Critical reading is the process of  actively reading and gaining a deep understanding of a text. This extends beyond simply understanding the plot or main idea that a text is trying to convey, but rather it is the process of gaining a more in depth analysis of the rhetorical devices a writer employs, themes, and viewing pieces with specific critical lenses. Critical reading is a vital tool that allows a reader to truly understand what an author is saying, evaluate the way they are saying it, and infer the works' intended audience. Critical reading often involves active engagement with a text: annotating main ideas, writing down reactions as the reader, and re-reading a work to truly understand it. An example of critical reading is present in my analysis of Ted Chiang's short story Exhalation, where he writes about an alien race of robots. In the story, Chiang uses the robots as a way to talk about mortality. The alien robot species discovers that their universe is running out of their equivalent of air, and it is inevitable that their universe will eventually not be able to sustain life, which he indirectly relates to the idea of mortality in our world. I explained it as: "it is this idea of impending doom that allows us to have a new outlook on life". This new perspective encourages the reader to not worry about the future, but rather to appreciate the world around you. The only thing that is guaranteed in life is death, so why spend so much time worrying about it?" A surface level understanding of the text might just conclude that the work is simply about an alien race and therefore has no application to our human world, but when looking at the piece through a critical lens it is evident that Chiang is using this story as a way to comment on the one thing in human life that is guaranteed for everyone: death. In this story, the narrator encourages other potential explorers who come across their universe after its end to appreciate all that they have created, as all that was made in their world was not guaranteed. A critical analysis of this statement concludes that Chiang is encouraging the reader and all humans, not just space explorers that come across this alien universe, to focus on the present, all that people have experienced and created. This is an example of critically reading a piece and extrapolating what the author is truly trying to say and who they are speaking to. Critical reading can be applied in places other than a writing course. I use critical reading in math when annotating and re-reading my professors notes in math class, or when reading my history textbook.