Three-Body Problem

English language

Published Dec. 24, 2021 by Head of Zeus, Head of Zeus -- an AdAstra Book.

ISBN:
978-1-80024-917-2
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4 stars (5 reviews)

Cixin Liu's trilogy-opening novel about first contact with aliens and the clandestine struggle with them over Earth's future, and its scientific progress in particular.

11 editions

Review of 'Three-Body Problem' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

SPOILERS THO

The three-body problem in physics states that although it is trivial to model the path of two bodies (e.g. binary stars) revolving around each other, it is currently impossible to create a model that can accurately predict the future positions of three bodies around each other, as minute instabilities add up over time to create a chaotic system. This book postulates that the nearest star to the earth, Alpha Centauri, as a ternary star system, is such a chaotic system; despite its unpredictability, a race of sentient species have evolved to sentience on an immensely inhospitable planet. When they learn of the existence of Earth, and realize it is in a stable solar system with a relatively mild climate, what would such a civilization do?

The book reminds me of Carl Sagan's "Contact" (well, the movie; I haven't read the book) but goes beyond the touchy-feely aspects of …

reviewed 三体 by Cixin Liu (“地球往事”三部曲之一)

Review of '三体' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

The Three Body Problem is the best piece of hard science fiction I've read this year. At first I thought I'd have issues keeping track of the Chinese names because it seemed like there were so many characters and some had nicknames (aka the Anna Karenina problem), but as the story went on it became clear that it was all the same people, just over an immense time span. The narrative style is at times dry and didactic. It felt like I was reading a history book written in the far future and translated back into English. But now that I've finished, I think the unusual narrative style is part of the fun. The translator's note at the end actually shed some light on it: he deliberately tried to keep the feeling that this was a different literary tradition.

Despite the quibbles, The Three Body Problem gets four stars from …

Subjects

  • Fiction, science fiction, general