Nothing like a sci-fi short story collection to scratch the creeping dread of technology while doing some (possibly literal in the case of Omphalos) navel gazing! This is my first Ted Chiang that I've read, and I think my favorite in the collection was the titular story on the pressures of a world with finite air. I felt The Lifecycle of Software Objects ran a little long. The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate was a nice entry point coming off of my The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi reread.