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Publication
Tor Books (2016), 416 pages
Description
With the scope of Dune and the commercial action of Independence Day, this near-future trilogy is the first chance for English-speaking readers to experience this multple-award-winning phenemonenon from China's most beloved science fiction author. Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.
Media reviews
The Three-Body Problem is a masterclass in sci-fi with a thesis, telling a complex story about the perseverance of intelligent life and the psychology of cultures in crisis.
The Three-Body Problem turns a boilerplate, first-contact concept into something absolutely mind-unfolding. While in the virtual world of Three Body, Miao confronts philosophical conundrums that border on the psychedelic, all while remaining scientifically rigorous. The way the book's alien race
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seeks to assert its presence on Earth is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Show Less
In concept and development, it resembles top-notch Arthur C. Clarke or Larry Niven but with a perspective—plots, mysteries, conspiracies, murders, revelations and all—embedded in a culture and politic dramatically unfamiliar to most readers in the West, conveniently illuminated with footnotes
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courtesy of translator Liu. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member Widsith
In an afterword, Liu expresses his opinion that science fiction should not be used to make social commentary but should instead restrict itself to playing with ideas of science and technology. I was surprised to see that because Three Body had struck me (tentatively, since I know little about
Whether you accept his protestations or not is unlikely to affect your enjoyment of the novel, which blends historical tragedy with the kind of slow-burning first contact story that harks back to the golden age of the 1940s and '50s in the US. Perhaps the most fascinating scenes in the book, and certainly the eeriest, are those set within a virtual-reality computer game which is concerned with the practical implications of the three-body problem in physics; these chapters seem grand and bleak and impressively inhuman in scope.
Less successful, perhaps, are the interpersonal relationships and the motivations of the characters in general. The plot hinges on the assumption that, faced with a particular challenge to their scientific and existential ideas, vast numbers of people would deliberately opt for suicide, both personally and in terms of trying to destroy their entire species. This seemed a little infeasible to me, though perhaps it's just a more Chinese way of looking at things. Either way, it makes for a curious and unusual plot. (An interesting companion read might be Adam Roberts's Yellow Blue Tibia, which used first contact as a way of writing about Stalin's Russia.)
The translation, from (the unrelated) Ken Liu, is excellent on a sentence-by-sentence level, though apparently he rearranged some of the chapters for an English-speaking audience, which I can't say I approve of.
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China) as an especially Chinese novel, with much to say about how societies should be organised. The portrait of an ‘authoritarian’ alien civilisation, where individuality is repressed in favour of homogenous common benefit, seemed almost too obvious a comment on Communism, especially when juxtaposed, as it is here, with historical scenes of the Cultural Revolution.Whether you accept his protestations or not is unlikely to affect your enjoyment of the novel, which blends historical tragedy with the kind of slow-burning first contact story that harks back to the golden age of the 1940s and '50s in the US. Perhaps the most fascinating scenes in the book, and certainly the eeriest, are those set within a virtual-reality computer game which is concerned with the practical implications of the three-body problem in physics; these chapters seem grand and bleak and impressively inhuman in scope.
Less successful, perhaps, are the interpersonal relationships and the motivations of the characters in general. The plot hinges on the assumption that, faced with a particular challenge to their scientific and existential ideas, vast numbers of people would deliberately opt for suicide, both personally and in terms of trying to destroy their entire species. This seemed a little infeasible to me, though perhaps it's just a more Chinese way of looking at things. Either way, it makes for a curious and unusual plot. (An interesting companion read might be Adam Roberts's Yellow Blue Tibia, which used first contact as a way of writing about Stalin's Russia.)
The translation, from (the unrelated) Ken Liu, is excellent on a sentence-by-sentence level, though apparently he rearranged some of the chapters for an English-speaking audience, which I can't say I approve of.
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LibraryThing member Jim53
It takes quite a while to figure out just what's going on in The Three-Body Problem, and just when you think you have it, the ground shifts again. This narrative technique mirrors the experiences of scientists in Liu Cixin's Hugo-winning novel. Chinese scientists, particularly theoretical
Before we get into these experiences, we begin in the mind of young Ye Wenjie, who sees her father killed because he is not true to China's cultural revolution. We will see more of Ye, but not for quite a while.
Liu, and his translator Ken Liu (not related), take us from the 1950s to the near future, from the race into space to the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence, from the work of monitoring transmissions to an interactive game called Three Body. The writing is intermittently maddening, the characters are not well developed, but the ideas kept me reading. In the end, there are many problems with the science on which Liu's story is based, but the piling up of images and ideas is intriguing enough to let a lot of these problems slip by. In the final fourth of the book, which explains most of what came before, we see the reasons for the disconnects and apparent dead spaces earlier in the narrative.
I have said that the characters are not well developed, but I wonder if there is a cultural component to this. It might be that to Chinese readers, there are enough clues and even cliches that some of the gaps in the characters' depictions would be filled in by the experienced reader. And of course, Liu's predecessors in "hard" science fiction--he cites Arthur C. Clarke as a model--typically evince more focus on ideas than on people.
The Three-Body Problem is the first book of a trilogy. I plan to look for the next volume, but not immediately. The book is compelling in its accumulation of ideas and story lines, but not the sort of thing for which I will re-prioritize my extensive list. First I'll get back to some character-driven fiction.
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physicists, are finding that previously accepted results and explanations no longer pertain or suffice. Some are driven to suicide by the new state of things, while others abandon their prior work to search for explanations for these new phenomena. Before we get into these experiences, we begin in the mind of young Ye Wenjie, who sees her father killed because he is not true to China's cultural revolution. We will see more of Ye, but not for quite a while.
Liu, and his translator Ken Liu (not related), take us from the 1950s to the near future, from the race into space to the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence, from the work of monitoring transmissions to an interactive game called Three Body. The writing is intermittently maddening, the characters are not well developed, but the ideas kept me reading. In the end, there are many problems with the science on which Liu's story is based, but the piling up of images and ideas is intriguing enough to let a lot of these problems slip by. In the final fourth of the book, which explains most of what came before, we see the reasons for the disconnects and apparent dead spaces earlier in the narrative.
