5 ms·
Warning, spoilers below. I recently finished the first book of the "The Tree Body Problem" series (the second one will be translated to English soon) and I rea
by ThePhysicist 11y ago
Warning, spoilers below.
I recently finished the first book of the "The Tree Body Problem" series (the second one will be translated to English soon) and I really enjoyed the beginning and middle part of it, which are packed with interesting scientific ideas and an intricate and captivating plot. Towards the end the book tends to become a lot more unrealistic and even a bit "cheesy" though. An example would be the hyper-dimensional computers that the Trisolarians send to Earth to hinder our scientific progress. Still, it is a very good read and packed with fascinating ideas that will make you think.
Another example of very good contemporary science fiction is Ramez Naam's "Nexus Arc" series of books, which I actually liked much better than the Three-Body Problem, and which are a bit more plausible and realistic as well.
- desireco42 11y agoThank you for the recommendation, I've seen "Nexus Arc" title but kind of glossed over it.
- timdorr 11y agoI might suggest giving the Rho Agenda book trilogy a whirl: http://www.amazon.com/Second-Ship-Rho-Agenda-Book-ebook/dp/B007TBSLG8/ http://www.amazon.com/Second-Ship-Rho-Agenda-Book-ebook/dp/B... The author does a good job of keeping the science plausible and grounded in reality. It certainly does get fantastical, but never to the point of distraction. I never found myself making eye rolls at the book and it's clear the author, Richard Philips, did his research. The story itself is entertaining and it features very short chapters, which makes it easy to find a stopping point very quickly when you need it. There are a lot of intertwined subplots to follow, but never too many as to be overwhelmed. And that also means if one of them is boring (I didn't quite like the reporter's one), then you can sort of gloss over those sections. And the short chapters keep the "pain" of those sections to a minimum at a time. And as a bonus, it's free to rent on Amazon Prime. I'd definitely give it a try.
- philfrasty 11y agonever skip affiliate-link day...
- timdorr 11y agoSorry, I was on my phone and it was the easiest way to get a short link. I've removed it and replaced it with a generic link.
- krat0sprakhar 11y agoNo need to be sorry and thanks for being polite on the internet :)
- Paradigma11 11y agoMy tips: https://www.goodreads.com/series/56399-expanse https://www.goodreads.com/series/56399-expanse https://www.goodreads.com/series/113751-imperial-radch https://www.goodreads.com/series/113751-imperial-radch
- wangii 11y ago"The Three Body Problem" is a nice book, but far from great. However, the 2nd instalment, "The Dark Forest" is going to blow your mind. It's the best sci-fi book ever written in Chinese, and IMHO the best since Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. I have long doubted if any Chinese could write a great Sci-fi. It's such a pleasure proven to be wrong!
- jweir 11y agoWould one enjoy the second book without reading the first?
- wangii 11y agoYes. I read the first one after finished the second.
- sandGorgon 11y agothanks for that! I had the same opinion about the Three Body Problem... but I'll give the Dark Forest a shot..
- hackuser 11y agoDid you read The Dark Forest in Chinese? What about The Three Body Problem? I read the latter in English. I wonder how much of the sometimes tediously long exposition and ham-handed language was due to translation.