Ended and started the year with a short story by Ted Chiang. This short story is best known for being the basis of the movie “Arrival” by Dennis Villeneuve that I am planning to watch some time soon. Story has multiple timelines weaving themselves together exactly like the first contact with aliens in the story.

I greatly enjoy the theme of first contact and learning a common language with no prior supporting information. This is exactly what I would like to do some day – I mean – learn a language with no way to cheat with some of pre-existing languages, not to facilitate a first contact 🙃. Some day I will have a patient tutor and a year to “waste” for learning a language like a child.

After that short story I opened up the issue #44 of the Uncanny Magazine.