I have said that the characters are not well developed, but I wonder if there is a cultural component to this. It might be that to Chinese readers, there are enough clues and even cliches that some of the gaps in the characters' depictions would be filled in by the experienced reader. And of course, Liu's predecessors in "hard" science fiction--he cites Arthur C. Clarke as a model--typically evince more focus on ideas than on people.
The Three-Body Problem is the first book of a trilogy. I plan to look for the next volume, but not immediately. The book is compelling in its accumulation of ideas and story lines, but not the sort of thing for which I will re-prioritize my extensive list. First I'll get back to some character-driven fiction.
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LibraryThing member norabelle414
In 1967, during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, a young astrophysicist named Ye Wenjie watches the execution of her father for teaching theoretical physics. Ye Wenjie is exiled to a labor camp, but a few years later is given the option to devote the rest of her life to astrophysics at a very
Forty years later, a nanomaterials researcher named Wang Miao is asked to help the police with the investigation of a string of suicides of physicists. All the victims were involved with a cult called "Frontiers of Science", and Wang Miao becomes a mole within the group to provide information to the police. He becomes enamored with a virtual-reality video game the members have been playing called Three Body. Eventually Wang Miao discovers why the physicists have been committing suicide, what the cult is all about, why they've been playing Three Body, and what all of this has to do with Ye Wenjie's astrophysics research from forty years ago.
This novel is a truly astounding feat. The story is unique and thought-provoking. Its setting is unequivocally Chinese - the Cultural Revolution and Chinese culture are like their own characters. It would be a shame to fail to mention the astounding translator - Ken Liu. To convey such meaning and nuance through a translation between languages that could not be more different is so impressive.
Though some parts of the book did get a bit too technical with the physics for me to follow, I still very much enjoyed the story and look forward to the sequels.
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remote, very specialized, secret defense research facility. Who could say no to that? Forty years later, a nanomaterials researcher named Wang Miao is asked to help the police with the investigation of a string of suicides of physicists. All the victims were involved with a cult called "Frontiers of Science", and Wang Miao becomes a mole within the group to provide information to the police. He becomes enamored with a virtual-reality video game the members have been playing called Three Body. Eventually Wang Miao discovers why the physicists have been committing suicide, what the cult is all about, why they've been playing Three Body, and what all of this has to do with Ye Wenjie's astrophysics research from forty years ago.
This novel is a truly astounding feat. The story is unique and thought-provoking. Its setting is unequivocally Chinese - the Cultural Revolution and Chinese culture are like their own characters. It would be a shame to fail to mention the astounding translator - Ken Liu. To convey such meaning and nuance through a translation between languages that could not be more different is so impressive.
Though some parts of the book did get a bit too technical with the physics for me to follow, I still very much enjoyed the story and look forward to the sequels.
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LibraryThing member MeditationesMartini
This had at least two magnificent, profusely inventive parts--the "Three-Body Problem" video game where the main dude is introduced to a civilization defined by its unpredictable orbit in relation to three suns (referencing the physics problem in the title, where it's impossible to calculate the
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gravitational effects on each other of more than two bodies because of how they change), that is destroyed and painstakingly builds itself up again and again, and the part where said civilization turns out to be a real alien civilization coming to Earth to get us, and the crazy way they do it (it involves folding eleven-dimensional protons down into three dimensions after teaching them to feed our science false results). If that was all it had it wouldn't warrant four stars but the plateaux in between are decent too--you get a Chinese widescreen fiction writer's sense of what the man-of-science-in-a-land-of-miracles and insolent-maverick-cop and damaged-but-sympathetic-but-ultimately-monstrous-zealot (in this case, damaged by the Cultural Revolution, and I appreciated what a sense I got of how the CR must have shaped the outlooks of people in today's China, paving the way for Deng and what came after with opening because no more firebrands!) are like, and everyone has that really sincere way of speaking--like what we do with irony they do with insults somehow, I don't know, like not to be orientalist here but a face thing? "Ha ha ha! You are a fool!" and then the other guy seethes but can't do anything about it because he is not the man of the hour and the guy calling him a fool is. I can't quite get my finger on it but I enjoyed it. Show Less
LibraryThing member rivkat
Part of my Hugo reading. Physics goes wacky and nearly drives scientists mad, making politicians nervous. Scientists debate the nature of reality and so do philosophers, in part inside a virtual reality game that emulates the rise and fall of civilizations and may have something to do with the
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strange things going on outside (like a countdown that appears in any photo taken by one particular scientist, but nowhere else). It’s nice to see civilizations portrayed as internally divided (I’m being vague to avoid spoilers) on deep ideological grounds, like ours are. Eventually the pieces fell into place for a reasonably entertaining conspiracy/science-heavy plot, but it took too long to get going for me to be really invested. The translation gives useful notes on some of the Chinese politics behind the premise, but I felt that the characters were stiffer/less interior than I prefer, which may be an effect of translation or of style. Show Less
LibraryThing member lavaturtle
This book... it has some interesting ideas. It could have been several really excellent pieces of short fiction:
* Scientist slowly goes mad as experimental science stops giving replicatable results
* Human fifth columnists welcome an alien invasion
* Trisolarans desperately try to predict the
* Magical dimension-unfolding happens. It looks cool.
But instead it hops around from one thing to another. As soon as there's a hint that one character (e.g. Ye Wenjie) might be a sympathetic protagonist with emotions, we skip to someone else, and never see that character's perspective again.
There's a dearth of front-story - everything is in emotionless flashbacks, a hundred-page prologue, or a magical-realism dream state / video game. The reader is left feeling very detached from the characters.
Right, and apparently particle physics research is the only thing that matters. Without that, we can't make any major advances in science. You know, because the industrial revolution and the invention of agriculture either involved particle physics or didn't matter at all.
This book also features some very silly pseudoscience, in the form ofself-decoding languages and sentient protons .
* Scientist slowly goes mad as experimental science stops giving replicatable results
* Human fifth columnists welcome an alien invasion
* Trisolarans desperately try to predict the
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behaviour of their star system* Magical dimension-unfolding happens. It looks cool.
