Exhalation
Nine stories that wrestle with fundamental questions about free will, time, technology, and what it means to be human.
Where Exhalation keeps showing up
One of our editors' lists features this novel.
Also by Ted Chiang
Books in conversation with Exhalation
A few of the closest reads from our full list.
What you might want to know about Exhalation
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Ted Chiang's second collection gathers nine novellas and stories, including the Hugo-winning title piece about an autopsy of a mechanical brain, the time-travel parable The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate, and more.
Yes. Exhalation is a 2019 collection of nine short stories by Ted Chiang, his second collection after Stories of Your Life and Others. Both collections are widely considered among the best in modern short science fiction.
Not yet. Stories from Ted Chiang's earlier collection have been adapted (most famously Story of Your Life into Arrival in 2016). As of 2025, Exhalation stories have not been formally adapted, though The Lifecycle of Software Objects has been optioned.
Exhalation was written by Ted Chiang, published in 2014 by טרה.
Exhalation is 338 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Exhalation takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
Exhalation is a standalone novel by Ted Chiang, not part of a series.
Exhalation is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
