The Three-Body Problem
Aliens! Physics! Deep and difficult questions about whether humanity is inherently evil!
I have to admit that I was wary going in to The Three-Body Problem. It was a best-seller in China in 2009 and was just translated to English last year. I've heard a lot of people express difficulties about it. The language is stilted and the story seems to jump and focus on strange things. Some of that is cultural differences, others may be put down to translation. The point is that despite the great reputation of the book, I had some pretty low expectations.
So I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Yes, it does jump around a lot. There's a game that seems to come out of nowhere and initially put me in mind of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, which I found difficult. The aliens are weird and you have to seriously suspend your disbelief to accept them. But the science side of things was awesome, and I absolutely loved one of the main characters, Ye Wenjie.
It's probably a little weird to sympathize with Ye. She does some horrible things, including murdering two men and inviting an alien civilization to conquer humanity. There's also some implication that she drove her daughter to suicide. But her nihilistic outlook is something I can understand, even if she's bleakly pessimistic and I'm more optimistic. And considering that she lost absolutely everything in the Cultural Revolution, it's understandable that she comes to the conclusion that humanity is incapable of salvation and decides to take some revenge.
I also appreciated the translator's notes, which note only provided insight into the ins and outs of the Cultural Revolution, but explained some science and pointed out passages that had been puns in the original language. I had a very easy time following the science and was interested in the directions the author went with it.
Like I said, you have to accept some out-there concepts. The biggest one is the alien's planet. It's the only planet orbiting a three-sun system. The suns give the book it's title. The three-body problem is very likely unsolvable because it represents a chaotic system. There's no stable state for the suns to exist in, thus there's no stable orbit for the planet. Given the chaotic nature of things as simple as day and night, it's hard to believe life could ever form on this planet, let alone intelligent life, let alone a civilization more advanced than our own. But it certainly gives them a good motivation for invading Earth.
The book ends on a weird cliff-hanger, which should be expected as it's the first in a trilogy. I'm not sure how much I care about finding out what happens next, but I am glad I read this one at least.
I have to admit that I was wary going in to The Three-Body Problem. It was a best-seller in China in 2009 and was just translated to English last year. I've heard a lot of people express difficulties about it. The language is stilted and the story seems to jump and focus on strange things. Some of that is cultural differences, others may be put down to translation. The point is that despite the great reputation of the book, I had some pretty low expectations.
So I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Yes, it does jump around a lot. There's a game that seems to come out of nowhere and initially put me in mind of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, which I found difficult. The aliens are weird and you have to seriously suspend your disbelief to accept them. But the science side of things was awesome, and I absolutely loved one of the main characters, Ye Wenjie.
It's probably a little weird to sympathize with Ye. She does some horrible things, including murdering two men and inviting an alien civilization to conquer humanity. There's also some implication that she drove her daughter to suicide. But her nihilistic outlook is something I can understand, even if she's bleakly pessimistic and I'm more optimistic. And considering that she lost absolutely everything in the Cultural Revolution, it's understandable that she comes to the conclusion that humanity is incapable of salvation and decides to take some revenge.
I also appreciated the translator's notes, which note only provided insight into the ins and outs of the Cultural Revolution, but explained some science and pointed out passages that had been puns in the original language. I had a very easy time following the science and was interested in the directions the author went with it.
Like I said, you have to accept some out-there concepts. The biggest one is the alien's planet. It's the only planet orbiting a three-sun system. The suns give the book it's title. The three-body problem is very likely unsolvable because it represents a chaotic system. There's no stable state for the suns to exist in, thus there's no stable orbit for the planet. Given the chaotic nature of things as simple as day and night, it's hard to believe life could ever form on this planet, let alone intelligent life, let alone a civilization more advanced than our own. But it certainly gives them a good motivation for invading Earth.
The book ends on a weird cliff-hanger, which should be expected as it's the first in a trilogy. I'm not sure how much I care about finding out what happens next, but I am glad I read this one at least.
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