But instead it hops around from one thing to another. As soon as there's a hint that one character (e.g. Ye Wenjie) might be a sympathetic protagonist with emotions, we skip to someone else, and never see that character's perspective again.
There's a dearth of front-story - everything is in emotionless flashbacks, a hundred-page prologue, or a magical-realism dream state / video game. The reader is left feeling very detached from the characters.
Right, and apparently particle physics research is the only thing that matters. Without that, we can't make any major advances in science. You know, because the industrial revolution and the invention of agriculture either involved particle physics or didn't matter at all.
This book also features some very silly pseudoscience, in the form of
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LibraryThing member Gwendydd
This book has a lot of interesting ideas. The examination of how a handful of humans would handle first contact, and how their experiences of humanity would shape their actions, is thought-provoking. There is a lot of complex physics, which is also pretty interesting.
On the other hand, there were
All in all, I'm glad I read this, but I won't be reading the rest of the series.
On the other hand, there were
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a lot of things I didn't like about the book, but I'm hesitant to criticize it too much because I think a lot of the things I didn't like are probably due to differences in the Chinese novel-writing tradition. I haven't read any other Chinese novels before, so I don't know much about Chinese literary aesthetics. From a Western point of view, I found the characters to be rather flat and shallow. There were several plot lines, and they were treated unevenly - for instance, for the first part of the book, it seems like the story focuses around Wang Miao, but he hardly figures at all in the second half of the novel, and I'm not sure that you would lose anything if you removed his character from the book entirely. All in all, I'm glad I read this, but I won't be reading the rest of the series.
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LibraryThing member publiusdb
China's Cultural Revolution is in full swing. Intellectuals and scientists are denounced by their students for teachings contrary to the communist orthodoxy. The country is in turmoil. No one can be trusted as friends turn on each other, children on their parents, mentors on their
Against this backdrop, Ye Wenjie, a young refugee from tumult of the Cultural Revolution will seek peace and escape on a work team in central China cutting down trees. A scientist, her kindness to a colleague is soon betrayed, leading her to death's door and one of the most closely held secrets in China. She comes to loath and hate humanity, losing all faith in the future of the species.
The Three-Body Problem is several stories within stories, with characters taking time out from the plot to dump significant amounts of information in the form of stories told to other characters. The result is occasionally stilted, but not unmanageable, allowing the plot to unfold in an occasionally odd order. It was deep into the book before I could tell what was going on, and I didn't quite figure out who the protagonists and antagonists were until nearly the end. The best and most likable character is a roguish police detective that receives only secondary billing, while the protagonists seem to be driven by forces outside themselves.
Well, maybe not that long. But there's a pervading sense of pessimism about humanity through-out the novel. The Three-Body Problem uses the Cultural Revolution to bring out the absolute worst in people, and against that canvas the discovery of alien life takes on a different tone than I've seen elsewhere. Instead of the typical tropes of human-alien relations. Rather the first contact leads to an almost religious movement to invite alien invasion and domination of humanity.
One of the really interesting aspects of The Three-Body Problem is the sheer number of scientific and technical concepts that Cixin works into the story (if they don't drive the plot altogether). From the physics of three suns in synchronous orbit (a problem that has puzzled scientists since Newton), to microfiber elements, using the sun to magnify radio waves, photons, multidimensional particles, and even massive multiplayer games, The Three-Body Problem is a potpourri of ideas and concepts. It feels a little overdone sometimes, awkward even, and this is where it starts to feel stilted. In some respects, this tone--pessimistic, not dark--sets The Three-Body Problem apart from other science-fiction. Given the backdrop of the Chinese history and the Cultural Revolution, I couldn't tell if the tone was because of the author's perspective on humanity (lost cause) or how he and many Chinese view the world because of their history (in contrast to other cultures, which would, of course, explain why Tor picked it up for publication in English. Tor seems to go all in for anything that isn't white, male or western civilization these days).
It's an interesting and refreshing change of pace in science-fiction to read something that feels so different in tone, and I give credit to Cixin for it. However, The Three-Body Problem is often dry,infodump heavy, and full of awkward structure. I give it credit for being unique, clever, and new, and I will read its sequels, but I hope they can improve upon the ideas of this opening installment in the series.
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students...Against this backdrop, Ye Wenjie, a young refugee from tumult of the Cultural Revolution will seek peace and escape on a work team in central China cutting down trees. A scientist, her kindness to a colleague is soon betrayed, leading her to death's door and one of the most closely held secrets in China. She comes to loath and hate humanity, losing all faith in the future of the species.
The Three-Body Problem is several stories within stories, with characters taking time out from the plot to dump significant amounts of information in the form of stories told to other characters. The result is occasionally stilted, but not unmanageable, allowing the plot to unfold in an occasionally odd order. It was deep into the book before I could tell what was going on, and I didn't quite figure out who the protagonists and antagonists were until nearly the end. The best and most likable character is a roguish police detective that receives only secondary billing, while the protagonists seem to be driven by forces outside themselves.
Well, maybe not that long. But there's a pervading sense of pessimism about humanity through-out the novel. The Three-Body Problem uses the Cultural Revolution to bring out the absolute worst in people, and against that canvas the discovery of alien life takes on a different tone than I've seen elsewhere. Instead of the typical tropes of human-alien relations. Rather the first contact leads to an almost religious movement to invite alien invasion and domination of humanity.
One of the really interesting aspects of The Three-Body Problem is the sheer number of scientific and technical concepts that Cixin works into the story (if they don't drive the plot altogether). From the physics of three suns in synchronous orbit (a problem that has puzzled scientists since Newton), to microfiber elements, using the sun to magnify radio waves, photons, multidimensional particles, and even massive multiplayer games, The Three-Body Problem is a potpourri of ideas and concepts. It feels a little overdone sometimes, awkward even, and this is where it starts to feel stilted. In some respects, this tone--pessimistic, not dark--sets The Three-Body Problem apart from other science-fiction. Given the backdrop of the Chinese history and the Cultural Revolution, I couldn't tell if the tone was because of the author's perspective on humanity (lost cause) or how he and many Chinese view the world because of their history (in contrast to other cultures, which would, of course, explain why Tor picked it up for publication in English. Tor seems to go all in for anything that isn't white, male or western civilization these days).
