A review by nancyotoole
The Best of Subterranean by William Schafer

5.0

With The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling, Ted Chiang has hit one of my thematic sweet spots by writing a story about memory. The novelette is divided into two storylines. One tells about a reporter encountering, with much trepidation, a new type of technology that will basically replace out natural human memory. The second tells a historical account of a young man living in Tivland, encountering the written word for the first time. These two elements may sound different, but they're actually telling the same story: how more precise methods of keeping track of memories impact out overall concepts of truth, and the benefits and drawbacks to these technologies.

The story is strongly written with an engaging voice, and a few moments that genuinely surprised me. I love how the author tackled the subject of memory and truth in a thought provoking way. This is the second short piece of I've read by Chiang, the first being Exhalation, and it's safe to say that it's my favorite by him so far. (Hugo Reading)