The Three-Body problem – Book review and notes

Introduction

Review

The three-body problem is a book that brings Chinese cultural revolution, Sociology, Mathematics, Physics, Military and Extra-Terrestrial intelligence together. It’s a grand world and grips you even during the discussions of the scientific concepts. The scale of the book is up there with Asimov and Arthur C Clark.

What would it mean for us to be in contact with intelligent aliens? How would it affect us? How would it affect them? would it rid both societies of their miseries, and make them happier, or would it mean more of the same? What if humanity has reached a point where even prayers will not be answered, and only an outside force can correct its course?

The book is filled with imaginations like, a computer that runs on logic gates made of thirty million soldiers, a game where a civilization dies frequently and due to its star system, a technology that stops the earth from any scientific breakthroughs, unfolding of a subatomic particle from multi-dimension to 2 dimensions, The Sun used as a radio broadcast amplification medium, all leading to a conspiracy that spans two Star systems with dire consequences for humanity and even physics itself.

The only flaw I find in the book is, while it is fantastic at world-building, the characters in the book are fairly plain, except for Shi Qiang (Da Shi).

Summary

At the peak of the Chinese cultural revolution in 1967, Ye Wenjei watches her father tortured to death for his scientific opinions that are called “reactionary” and don’t align with the powers that be. She ends up in a hard labour camp and during one of the lowest points is transferred to Red Coast – a weapons research Center that is working on using Radio Waves to destroy spy satellites. Ye survives there and rises in ranks due to her skills and knowledge of physics while simultaneously dealing with the repercussions of the revolution. She discovers that Red Coast, is not just for weapons research, but is also involved in searching for Alien Life.

40 years later, near present-day, the cultural revolution has subsided, and a nanotech expert Wang Miao is pulled into the world of mysteriously dying scientists and freaky hallucinations where his expertise will be critical. He is teamed with a scruff police officer Shi Qiang, to join a top-secret military mission with an unknown enemy. An addictive and sophisticated VR game “Three Body” pulls Earth’s intellectuals, to a simulation of a planet called Trisolaris where civilization dies during Chaotic times, and grows during Stable times over and over due to the unique unpredictable environment triggered by its star system that has three Suns, and holds some secrets although it is not known at this time. in the last version of the game, the inhabitants of Trisolaris are seen to be preparing to leave their planet to inhabit a distant world.

The game represents a real planet, and from there the stories start colliding with each other. Trisolarans are coming to Earth. Some factions of people here are disappointed with humanity and want Trisolarans to rid the earth of morally declining humanity. Trisolarans use their advanced science to effectively disrupt physics as we know it, and try to paralyse earth’s scientific advances so that earth is not able to defend itself when the Trisolarans arrive in a few centuries. They send out a message to humans saying “You’re bugs“. This is where Shi Qiang asks a question that turns the story around “Is the technology gap between humans and Trisolarans greater than the one between locusts and humans?” This gives new hope to the scientists, and they set out to deal with the coming war against Trisolarans.