It's an interesting and refreshing change of pace in science-fiction to read something that feels so different in tone, and I give credit to Cixin for it. However, The Three-Body Problem is often dry,infodump heavy, and full of awkward structure. I give it credit for being unique, clever, and new, and I will read its sequels, but I hope they can improve upon the ideas of this opening installment in the series.
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LibraryThing member lycomayflower
This is one of those books where the degree of pleasure I take in having read it far exceeds the degree of pleasure I took in reading it. I am very glad I read this, for the perspective it gave me on China and on what science fiction is, for the way it made me think about storytelling structure and
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how our expectations for it may be tied to the culture/s we've grown up in, for the pure fact that I think it's good to read outside our comfort zones, outside our nations of familiarity, and in translation. But while there were several sections of the book that wowed me in a purely readerly sense, on the whole, I did not enjoy this. It takes a very long time to get going, parts of it are grimmer than I usually prefer in fiction, and ultimately I feel a little held captive by the fact that (despite there being no cliffhanger) I will have to read two more books if I want fully to understand what is going on. I'm just not sure I have the stamina to get through two more of these, though I would like to. (And I'm curious to see how the second book, which was translated by a different translator, reads. I didn't care for the translation of Three Body, and I see from the translator's note that I disagree with him about what translation should do.) On the other hand, some of the author's science fiction ideas, his use of science to speculate about where science might go and how science might be used, were enthralling and mind-bending. There was also one development in particular that was fascinating, compelling, and alarming. So while I certainly took a lot away from this read, and while I don't read just for (or always for) enjoyment, I do wish I had found more to enjoy here in addition to finding much to appreciated. For anyone who hasn't read this yet who thinks they might like to, I say do. Show Less
LibraryThing member imyril
This interesting concept starts well, introducing strong Ye's trials and the crimes against science perpetrated during the Cultural Revolution and contrasting likeable Wang's alarm at the mysterious suicides of scientists in the modern day. It's an interesting cross-cultural experience with the
I do wonder whether it (intentionally) reflects Chinese impressions of and attitudes to America before the borders opened.Especially the odd assumptions regarding a benevolent superpower (one of my bugbears - the almost religious belief with no supporting evidence didn't match my experiences with scientists - let alone physicists and space scientists, and I know a few) vs the reality of a threatening Trisolaran hegemony, as well as the reasons the Trisolaran princeps finds Earth threatening in return - because they are numerous and learn quickly. The tensions don't seem unfamiliar.
I think this could be a good book club / group read - there's plenty to discuss on and off the page, and moral support would help (as would perspectives from people with more knowledge of (astro)physics) and Chinese literature). However, I found the narrative quite dry and blunt, and while there are elements to appreciate, I'd peg this as interesting but not entirely my cup of tea (I won't seek out the sequels).
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seeds of good characters and interesting stories. As the storylines converge and the Three Body Problem is explored, however, the interesting characters exhibit some unlikely motivation and behaviour and the storytelling sloooooooows right down as it all gets less and less believable, culminating in a full-on cat-stroking, moustache-twirling villain's monologue at the end. Suspension of disbelief warred with concentration lapses as I struggled to the finish. I do wonder whether it (intentionally) reflects Chinese impressions of and attitudes to America before the borders opened.
I think this could be a good book club / group read - there's plenty to discuss on and off the page, and moral support would help (as would perspectives from people with more knowledge of (astro)physics) and Chinese literature). However, I found the narrative quite dry and blunt, and while there are elements to appreciate, I'd peg this as interesting but not entirely my cup of tea (I won't seek out the sequels).
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LibraryThing member SadieSForsythe
This is actually my husband's book. He received it as a gift from a friend who happens to be from China, with the explanation that 'it is very popular at home.' I have read a few of Liu Cixin's short stories (They show up on the Amazon free list occasionally.) so I knew it would be
Honestly, I can see why it is a bestseller in China. I can. But equally as honestly, this book didn't do it for me. I often find Chinese to English translation read very dryly and this is no exception. (I'm pretty sure this is a cultural characteristic of Chinese writing.) But the book is also very slow to get going.
The first half feels very random and though the end does tie it all together, I still spent 200 pages wondering what was going on. None of this is helped by the fact that it is very science heavy. Everything is explained well, but I didn't particularly enjoy sciences lessons.
Then, in the last half, when things do finally pick up I found myself irked about something else entirely. It's hard to address without a spoiler of some sort, but the POV shifts somewhere new and that POV feels far too human. We're told repeatedly that we don't know what they're like, but everything about them presents as human when it really shouldn't have.
All of the characters are also very thin. However, there are some interesting ones. Da Shi is one of the best anti-heroes I've come across in a while and I appreciated Ye Weing's flat affect.
I've heard that the 2nd and 3rd books are better than this one and if I happen across them I'd read them. But I'm not rushing out to buy them. This was just an OK read for me.
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interesting.Honestly, I can see why it is a bestseller in China. I can. But equally as honestly, this book didn't do it for me. I often find Chinese to English translation read very dryly and this is no exception. (I'm pretty sure this is a cultural characteristic of Chinese writing.) But the book is also very slow to get going.
The first half feels very random and though the end does tie it all together, I still spent 200 pages wondering what was going on. None of this is helped by the fact that it is very science heavy. Everything is explained well, but I didn't particularly enjoy sciences lessons.
Then, in the last half, when things do finally pick up I found myself irked about something else entirely. It's hard to address without a spoiler of some sort, but the POV shifts somewhere new and that POV feels far too human. We're told repeatedly that we don't know what they're like, but everything about them presents as human when it really shouldn't have.
All of the characters are also very thin. However, there are some interesting ones. Da Shi is one of the best anti-heroes I've come across in a while and I appreciated Ye Weing's flat affect.
