<Tr> <Th> Publication type </Th> <Td> Book </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Publication date </Th> <Td> November 15, 2008 </Td> </Tr> <P> "Exhalation" is a science fiction short story by American writer Ted Chiang . It was first published in 2008 in the anthology Eclipse 2: New Science Fiction and Fantas, edited by Jonathan Strahan . It won the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Short Story . </P> <P> The story is epistolary in nature, taking the form of a scientist's journal entry . The scientist is a member of a race of air - driven mechanical beings . The race obtains air from swappable lungs filled with pressurized air from underground . When it is realized that a number of clocks simultaneously appear to be running fast but they do not appear to be malfunctioning, the narrator decides to explore the explanation that people's brains are computing slower . </P>

In exhalation what is the narrator's initial belief about memory