Paperback, 432 pages
French language
Published Sept. 13, 2016 by Actes Sud.
The Three-Body Problem (Chinese: 三体; lit. 'Three-Body'; pinyin: sān tǐ) is a science fiction novel by the Chinese writer Liu Cixin. The title refers to the three-body problem in orbital mechanics. It is the first novel of the Remembrance of Earth's Past (Chinese: 地球往事) trilogy, but Chinese readers generally call the whole series The Three-Body Problem. The trilogy's second and third novels are The Dark Forest and Death's End. The Three-Body Problem was serialized in Science Fiction World in 2006 and published as a book in 2008. It became one of the most popular science fiction novels in China. It received the Chinese Science Fiction Yinhe ("Galaxy") Award in 2006. A Chinese film adaptation of the same name was in production by 2015, but halted soon after. The English translation by Ken Liu was published by Tor Books in 2014. Thereafter, it became the first Asian novel ever to win …
The Three-Body Problem (Chinese: 三体; lit. 'Three-Body'; pinyin: sān tǐ) is a science fiction novel by the Chinese writer Liu Cixin. The title refers to the three-body problem in orbital mechanics. It is the first novel of the Remembrance of Earth's Past (Chinese: 地球往事) trilogy, but Chinese readers generally call the whole series The Three-Body Problem. The trilogy's second and third novels are The Dark Forest and Death's End. The Three-Body Problem was serialized in Science Fiction World in 2006 and published as a book in 2008. It became one of the most popular science fiction novels in China. It received the Chinese Science Fiction Yinhe ("Galaxy") Award in 2006. A Chinese film adaptation of the same name was in production by 2015, but halted soon after. The English translation by Ken Liu was published by Tor Books in 2014. Thereafter, it became the first Asian novel ever to win a Hugo Award for Best Novel, and was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel.The series portrays a future where, in the first book, the Earth is awaiting an invasion from the closest star system, which in this universe consists of three solar-type stars orbiting each other in an unstable three-body system, with a single Earth-like planet unhappily being passed among them and suffering extremes of heat and cold, as well as the repeated destruction of its intelligent civilizations.
Content warning And I loved violin playing Albert
It was an interesting read. Somewhat hard to get into the story, but then it was making me turn pages and I could barely put it down. I loved some of the sci-fi ideas presented there.
J'ai passé un bon moment à lire le problème des trois corps. C'est bien écrit, avec une structure narrative intéressante qui fait qu'on rentre facilement dans l'histoire. J'ai beaucoup apprécié de lire un livre chinois, dans un contexte et une histoire qui change du tout-étatunien de la science fiction, que je connais mal et que j'ai trouvé vraiment intéressant. Le côté science-fiction "dure" est aussi plaisant, on comprends dès le départ qu'il est féru de physique et qu'on va se plonger dans des questions théoriques, et ça fait du bien. Maintenant venons aux aspects négatifs : déjà il faut bien le dire, si j'ai trouvé que c'était un bon livre, je ne comprends pas sa réputation internationale, il y a plusieurs points (comme la société des tri***) que je trouve assez bancals et pas très crédibles. Si le sujet est amené de manière originale et prenante, on en arrive au …
J'ai passé un bon moment à lire le problème des trois corps. C'est bien écrit, avec une structure narrative intéressante qui fait qu'on rentre facilement dans l'histoire. J'ai beaucoup apprécié de lire un livre chinois, dans un contexte et une histoire qui change du tout-étatunien de la science fiction, que je connais mal et que j'ai trouvé vraiment intéressant. Le côté science-fiction "dure" est aussi plaisant, on comprends dès le départ qu'il est féru de physique et qu'on va se plonger dans des questions théoriques, et ça fait du bien. Maintenant venons aux aspects négatifs : déjà il faut bien le dire, si j'ai trouvé que c'était un bon livre, je ne comprends pas sa réputation internationale, il y a plusieurs points (comme la société des tri***) que je trouve assez bancals et pas très crédibles. Si le sujet est amené de manière originale et prenante, on en arrive au final à un scénario assez classique dans la science fiction et que j'ai trouvé un peu décevant. Enfin, le côté physique prenant du début finit par être pesant dans les derniers chapitres (comme avec les protons à 11 dimensions qui m'ont clairement perdus). Évidemment, je vais lire les deux livres suivants pour me faire une idée de la trilogie et peut-être que je me rangerais à l'avis dithyrambique de pas mal de mondes. Mais en attendant, ça m'a pas fait tomber de ma chaise. (Il faut sans doute également noter que l'auteur a apparemment apporté son soutien à la politique chinoise au Xinjiang d'après le New Yorker)
Set my imagination off, but felt like a stream of ideas.