I've heard that the 2nd and 3rd books are better than this one and if I happen across them I'd read them. But I'm not rushing out to buy them. This was just an OK read for me.
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LibraryThing member memccauley6
This book had some intriguing ideas, but the novelty soon faded with the repetitious narrative and the barest cardboard cutouts propped up where characters should be. The most interesting thing was getting to hear about the Chinese Cultural Revolution from the perspective of people who lived it,
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when showing intelligence would literally get you killed. As a result, only mediocrity survived… I kept thinking my niece and her buddies in junior high school could have cleaned the clocks of the “learned professors”. In the end I skimmed to find out what happened and I don’t think “lost in translation” can adequately explain how annoying I found this book. Show Less
LibraryThing member zeborah
This is what you get when you combine the Cultural Revolution, first contact with aliens, and science so hard it's difficult to believe this isn't based on a true story. Only the sophon's creation and capabilities stretched my credulity - or perhaps just my comprehension.
Reading the translator's
Reading the translator's
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afterword, I have to note too that I think he succeeded perfectly in balancing fidelity to the source with readability in the target. Apparently he added in explanations of the cultural background - smoothly enough I never noticed the seams - while at the same time he kept the rhythm of the language just this side of native anglo-English rhythms in a way that lets the source culture shine through. Show Less
LibraryThing member gendeg
There’s something old-school-retro about The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu. This owes much to the evident love the author has for Golden Age science fiction most associated with writers like Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. So, when reading The Three-Body Problem, expect traditional,
And yet Liu takes that basic story template and turns out a story that is deceptively intriguing and fresh, the most obvious difference being how those science fiction premises of first-contact and interstellar travel are embedded in a historical and cultural context we rarely see in the genre. How familiar are most westerners to the machinations of China’s purges and Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s? Probably not too familiar. I had an inkling, but only in general terms, and I had no idea there was systemic targeting of scientists as well as the scientific theories themselves (Einstein is regarded as reactionary and the Theory of Relatively as counter revolutionary!). It was riveting to see this re-education/censorship process play out. The Chinese historical context isn’t merely background or circumstantial either; it plays a critical role. In fact, the fate of humanity is basically decided by Ye Wenjie, the young physicist who harbors a bitterness and alienation that can be traced neatly back to the trauma and violence of the Cultural Revolution that took her father’s life and practically brainwashed her mother and sister.
With that kind of past, Ye Wenjie is a compelling character and I wish we had stayed with her the whole way instead of slipping into the viewpoint of Wang Miao, who is as bland and unconvincing as they come. Miao’s main purpose seemed to be to act as a sounding board for other, more interesting characters in the book and to be our hook into the virtual reality video game that later dominates the middle chapters.
There is a lot of hard science here, though nothing like what you would be served on a plate from an author like Neal Stephenson. But where Three-Body really soars is in the philosophical quandaries that it asks us to ponder in the context of real human history.
“Is it possible that the relationship between humanity and evil is similar to the relationship between the ocean and an iceberg floating on its surface? Both the ocean and the iceberg are made of the same material. That the iceberg seems separate is only because it is in a different form. In reality, it is but a part of the vast ocean.”
Liu spends a lot of time planting several mysteries at the beginning of the book that unfold in riveting ways: scientists are disappearing or committing suicide en masse; there are strange signals being picked up (something going awry with cosmic radiation readings) on a military installation in the mountains; and a slew of people are becoming obsessed with a video game called ‘Three Body.’ Of course, it’s all related, but how? Like stone blocks being used to build a pyramid, each little mystery is a structural element that forms the bigger, wider mystery: Contact with the aliens has been forced as a kind of judgment on humanity, so now what? What can we expect from that encounter? Does humanity deserve its fate?
Learning about the existence of the Trisolarians isn’t the big reveal, see. A greater revelation is the evolution of the Earth-Trisolaria Movement bent on opening the way for the invasion/arrival of these alien interlopers. The movement itself breaks into various factions, with their own dueling philosophies. Liu’s speculative sociological what-if thought experiment in the book elegantly echoes the real-life warring factions that erupted during the Cultural Revolution. Liu cleverly uses history to prefigure this speculative future.
This is an idea-driven novel. The science is sound, or at least the theoretical underpinnings appear well-researched and clearly explained. The title itself comes from a classic physics problem that has never been solved and directly informs the plot and basic story structure. But like all good sci-fi novels, the big ideas aren’t just there to stonewall laypersons but to let the characters (and the reader) mull them over introspectively over a cold beer. Theoretical physics as the new Philosophy? Perhaps it is, as Liu himself argues in the postscript of the novel: “I’ve always felt that the greatest and most beautiful stories in the history of humanity were not sung by wandering bards or written by playwrights or novelists, but told by science. The stories of science are by far more magnificent, grand, involved, profound, thrilling, strange, terrifying, mysterious, and even emotional to the stories told by literature.” Books like Three Body show that there is, indeed, a golden vein of poetry in ideas like the Big Bang—nothing that any creationist myth or religion can touch. Three billion years of evolution of life on our planet? The ultimate epic. Space and time and relativity and quantum mechanics? Visionary set pieces. Man’s imagination is great but pales in comparison to the universe’s greatest mysteries.
Liu’s translated prose style isn’t that impressive, but it is tight and clean in its plainness, a perfect conduit for getting those big, philosophical ideas and scientific concepts across. Character development is probably the weakest aspect of the book, but the unique, imaginative ideas and the fact that we hardly ever see translations of sci-fi traditions that developed separately from western ideals make this a fascinating read. It’s interesting to read a book that was such a runaway bestseller in China (especially considering how pathetic some of our own bestsellers are in the U.S.; case-in-point: 50 Shades).
