5 ms·

You are not reading enough science fiction. ;) I would suggest Peter Watts' "Blindsight" or Liu Cixin's "Three Body Problem" trilogy.

Flow 9y ago
Or The Killing Star. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_Star https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_Star
- sho 9y ago
  "Or"? They're all excellent and I highly recommend all of them, especially the 3 body problem series. And honestly the killing star has aged.. weirdly. Amazing concept, seemingly written by an author with multiple personalities, one of whom just cannot shut up about the Titanic
  - Flow 9y ago
    I thought about that when I read the book. How weird to write about such grandiose ideas as interstellar travel and then go on and describe the wreck of Titanic as something marvelous and mysterious. Has he written about Titanic in his other books too?
taneq 9y ago
"They're not just going to be smart... they're going to be mean."
andyjohnson0 9y ago
I enjoyed Blindsight, but it may not be very reassuring to someone concerned about the possibility of aliens arriving with the intention of using us as a food source. And I really, really tried hard with The Three Body Problem. I get that the English version is a translation, but in the end the flowery language and slow plot just wore me down. Did anyone else have the same experience? (Off topic, but I find that the problem with fiction based on SETI / first contact is that the subject often ends up being used as a metaphor for the human condition and the difficulty of really communicating with other people. Which is fine, but doesn't make for satisfying SF in my experience.)
- psadri 9y ago
  You should really give "Three Body Problem" another chance. There are a lot of diversions and off shoots but the main story really comes together 1/3 of the way through the first book and really picks up in "Dark Forest".
  - extra88 9y ago
    I just finished the trilogy. I enjoyed the first book well enough. The other two have some interesting world-building but I found the plot too slow moving. They're also depressing in a way I can't get into, not just the Dark Forest theory but the prevalence of the "if I can't survive, no one should" attitude. I wonder if the latter actually is more prevalent in Chinese culture or if it's just coming from the author. I did like how things wrapped up at the end of Death's End. Much of Seveneves was depressing too but it all seemed very plausible. It was in what came next that seemed off.
  - andyjohnson0 9y ago
    Having read summaries of the books, I thought the complexity of the overall storyline was excessive for what is a fairly straightforward take on the Fermi paradox and game theory [1]. Maybe I'm being unfair, but having slogged through Seveneves a few months ago I'm kind of grumpy and lacking patience with long, complicated SF epics right now. (Possible mild spoiler ahead) [1] Basically: "the forest is full of hunters of unknown strength, so either stay quiet or kill all the hunters." I thought that Greg Bear's Forge of God and Anvil of Stars did a much better job on this aspect of Fermi.
- arethuza 9y ago
  I rather liked The Three Body Problem - but I listened to the unabridged audio-books rather than reading them which definitely makes many books easier to consume.
- lmm 9y ago
  Yeah I couldn't stand Three Body Problem - far too slow and uninteresting - and don't get the popularity of it at all.

Flow 9y ago

Or The Killing Star. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_Star https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_Star

sho 9y ago
"Or"? They're all excellent and I highly recommend all of them, especially the 3 body problem series. And honestly the killing star has aged.. weirdly. Amazing concept, seemingly written by an author with multiple personalities, one of whom just cannot shut up about the Titanic
- Flow 9y ago
  I thought about that when I read the book. How weird to write about such grandiose ideas as interstellar travel and then go on and describe the wreck of Titanic as something marvelous and mysterious. Has he written about Titanic in his other books too?

taneq 9y ago

"They're not just going to be smart... they're going to be mean."

andyjohnson0 9y ago

I enjoyed Blindsight, but it may not be very reassuring to someone concerned about the possibility of aliens arriving with the intention of using us as a food source. And I really, really tried hard with The Three Body Problem. I get that the English version is a translation, but in the end the flowery language and slow plot just wore me down. Did anyone else have the same experience? (Off topic, but I find that the problem with fiction based on SETI / first contact is that the subject often ends up being used as a metaphor for the human condition and the difficulty of really communicating with other people. Which is fine, but doesn't make for satisfying SF in my experience.)

psadri 9y ago
You should really give "Three Body Problem" another chance. There are a lot of diversions and off shoots but the main story really comes together 1/3 of the way through the first book and really picks up in "Dark Forest".
- extra88 9y ago
  I just finished the trilogy. I enjoyed the first book well enough. The other two have some interesting world-building but I found the plot too slow moving. They're also depressing in a way I can't get into, not just the Dark Forest theory but the prevalence of the "if I can't survive, no one should" attitude. I wonder if the latter actually is more prevalent in Chinese culture or if it's just coming from the author. I did like how things wrapped up at the end of Death's End. Much of Seveneves was depressing too but it all seemed very plausible. It was in what came next that seemed off.
- andyjohnson0 9y ago
  Having read summaries of the books, I thought the complexity of the overall storyline was excessive for what is a fairly straightforward take on the Fermi paradox and game theory [1]. Maybe I'm being unfair, but having slogged through Seveneves a few months ago I'm kind of grumpy and lacking patience with long, complicated SF epics right now. (Possible mild spoiler ahead) [1] Basically: "the forest is full of hunters of unknown strength, so either stay quiet or kill all the hunters." I thought that Greg Bear's Forge of God and Anvil of Stars did a much better job on this aspect of Fermi.
arethuza 9y ago
I rather liked The Three Body Problem - but I listened to the unabridged audio-books rather than reading them which definitely makes many books easier to consume.
lmm 9y ago
Yeah I couldn't stand Three Body Problem - far too slow and uninteresting - and don't get the popularity of it at all.