Content warning This book is intensely political.
Everyone loves this, but I can't understand why nobody seems to be put off, or at least puzzled, but the way that every human individual or organization in the book is just relentlessly awful, ranging from suicidal to genocidal, and everything in-between, without respite.
Most of them, given any chance at all, are trying hard to selfishly save their own skins, with not a moment's regard for the fact that their plans will immediately doom the rest of the human race. Those not intent on self preservation at any cost are instead committed to bitter nihilism, such as the ultimate eco terrorists, who feel that to save the Earth's biosphere they must collaborate with alien forces to bring about humanity's defeat, and likely annhialation.
These characters and groups are not intended as outliers. They simply represent the world, as it is, in its entirety. The only thing that holds back this tide of destructive behavior is the government, who keeps everyone in line.
I can't tell how much of this bizarrely one-sided depiction of humanity is a deliberate choice by the author Liu Cixin, versus simply being an unplanned exposure of the author's worldview. Does his native Chinese immersion in authoritarianism form a subconscious backdrop to everything he wrote here, or is he making the deliberate point that strong government is absolutely necessary?
Liu Cixin has since gone on record in support of the Chinese government's internment of Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang. There, people have been rounded up, because of their ethnicity, into over 400 internment camps. The camps administer cultural and religious re-education, forced labor, involuntary sterilization and abortion. This is something Liu Cixin is openly in favor of.
It makes my skin crawl to read that, and then carry on blithely with this book, which seems to be an unapologetic justification for authoritarian government imposing its will on an unwilling people. I did finish it, but have no desire to read the sequels - and not just because I don't agree with its politics. I genuinely found the behavior of all the characters to be demented and incessantly frustrating.
Spannend aufgebaut mit verschiedenen Handlungssträngen, die sich irgendwann zusammenfügen. Technische / physikalische Grundprinzipien auch für mich als Laien verständlich dargestellt. Und die Frage nach dem "First Contact" mit all ihren Implikationen wurde toll beackert. Zusätzlich erfährt von noch etwas über die jüngere chinesische Geschichte.
The first few chapters had me darting to and from Wikipedia to help add some context to a story that is deeply set in the Chinese Cultural Revolution. It',s a triviality to call the story complex, a mystery than unfolds through the book. Be warned this is the first in a trilogy and a very much sets itself up this way, which was a little frustrating in the last few chapters.
Es el primero de una trilogía. Me ha gustado, aunque hay algunas cosas "científicas" que me han parecido muy simplonas. De cualquier forma, estoy leyendo el segundo, y creo que también leeré el tercero. Lo recomiendo.
A good hard fiction novel that explores the question of making first contact. It's a quick read that has decent character development, a smooth flowing plot, and asks deep philosophical science questions.
Ich hab innerhalb von zwei Tagen "Die Drei Sonnen" von Cixin Liu gelesen. Das hatte ich schon sehr lange auf meiner Liste und erfreulicherweise waren alle drei Bände der Trilogie in der Stadtbücherei vorrätig.
Die knapp 550 Seiten haben sich schnell und angenehm gelesen. Das Meisterwerkgefühl bliebt bei mir jedoch leider aus.
Die Geschichte ist nett, aber jetzt nichts neues, vieles wirkt eher konstruiert und anstatt Entdeckung wird eher präsentiert.