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sometimes boilerplate story elements.And yet Liu takes that basic story template and turns out a story that is deceptively intriguing and fresh, the most obvious difference being how those science fiction premises of first-contact and interstellar travel are embedded in a historical and cultural context we rarely see in the genre. How familiar are most westerners to the machinations of China’s purges and Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s? Probably not too familiar. I had an inkling, but only in general terms, and I had no idea there was systemic targeting of scientists as well as the scientific theories themselves (Einstein is regarded as reactionary and the Theory of Relatively as counter revolutionary!). It was riveting to see this re-education/censorship process play out. The Chinese historical context isn’t merely background or circumstantial either; it plays a critical role. In fact,
With that kind of past, Ye Wenjie is a compelling character and I wish we had stayed with her the whole way instead of slipping into the viewpoint of Wang Miao, who is as bland and unconvincing as they come. Miao’s main purpose seemed to be to act as a sounding board for other, more interesting characters in the book and to be our hook into the virtual reality video game that later dominates the middle chapters.
There is a lot of hard science here, though nothing like what you would be served on a plate from an author like Neal Stephenson. But where Three-Body really soars is in the philosophical quandaries that it asks us to ponder in the context of real human history.
“Is it possible that the relationship between humanity and evil is similar to the relationship between the ocean and an iceberg floating on its surface? Both the ocean and the iceberg are made of the same material. That the iceberg seems separate is only because it is in a different form. In reality, it is but a part of the vast ocean.”
Liu spends a lot of time planting several mysteries at the beginning of the book that unfold in riveting ways: scientists are disappearing or committing suicide en masse; there are strange signals being picked up (something going awry with cosmic radiation readings) on a military installation in the mountains; and a slew of people are becoming obsessed with a video game called ‘Three Body.’ Of course, it’s all related, but how? Like stone blocks being used to build a pyramid, each little mystery is a structural element that forms the bigger, wider mystery: Contact with the aliens has been forced as a kind of judgment on humanity, so now what? What can we expect from that encounter? Does humanity deserve its fate?
Learning about the existence of the Trisolarians isn’t the big reveal, see. A greater revelation is the evolution of the Earth-Trisolaria Movement bent on opening the way for the invasion/arrival of these alien interlopers. The movement itself breaks into various factions, with their own dueling philosophies. Liu’s speculative sociological what-if thought experiment in the book elegantly echoes the real-life warring factions that erupted during the Cultural Revolution. Liu cleverly uses history to prefigure this speculative future.
This is an idea-driven novel. The science is sound, or at least the theoretical underpinnings appear well-researched and clearly explained. The title itself comes from a classic physics problem that has never been solved and directly informs the plot and basic story structure. But like all good sci-fi novels, the big ideas aren’t just there to stonewall laypersons but to let the characters (and the reader) mull them over introspectively over a cold beer. Theoretical physics as the new Philosophy? Perhaps it is, as Liu himself argues in the postscript of the novel: “I’ve always felt that the greatest and most beautiful stories in the history of humanity were not sung by wandering bards or written by playwrights or novelists, but told by science. The stories of science are by far more magnificent, grand, involved, profound, thrilling, strange, terrifying, mysterious, and even emotional to the stories told by literature.” Books like Three Body show that there is, indeed, a golden vein of poetry in ideas like the Big Bang—nothing that any creationist myth or religion can touch. Three billion years of evolution of life on our planet? The ultimate epic. Space and time and relativity and quantum mechanics? Visionary set pieces. Man’s imagination is great but pales in comparison to the universe’s greatest mysteries.
Liu’s translated prose style isn’t that impressive, but it is tight and clean in its plainness, a perfect conduit for getting those big, philosophical ideas and scientific concepts across. Character development is probably the weakest aspect of the book, but the unique, imaginative ideas and the fact that we hardly ever see translations of sci-fi traditions that developed separately from western ideals make this a fascinating read. It’s interesting to read a book that was such a runaway bestseller in China (especially considering how pathetic some of our own bestsellers are in the U.S.; case-in-point: 50 Shades).
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LibraryThing member UnderMyAppleTree
I read this for my bookclub, otherwise I would have stopped by one-third the way through. I love science fiction and rarely want to throw down a book in frustration, but this one was so tedious it fit the bill!
Interesting premise that was never really developed because there was way too much
Interesting premise that was never really developed because there was way too much
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physics. Characters were unlikable and the plot was difficult to follow. And then at the end . . . there really wasn't one! This is book one in a trilogy. Ugh. No thanks. Show Less
LibraryThing member paulmorriss
This left me a little cold, even though it's highly rated. I kept reading to the end though, and didn't regret it.
LibraryThing member Petroglyph
Meh. I had to force myself to stay with this one, until the final quarter or so, which is the point when the various plot points and themes meet up and the plot becomes interesting. Incidentally, it’s only then that you find out what kind of story this is: it is a first contact story . I can’t
Overall, I felt this novel suffered a little from two serious defects. One is that there is too much telling instead of showing. The other is a certain monotony: the various plotlines, flashbacks and game worlds felt a tad too separate to me (they come together only towards the very end), but their respective main characters and/or focalizers are not different enough as characters to make the various lines feel all that different. The result is a sense of tedium.
In fact, the main characters themselves are a good example of why this book didn’t do it for me: they all felt pretty much like the same person -- observant, reticent and cautious science geniuses who, we are repeatedly told, are exceptionally brilliant / good at what they do, but who are seldom actually shown to be so. Instead, they wander around their plotline, listening to exposition and reacting to what happens to them, until they make one plot-impacting decision. There’s very little in the way of actual characterization to differentiate these almost-but-not-quite characters. And that, writ large, made me feel pretty meh about the book as a whole.
I don’t think I’ll be reading the other books in this trilogy. This first instalment gained some real momentum towards the end, and introduced a couple of neat ideas that really appealed to me, but I don’t think I feel up to the slog.
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decide if that is a good thing (measured buildup) or a bad thing (sudden genre shift). Overall, I felt this novel suffered a little from two serious defects. One is that there is too much telling instead of showing. The other is a certain monotony: the various plotlines, flashbacks and game worlds felt a tad too separate to me (they come together only towards the very end), but their respective main characters and/or focalizers are not different enough as characters to make the various lines feel all that different. The result is a sense of tedium.
