What if men built a tower from Earth to Heaven - and broke through to Heaven's other side? What if we discovered that the fundamentals of mathematics were inconsistent? What if there was a science of naming things which calls life into being from inanimate matter? What if exposure to an alien language forever changed our perception of time? What if all the beliefs of fundamentalist Christianity were literally true, and the sight of sinners being swallowed into Hell was a routine event on city streets? These are the kinds of outrageous questions posed by the stories of Ted Chiang. Collected here for the first time are eight of his extraordinary stories - including one specially written for this volume.