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The Three Body Problem is officially the most overrated book on Hacker News. I am trying to understand why. It has no soul, the "science" is garbage, not a sing

The Three Body Problem is officially the most overrated book on Hacker News. I am trying to understand why. It has no soul, the "science" is garbage, not a single character is memorable, it's way, way too long for what it is.

colordrops 8y ago
I would mostly agree, but having lived in China and studied Chinese for several years the element of Chinese culture and history intermingled with sci-fi made it a lot more intriguing to me. Also, it was a great way to practice reading Chinese.
- otabdeveloper2 8y ago
  Eh? It reads like a book translated into Chinese. It's probably one of the most not-Chinese Chinese books you can read.
  - colordrops 8y ago
    Which makes it an easy first book for a beginner.
flukus 8y ago
I mostly agree but I still enjoyed the story, at least until book 2, the ending of book 3 was horrendous. For the "soul" I gave it the benefit of the doubt, maybe Chinese writing different from western writing or something get lost in translation. For the characters I don't know if it's them or me dealing with Chinese names, I get lost playing games like shogun total war because of this.
- wazoox 8y ago
  I'm reading Shuǐ hǔ Zhuàn right now, there are 108 heroes along the ~2000 pages but somehow the most important remain memorable enough: Gao Chai, Song Jiang, Li Kui, Wu Gong... See, I can even remember some names :)
elorant 8y ago
Probably because of the dark forest idea which gives a satisfying answer to the Fermi Paradox.
- ethbro 8y ago
  That "idea" has been around since the 1980s.
  - flukus 8y ago
    Seeing as we're discussing sci-fi, the super predator theory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox#It_is_the_nature_of_intelligent_life_to_destroy_others https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox#It_is_the_nature...) is explored in the excellent Revelation Space trilogy. This series takes a lot less liberties with known physics as well.
    - dane-pgp 8y ago
      When I saw that URL I thought you were linking to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox#It_is_the_nature_of_intelligent_life_to_destroy_itself https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox#It_is_the_nature... which I think is the most memorable and haunting section title of an encyclopedia article ever written.
      - immernerstheime 8y ago
        Curiously, in the article you point there is No mention at all of the nature... as an in theory hipothetically speaking concious intelligence that it would or who knows , it even could , be seen as one you know right if the honey is sweet I dont know but it appears sweet I know it is wet I dont know but sounds like is like this right In my humble view and opinion
    - cbennett 8y ago
      Edit: I see you linked to the wrong sub-section there. However, overall the contrast between super-predator theory and (self-)annihilation is a bit more complex than one would think. They're not entirely binary. On one hand, the self-annihilation idea implies that super-predator civilizations, being extremely rate to exist, would not have strong motivations for exterminating competitors. What would possibly be the need, given the vastness of time and space, and the thermodynamic arguments given? Indeed, following this logic, the extraordinarily rare galactic survivor civilizations are almost guaranteed a long, peaceful existence. On the other hand, it all develops on the curve of the galactic gaussian justifying possible pre-emptive defense investments. There's a difference of 3-4 or n sigmas statistics likelihood. In the former case, the likelihood of a rare rival emerging is high enough that pre-emptive defense strategies will be considered, and rudimentary systems of deterrence put in place. In the (high) n theory, it probably would not. How a civilization in the early stages of hegemony determined this fact, would be an interesting and possible civilization-saving (or destroying) feat.... Side note, haven't heard of the Revelation Space trilogy. Does it offer a workable theory for the origins of the predator dynamic?
nategri 8y ago
Extremely pleased to find I'm not the only person to think so.
- theli0nheart 8y ago
  Ditto. I found the trilogy to be incredibly over-hyped. The "science" was essentially just inventing ridiculous things to make the story work. The plot started off alright, but by the end of the 2nd / beginning of the 3rd book, it really went downhill.
Latteland 8y ago
I thought that policeman was memorable
levthedev 8y ago
It's a sci-fi book with an impressive sense of scale. Every hundred pages or so the story zooms out; from one man's life, to a country's struggle, to a global calamity, to an interplanetary and then galactic crisis, and finally to even higher dimensions. It does this while threading characters from each stage of "zoom" into future stages, creating for a lot of interesting cross-over plots and sub-plots. As other commentator's have said, it also wove together Chinese culture with science fiction and history with drama very fluidly. It was, for me personally, a very "fun" read. Kept me excited at each chapter, and I genuinely didn't know what to expect next. I highly recommend to any sci-fi fans out there, even those like me, who initially didn't think they could stomach around 1,000 pages of a translated-from-Chinese sci-fi novel.
- arkh 8y ago
  > It's a sci-fi book with an impressive sense of scale Which is not really new. The three books could be condensed a lot. It felt like reading the Dune prequels and sequels: useless details not advancing any plot just to make the book bigger. It may come from the difference between western and Chinese ways to tell a story. Or the translator job. But they were snooze-fest for 300 pages then 10 pages of something happening then back to boring.
immernerstheime 8y ago
science in fiction novel being garbage is the point exactly of making fiction around space Ship or whatever group of peoples saga around fantasy ship, late add:(otherwise the author would be making Money with technology instead of selling freaking books right) it is the poetical freedom and novelistic freedom and fiction freedom right and there is always reading choosing freedom and freewill of reding books and unreading and reading again and not reading the ship book to start with right always aand just to clarify I did not read that shit book people talkabout here and I do not plan to read as my freewill cammands cannabis come on thanks
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
swebs 8y ago
>It has no soul Non-arguments like this make me actually want to check it out.

