The way the book's alien race seeks to assert its presence on Earth is nothing short of awe-inspiring. While in the virtual world of Three Body, Miao confronts philosophical conundrums that border on the psychedelic, all while remaining scientifically rigorous. Clarke accordingly, The Three-Body Problem turns a boilerplate, first-contact concept into something absolutely mind-unfolding. By the time the book hits its peak, it's unveiled a conspiracy that spans solar systems - one that not only threatens to alter the human race, but the very building blocks of physics that we've evolved to understand.Ĭixin Liu clearly loves golden-age SF authors like Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Miao is a nanotech engineer, and he's been swept up in a virtual-reality, online video game called Three Body that's so deeply metaphysical, it's begun to resemble a cult.Įither of these premises alone would be make for a rich SF novel, but Cixin Liu is only getting warmed up.
Wenjie is an astrophysicist with a haunted past she's the daughter of a physicist who was executed during the Cultural Revolution for daring to teach the "reactionary" idea of general relativity. The Three-Body Problem spans multiple decades and characters, but it zooms in on Ye Wenjie and Wang Miao, two scientists in the very near future. Published in China in 2006 and newly translated by award-winning Chinese-American author Ken Liu, the novel is the first installment of a trilogy that asks one of the oldest questions in SF: What would it mean for the human race to come in contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence? From there, though, it transcends expectation - not to mention borders. But China has a thriving science fiction scene, and Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem is stunning, elegant proof.
When the other part of the world is, say, China, the effort becomes even more complicated. The American market is already crowded with books written by native English speakers, and it takes a conscientious reader to seek out treasures that originate from other parts of the world - that is, if they're even translated in the first place. How?Įnglish translations of foreign-language science fiction are becoming more common, still, they face an uphill battle. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title The Three-Body Problem Author Cixin Liu
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