The Three-Body Problem

Is this post going to be about physics?

No and Yes, I suppose. I don’t read much science-fiction, and the little I have read has come from Western authors writing for an English-speaking world. I’d heard about Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem a while back, but only just got around to reading it – the English translation by Ken Liu published in 2014. Is Eastern science-fiction conveyed in a markedly different way from Western science-fiction? I don’t have enough sci-fi experience, and as someone who has lived extensively in both cultures, perhaps I can’t distinctively tell. Also, the common bonds of Earthlings tend to be emphasized in sci-fi stories when contact with a technologically superior alien race comes into play.

I won’t reveal any of the main storylines since you might want to enjoy the novelty of the novel itself. The Three-Body Problem does refer to its namesake in physics, but it also shows up as an immersive virtual reality computer game. The overarching story has parallels to Carl Sagan’s Contact, but unfolds in a very different way. It begins in the throes of the Cultural Revolution in Mao’s China, and then shifts to the present era. One thing I enjoy about the novel is its wide-angle view of history. Perhaps that’s a nod to Eastern sensibilities. Tidbits in the history and philosophy of science are littered throughout the book – bringing together ideas from both East and West.

Astrophysics features prominently, but there’s plenty of other physics in the book, explained with analogies that a non-scientist can grasp. That’s a feature I enjoyed. I was impressed by the care in which the author (and translator) made the physics highly relevant to the story and took the trouble to explain the importance of several complicated concepts. Reading these explanations encouraged me to be a better chemistry teacher! Perhaps I could start by writing a short story based on chemistry! Isn’t that how sci-fi authors get their start? (I referred to an Asimov story in my previous post.)

The Three-Body Problem is the first book in a trilogy. Reading the first intrigued me sufficiently to put the second book on hold at my local library. (Yes, there’s a queue.) I hope the other two books are at least as interesting as this one. These days it seems to be difficult to have a sequel be as good, since some novelty is lost. Thirty years ago, I read Asimov’s Foundation series. Much of it felt beyond me, as if I was grasping at deeper ephemeral concepts and ideas. Liu’s book has mind-bending ideas but they do not feel so foreign, perhaps because I now have a better appreciation of physics, but perhaps also because the novel setting is our present era on Earth.

There’s a certain realism in Liu’s tale. The tale he weaves is not as far-fetched as other ‘first contact’ stories in movies these days which typically include an alien invasion for blockbuster effect. Perhaps the grounding in physics contributes to this realism in The Three-Body Problem. And at least in this first book of the trilogy, the endgame remains unclear. There are no avengers or superheroes to save the day. Just ordinary human beings like you and me. And yes, a bunch of them are physicists. And there’s at least one nanoscientist who works at the interface of physics and chemistry!