Overall a great collection of short stories, but the very short ones didn't do much for me ("The Great Silence", "Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny", and "What's Expected of Us"). "Omphalos" was a mixed bag, while "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" and "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom" were excellent. "The Truth of Fact, The Truth of Feeling", "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" and "Exhalation" are some of the best SFF short stories I've ever read, absolutely luminescent. When Chiang allows himself more than 10 pages he almost always ends up with a heartfelt story that explores a theme with compassion and curiosity towards the reader and the characters.