Chiang's latest short story collection is a wistful mix of the fantastical and the plausible, grounded in current reality or very different ones. Most act more like thought experiments although one or two have a Dahl like twist in the tale.
Some like "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom" left me sorrowful and regretful about relationships lost and alternative paths taken. Others - Omphalos - mildly baffled at the gordian knots the protagonists get themselves into. Some challenge assumptions - such as the value of literacy and record keeping. But it's the title story with it's deep dive into the effects of entropy on an intelligent species which is....breathtaking.
Overall: A deft and lightly told collection.
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