The Three-Body Problem
by Cixin Liu
The American screen adaptation of The Three-Body Problem became available on Netflix in March 2024—the first book in Chinese sci-fi writer Cixin Liu’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy. The combination of Cultural Revolution trauma and advanced physics is compelling.
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“This book was actually written in 2006, but not translated into English until 2014. We now have the complete trilogy in English, as well as a Netflix adaptation, and it’s a big name among sci fi fans. Much of the book is spent guessing at the bigger-picture plot, so I don’t want to give too much of that away… The guessing happens in the company of nanotechnologist Wang Miao and detective Shi Qiang, who are investigating the multiple suicides of prominent scientists. In the course of their investigations, they play a VR game called ‘Three Body’.” Read more...
“In the first book of the trilogy, science basically stops working on Earth, and there’s a big puzzle as to why. Particle accelerators start giving random results, and a bunch of scientists commit suicide. It is then revealed that an alien civilisation is at the origin of those events. These aliens themselves are going through a systemic collapse, and they create an AI that they send across space to take control of another civilisation” Read more...
The best books on Existential Risks
The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, Scientist
