Ted Chiang a répondu à quelques questions pour le site de l'AAWW (Asian American Writer's Workshop). 

Extrait : 

While I always enjoyed science as a child, my interest in both science and science fiction was energized by the work of Isaac Asimov. I read his FOUNDATION TRILOGY when I was twelve or so, and I think it was one of the first novels I ever read that wasn’t written for children. A year later I bought his ASIMOV’S GUIDE TO SCIENCE, which had a huge impact on my understanding of how scientists learn about the universe (I still remember some explanations from it). And there was a definite similarity between the pleasures that both of those books provided; I think the sense of wonder that science fiction offers is closely related to the feeling of awe that science itself offers.