In fact, the main characters themselves are a good example of why this book didn’t do it for me: they all felt pretty much like the same person -- observant, reticent and cautious science geniuses who, we are repeatedly told, are exceptionally brilliant / good at what they do, but who are seldom actually shown to be so. Instead, they wander around their plotline, listening to exposition and reacting to what happens to them, until they make one plot-impacting decision. There’s very little in the way of actual characterization to differentiate these almost-but-not-quite characters. And that, writ large, made me feel pretty meh about the book as a whole.
I don’t think I’ll be reading the other books in this trilogy. This first instalment gained some real momentum towards the end, and introduced a couple of neat ideas that really appealed to me, but I don’t think I feel up to the slog.
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LibraryThing member DarthDeverell
Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem focuses on the scientist Wang Miao, whom the Chinese government recruits to join the ETO in order to investigate the deaths of several prominent scientists. He works with a police detective, Shi Qiang, whose experience thinking outside-the-box helps him begin to
In a 2015 interview with Gizmodo, Liu cited George Orwell and Arthur C. Clarke among his literary influences and that shows in The Three-Body Problem. His characters and focus on the scientific and cultural impact of discovering alien life recall Clarke’s themes, though Liu writes them in his own voice. He similarly avoids giving a physical description of the Trisolarans, so that they can be as alien as the reader wishes, though his portrayal of their politics reflects Orwell’s influence. One of the Trisolarans attempted to protect the Earth after initial contact, defending his warning to Earth, “To permit the survival of the civilization as a whole, there is almost no respect for the individual. Someone who can no longer work is put to death. Trisolaran society exists under a state of extreme authoritarianism… Anything that can lead to spiritual weakness is declared evil. We have no literature, no art, no pursuit of beauty and enjoyment. We cannot even speak of love… Princeps, is there meaning to such a life?” (pg. 353). This further builds on the themes Liu explores about the impact of the Cultural Revolution. He also adds an environmental focus to his science fiction, directly referencing Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring at one point.
Liu writes in his postscript, “There’s a strange contradiction revealed by the naïveté and kindness demonstrated by humanity when faced with the universe. On Earth, humankind can step onto another continent, and without a thought, destroy the kindred civilizations found there through warfare and disease. But when they gaze up at the stars, they turn sentimental and believe that if extraterrestrial intelligences exist, they must be civilizations bound by universal, noble, moral constraints, as if cherishing and loving different forms of life are parts of a self-evident universal code of conduct” (pg. 395). He seeks to disrupt that and show a human society banding together, hence his focus on the various Earth governments and their respective militaries and intelligence agencies finding common cause. Liu’s work ranks among the best works of hard science-fiction currently in print and will entertain sci-fi fans around the world. The Three-Body Problem references events from Liu’s previous work, Ball Lightning, and led to two sequels, creating the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy.
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uncover a mystery with grave implications for humanity. They learn of a program from the 1970s called Red Coast, in which the Chinese government attempted to contact the stars much like similar efforts in the West at that time. One of those involved at Red Coast summarized the optimistic approach, saying, “How wonderful it will be if the universe really contains other intelligences and other societies! Bystanders have the clearest view. Someone truly neutral will then be able to comment on whether we’re the heroes or villains of history” (pg. 173). Ye Wenjie, an astrophysicist working at Red Coast, was swept up in the chaos of the Cultural Revolution. Everything she witnessed caused her to lose her faith in humanity so that, when Red Coast receives an answer from the Trisolaran civilization in the nearby Alpha Centauri system. Ye sends a secret message telling the Trisolarans to come and conquer Earth. She later found the Earth-Trisolaris Organization to help prepare humanity for the Trisolaran invasion, recruiting others who believe humanity requires outside help. One member summarized their views, saying, “I’ve lost hope in the human race after what I’ve seen in recent years. Human society is incapable of self-improvement, and we need the intervention of an outside force” (pg. 229).In a 2015 interview with Gizmodo, Liu cited George Orwell and Arthur C. Clarke among his literary influences and that shows in The Three-Body Problem. His characters and focus on the scientific and cultural impact of discovering alien life recall Clarke’s themes, though Liu writes them in his own voice. He similarly avoids giving a physical description of the Trisolarans, so that they can be as alien as the reader wishes, though his portrayal of their politics reflects Orwell’s influence. One of the Trisolarans attempted to protect the Earth after initial contact, defending his warning to Earth, “To permit the survival of the civilization as a whole, there is almost no respect for the individual. Someone who can no longer work is put to death. Trisolaran society exists under a state of extreme authoritarianism… Anything that can lead to spiritual weakness is declared evil. We have no literature, no art, no pursuit of beauty and enjoyment. We cannot even speak of love… Princeps, is there meaning to such a life?” (pg. 353). This further builds on the themes Liu explores about the impact of the Cultural Revolution. He also adds an environmental focus to his science fiction, directly referencing Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring at one point.
Liu writes in his postscript, “There’s a strange contradiction revealed by the naïveté and kindness demonstrated by humanity when faced with the universe. On Earth, humankind can step onto another continent, and without a thought, destroy the kindred civilizations found there through warfare and disease. But when they gaze up at the stars, they turn sentimental and believe that if extraterrestrial intelligences exist, they must be civilizations bound by universal, noble, moral constraints, as if cherishing and loving different forms of life are parts of a self-evident universal code of conduct” (pg. 395). He seeks to disrupt that and show a human society banding together, hence his focus on the various Earth governments and their respective militaries and intelligence agencies finding common cause. Liu’s work ranks among the best works of hard science-fiction currently in print and will entertain sci-fi fans around the world. The Three-Body Problem references events from Liu’s previous work, Ball Lightning, and led to two sequels, creating the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy.
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LibraryThing member ronploude
Having heard about this Chinese science fiction writer for several years, I decided to read his signature book, The Three Body Problem. It was a disappointment. The book had little drama. Its science fiction premise, an alien species that dehydrates its populace, restarts its civilization, and
Maybe I'll change my mind in the future. As of this time, however, I'm not interested in reading the sequel.
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rebuilds its infrastructure after every natural disaster, is unbelievable. Maybe I'll change my mind in the future. As of this time, however, I'm not interested in reading the sequel.
