Ted Chiang's masterful first collection, Stories of Your Life and Others, includes his first eight published stories.

Tower of Babylon (1990)
Originally published in Omni
1991 Nebula Best Novelette Winner
1991 Hugo Best Novelette Nominee

Understand (1991)
Originally published in Asimov's
1992 Hugo Best Novelette Nominee
1992 Asimov’s Reader Poll Winner
A man is given an experimental drug to heal brain damage caused by anoxia after he nearly drowns. The drug regenerates his damaged neurons and has the unintended side effect of exponentially improving his intellect and motor skills. As he gets smarter and smarter, he is pursued by several government agencies and eventually receives a message from — and then enters into conflict with — another super-intelligent test subject.

Division by Zero (1991)
Originally published in Full Spectrum 3 magazine
Renee, an intellectually gifted mathematician and professor, inadvertently proves arithmetic inconsistent.

Story of Your Life (1998)
Originally published in Starlight 2
2000 Nebula Best Novella Winner
1999 Theodore Sturgeon Award
Basis of the film, 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.

Seventy-Two Letters
Originally published in Vanishing Acts
Sidewise Award

The Evolution of Human Science
a.k.a. Catching Crumbs from the Table
Originally published in Nature

Hell Is the Absence of God (2001)
Originally published in Starlight 3
2002 Hugo Best Novelette Winner
2002 Nebula Best Novelette Winner
2002 Locus Best Novelette Winner
2002 Theodore Sturgeon Finalist
2004 Seiun Award Winner

Liking What You See: A Documentary
A clever pastiche of news reports and interviews chronicles a college's initiative to "turn off" the human ability to recognize beauty.

What's Expected of Us

The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

Exhalation

The Lifecycle of Software Objects