Exhalation

Brilliant! Ted Chiang is a master at his craft. I was frequently smiling with delight as I read this. Loved the longer stories - the digients-as-parenting-parable, the wonderful prism story about counterfactuals and fate vs. free will (aka networking with alternative universes). I could have done without the pontificating parrot, but - for a short story collection - that one was literally the only miss. All the others were hits. Bravo, Ted Chiang!