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LibraryThing member slothman
An interesting take on a SETI contact novel, where the aliens aren’t present but have huge influence. The first part of the book has a good buildup and unfolding exposition, but the “big idea” denoument relies increasingly on telling, rather than showing, and the characters that are so well
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portrayed in the buildup wind up being sidelined by the rush to reveal the big picture at the end. I found it rather disappointing to have the book wrap up that way after a really good setup. Show Less
LibraryThing member P1g5purt
Disappointing. Some interesting ideas but poorly written ( or perhaps something is lost in translation? ) Some cheesy dialogue and overly reliant on "data dumps"
LibraryThing member Awfki
2015-05-09/0%: Kind of looking forward to this as it seems more thoughtful than a lot of stuff I've read recently, but then also not really into anything too heavy. Also, Ancillary Sword will come after this one and I'm kind of anxious about that.
2015-05-10/~45%: Good stuff but very dry. I don't
2015-05-11/62%: The further I get the less I like it. We progressed from emo-scientists who kill themselves when they find something they don't understand to pessimist scientists who think we should murder all the humans so some random aliens can take over the earth. WTF? I have no doubt you find plenty of morons to join the alien cult but so many things in this book are destroying my ability to suspend disbelief. Ugh.
2015-05-11/100%: That just got progressively less fun as it went, even allowing some slack for cultural differences it just didn't work for me. Also, no hero. No one even vaguely heroic in the story. And when I say "hero" I really just mean "protagonist". Just a bunch of whiny quitters feeling sorry for themselves.
Hugo Summary/4: This doesn't work for me as the best book of the year. It's not bad but it's not that good either.
2015-05-10/~45%: Good stuff but very dry. I don't
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understand why the science types are in panic mode. I'd think that random results for the high energy experiments would have physicists jumping with joy. I mean, exciting new questions, right? New puzzles to work out and stuff to learn. Instead the scientists in the book are getting all weepy and offing themselves. Huh?2015-05-11/62%: The further I get the less I like it. We progressed from emo-scientists who kill themselves when they find something they don't understand to pessimist scientists who think we should murder all the humans so some random aliens can take over the earth. WTF? I have no doubt you find plenty of morons to join the alien cult but so many things in this book are destroying my ability to suspend disbelief. Ugh.
2015-05-11/100%: That just got progressively less fun as it went, even allowing some slack for cultural differences it just didn't work for me. Also, no hero. No one even vaguely heroic in the story. And when I say "hero" I really just mean "protagonist". Just a bunch of whiny quitters feeling sorry for themselves.
Hugo Summary/4: This doesn't work for me as the best book of the year. It's not bad but it's not that good either.
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LibraryThing member jwhenderson
I found this book slow and uninteresting at times. The pace quickened after the first hundred pages but did not impress me despite, or because of, the author's style.
LibraryThing member santhony
I have read an enormous amount of science fiction over the years. So much so that many of the truly original future and alien constructs have become almost clichéd. Let’s face it; it is hard to be original with so much having been written within the genre. I was therefore intrigued to discover
As one story thread deals with the present day, and pending alien encounter, another has its basis in the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The threads come together quite well in the end. But, of course, it is not the end, as this is the first book of a trilogy.
Without revealing spoilers, suffice it to say that the plot is well laid and the story moves along at a good pace. The alien life forms presented in the story are quite original and intriguing. There is not a whole lot of “hard” science fiction or technical jargon, yet there is enough to keep the reader thinking. In many ways, it as similar to some of the work of Ursula LeGuin, who excelled in what I might refer to as sociological or anthropological science fiction. Definitely worth a read and I will proceed to the second book of the trilogy.
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this work, translated from the Chinese. Not only is this science fiction, but it is also an excellent history lesson for those interested in the Chinese Cultural and Communist Revolutions.As one story thread deals with the present day, and pending alien encounter, another has its basis in the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The threads come together quite well in the end. But, of course, it is not the end, as this is the first book of a trilogy.
Without revealing spoilers, suffice it to say that the plot is well laid and the story moves along at a good pace. The alien life forms presented in the story are quite original and intriguing. There is not a whole lot of “hard” science fiction or technical jargon, yet there is enough to keep the reader thinking. In many ways, it as similar to some of the work of Ursula LeGuin, who excelled in what I might refer to as sociological or anthropological science fiction. Definitely worth a read and I will proceed to the second book of the trilogy.
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LibraryThing member Shrike58
While I try to read all the Hugo-winning novels eventually my basic response to this book is that if the efforts to sabotage the normal course of Hugo voting in 2015 hadn't occurred this book wouldn't have won, as while it has its virtues there were better books that would have been on the final
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ballot; particularly Robert Bennett's "City of Stairs" (never mind Jeff VanderMeer's Nebula-winning "Annihilation"). The irony is that while the "Sad/Rabid Puppy" bloc had an issue with novels that were overtly polemical (unless they were of their preferred polemical stripe), whatever else you want to say about this novel is that it's quite polemical, Liu, as much as anything else, having written a rebuttal to Carl Sagan's "Contact" (Liu being much more skeptical of the likely turn of events in the case of first contact for Humanity). On the other hand, Liu also seems to have an issue with a certain East Asian mentality where much is excused on the basis of "sincerity," as his traumatized female protagonist undertakes dubious actions out of the sincere belief that the book's aliens have to be superior to humans. The more I think about it the more this work reminds me of something that might have been written by Kurt Vonnegut. As for myself I found the best writing in this book to be the initial section depicting a Red Guards' "reeducation" session turned ugly; nothing else I read quite measured up to it. Show Less
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 2015)
Nebula Award (Nominee — Novel — 2014)
Locus Award (Finalist — Science Fiction Novel — 2015)
John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (Finalist — 2015)
Italia Award (Finalist — 2018)
Prometheus Award (Nominee — Novel — 2015)
Kurd Laßwitz Preis (Winner — 2017)
Chinese American Librarians Association Best Book Award (Winner — Fiction — 2014)
NPR: Books We Love (2014)
The Observer Book of the Year (Science Fiction and Fantasy — 2015)
Pages
416
ISBN
9780765382030