society of Zoologists, he learns of a secret project to create “megafetuses,” man-size human embryos that allow Stratton to study preformationism, the theory that within a single organism exist all its future generations. Stratton learns humans will become extinct in several generations and sets to work on creating nomenclature to animate human fetuses.

“The Evolution of Human Science” (2000) is about a future in which scientists have produced “metahumans,” which have now assumed the leading role in scientific exploration and technological advancement. Ordinary human scientists can no longer comprehend the ways metahumans think or create.

“Hell Is the Absence of God” (2001) is set in a world where angel visitations are commonplace and God’s intent is present everywhere. Neil Fisk loses his beloved wife Sarah during one such visitation, and he develops a hatred for God. At the same time, he knows that the only way to reunite with Sarah in Heaven is to attain God’s mercy. Alongside Janice Reilly, a preacher born without lower limbs who receives a miracle of new legs in adulthood, and Ethan Mead, who is sure God has a purpose for him but cannot find it, Neil visits a holy place in pursuit of the Heavenly Light. Both Janice and Neil witness it, and it blinds them. Neil dies, having learned to love God, but he still goes to Hell. Janice and Ethan continue to preach the necessity of blind faith.

“Liking What You See: A Documentary” (2002) is a story presented as a transcript of a documentary on calliagnosia, the stimulation of neurons to achieve a state where one does not recognize beauty. People speak for and against such a procedure, debating the pros of canceling lookism, and the cons of not appreciating beauty and attractiveness. The story follows an attempt at Pemberton College to vote for students to have compulsory “callies,” and the cosmetics companies’ efforts to prevent it from happening.