The Three-Body Problem

The Three-Body Problem is a "hard" science fiction book from Chinese Author 刘慈欣 and the first book in the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy. The novel alternates from a few different time periods. It begins with the cultural revolution in China and the fate of some scientists that dare espouse modern scientific thought. Most of the novel takes place today. There is also some parts where we hear the internals of the nearby "Three Body" world. Some of this is directly told, while others are told indirectly through a game.

The Three Body civilization occupies a single planet caught in the middle of a system with three stars orbiting each other. Depending on how they orbit, the world could experience vastly different situations. However, it is impossible to precisely predict how the orbiting will be done (hence the three body problem.) On earth, there is also a three-body civilization game that is played by many of the brightest. They use some experiences from earth to try to solve this three body problem.

Earth sends out a message to try to discover if there is additional life. It is retrieved by the three-body world. However, they are unable to accurately tell where the message came from. They can tell the direction, but not the distance. One of the people on the three-body world sends a response that they should not respond. They know that the world is looking to settle a new planet. If they know where to look, they may seek to destroy the current inhabitants. Alas, a disgruntled earthling decides to send a response, seeing that as a better option than the horrid state of earth.

The three-body world sends a fleet to earth. However, they realize that earth is advancing at an exponential rate and may be more advanced than they are before they arrive. They hatch a plot involving proton folding to restrict scientific progress. This seems to work. On earth many maddening things are happening to scientists. There are also groups on earth that are intent on using the aliens to help "fix" man's wrongdoings. The other planet views humans as no more than "bugs". However, what is they status of "bugs"?

This is a well done science fiction book. The Chinese background makes it different enough, while still being very accessible in translation.