The Three Body Problem

in «Blogging & Personal» by moftasa
tags: ,

Animated version of the book cover, showing three sons going around in the sky a pyramid in the foreground.

I enjoyed reading this trilogy so much. It was full of massive ideas, mind-bending twists and turns, and the story was full of awe-inspiring and mind-blowing moments.

This sci-fi trilogy has a large number of fans online, but if you read the reviews you will find that they are mixed, and the reason for this is that although it is a hard sci-fi book, the author decided to break some unbreakable laws of physics and this has upset a number of people.

I started reading the book after I binged watched the Netflix series which featured a very efficient adaptation of the first book and parts of the second and third book. But I was shocked to see how Netflix re-centered the story to Western audience by minimizing the number of events taking place in China and the number of Chinese characters. I learned that this created an outrage in China. It is a shame that Netflix did this because the book exposes the reader to so much Chinese history and culture.

But just as Netflix removed China from the center of the story, Cixin Liu ignored Arabs and Africans completely. Not a single African or Arab country or person is mentioned. African countries simply don't exist in this grand sci-fi epic about human civilization and its future.

The Dark Forest hypothesis is an interesting concept. If you plan to read the book, avoid looking it up before reading it, as it may spoil the second book.

I read the trilogy as an ebook on my Kindle but after finishing it I looked for a physical copy at almost all bookshops here that sell English language fiction (Diwan, Bookspot, Bibliotek, Beta Bookstore, Volume 1, Kotob Khan. Sherouk and finally the Maadi Used Bookshop) and I couldn't find a single copy.

In a way knowing that I will never find a physical copy is somehow fitting to the story itself.


Comments

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    Just to say this has been my favourite sci fi series this year! Glad to see you are also a fan!

    Just adding to the omission of Africa, the sexism in sci fi is just mind boggling! I’m not sure you noticed the entire section on the perfect woman depicted in Ji’s bit. Not the first time I come across something so annoying. I also noticed similar things in how female character are depicted in Asimov’s foundation.