Short comments by President Obama on the book:
http://www.tor.com/2017/01/17/barack-obama-books-the-three-body-problem/
I started reading this and it really is quite good.
Wee little correction:
“where you[’]d put one person”
Started reading this after it was on a $2.99 sale (missed the free Tor download). About 60% of the way through book 1 and I’m enjoying it.
Are there any issues with translation or following the plot?
I have heard good things about the book, but not sure if its worth reading.
The only part I found interesting was the section set during the Chinese Cultural Revolution period, and only because I was not personally familiar with the details of that time. FWIW.
No issues here. I found it fascinating, as it is truly an alien view of the world, but also a pretty neat story. The sequels were lesser quality, but I enjoyed them all.
Thanks, I was asking since I am not a big sci-fi reader and I prefer fantasy.
It’s so dry. If you’re not big into science fiction ideas and science stuff, I can’t imagine getting much out of it.
It is indeed. If you don’t enjoy scifi you probably won’t enjoy it.
The Cultural Revolution portions are very interesting to me as well, even though I ended up a History Major (after Chemical Engineering, English and International Economics phases), I never really studied Chinese history. I had no idea it was so recent, and thought it was timed similarly to the Bolshevik revolution.
I really enjoyed the first booked, but the latter two got a little too bizarre for my taste.
The first half or so of TBP was enjoyable, but I found myself having to force myself to finish it. I never bothered with the other two.
There are some great “yeah fuck you aliens, humans rule!” moments in the later ones, much like Niven’s classic Footfall.
Yes, the first book was work though I don’t regret it. It was my first foray into Chinese SF.
This story made me think of The TBP. Life imitates art.
" Tardigrades are known as one of the toughest creatures on Earth. They are microscopic, measuring about 0.012 to 0.020 inches in length, and can withstand temperatures of up to 304 degrees Fahrenheit and can survive being frozen alive. They (tardigrades) can also live without water for up to a decade by shriveling up and placing themselves in a state of suspended animation—a trait DARPA is currently studying in the hope of preserving soldiers injured on the battlefield.
I’ve read all three books in the trilogy at this point (I hadn’t, earlier in the thread) and they are my favorite scifi trilogy ever. Also, everything in them is coming to pass. In short, Earth should STFU.
Also amazing scifi: Children of Time / Children of Ruin. But not a trilogy (yet?)!
Haha, that’s funny you recommend Children of Time: the friend that told me to read the Three Body Problem recommended that one to me as well.
I’ve finished the first book and I am sharing @Miramon’s opinion.
I had somewhat issues with the translation, because I felt it was hesitating between overadaptating at times, and being very close to the original material at others, leading to very strangely romantic tirades, and then some super naive exposition, as translating those is very hard if I am to trust my experience on the matter with another Asian language.
I found quite hilarious how accessory some characters were, like Wang’s family, perhaps revealing quite something about the author; as could be revealing some naive ideas spread around the book. I couldn’t shake that strange feeling that he sometimes writes the exact opposite of what are his convictions, just as the ultimate skepitcal proposition and a way to challenge his own thinking. Science is everything and amazing, he tells us repeatedly, yet scientists in the book are split between boring, cold and frankly quite limited Wang, and the insane megalomaniac Ye.
Overall it was an interesting tone. It felt like somebody who despairs in human race and then is trying to write the most optimistic story he could think of, and that optimism he could only gather by proceeding to destroy the human race. Whatever it takes!
I think more than the story itself, I am quite fond of the person writing it that I can feel behind.
OMFG.
I started reading Three Body problem: Death’s End a few days ago. Start was a little rough but it was amazing once they started getting into it.
Then I come here. Chinese cultural revolution? I don’t remember any of that. Wait… google… Oh… so I’m reading book 3 of 3. GREAT!
I finished Death’s End on Sunday. Blew threw the entire trilogy in a week.
The ending of Death’s End still haunts me. SPOILERS: It’s as depressing as I’ve imagined the universe to be. Star Trek conditions us to believe in some kind of utopian future, and you get the feeling that Cheng Xin watched a bit too much Star Trek. How she lives with herself after she realizes how many times she screws over humanity is beyond me.
I’ve just finished Death’s End as well and wow - the full trilogy is about as ambitious as a project as any I’ve read.
Anyone who finished Three Body Problem and enjoyed the concepts introduced in the book really owe it to themselves to read the other two.