colordrops 8y ago

I would mostly agree, but having lived in China and studied Chinese for several years the element of Chinese culture and history intermingled with sci-fi made it a lot more intriguing to me. Also, it was a great way to practice reading Chinese.

otabdeveloper2 8y ago
Eh? It reads like a book translated into Chinese. It's probably one of the most not-Chinese Chinese books you can read.
- colordrops 8y ago
  Which makes it an easy first book for a beginner.

flukus 8y ago

I mostly agree but I still enjoyed the story, at least until book 2, the ending of book 3 was horrendous. For the "soul" I gave it the benefit of the doubt, maybe Chinese writing different from western writing or something get lost in translation. For the characters I don't know if it's them or me dealing with Chinese names, I get lost playing games like shogun total war because of this.

wazoox 8y ago
I'm reading Shuǐ hǔ Zhuàn right now, there are 108 heroes along the ~2000 pages but somehow the most important remain memorable enough: Gao Chai, Song Jiang, Li Kui, Wu Gong... See, I can even remember some names :)

elorant 8y ago

Probably because of the dark forest idea which gives a satisfying answer to the Fermi Paradox.

ethbro 8y ago
That "idea" has been around since the 1980s.
- flukus 8y ago
  Seeing as we're discussing sci-fi, the super predator theory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox#It_is_the_nature_of_intelligent_life_to_destroy_others https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox#It_is_the_nature...) is explored in the excellent Revelation Space trilogy. This series takes a lot less liberties with known physics as well.
  - dane-pgp 8y ago
    When I saw that URL I thought you were linking to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox#It_is_the_nature_of_intelligent_life_to_destroy_itself https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox#It_is_the_nature... which I think is the most memorable and haunting section title of an encyclopedia article ever written.
    - immernerstheime 8y ago
      Curiously, in the article you point there is No mention at all of the nature... as an in theory hipothetically speaking concious intelligence that it would or who knows , it even could , be seen as one you know right if the honey is sweet I dont know but it appears sweet I know it is wet I dont know but sounds like is like this right In my humble view and opinion
  - cbennett 8y ago
    Edit: I see you linked to the wrong sub-section there. However, overall the contrast between super-predator theory and (self-)annihilation is a bit more complex than one would think. They're not entirely binary. On one hand, the self-annihilation idea implies that super-predator civilizations, being extremely rate to exist, would not have strong motivations for exterminating competitors. What would possibly be the need, given the vastness of time and space, and the thermodynamic arguments given? Indeed, following this logic, the extraordinarily rare galactic survivor civilizations are almost guaranteed a long, peaceful existence. On the other hand, it all develops on the curve of the galactic gaussian justifying possible pre-emptive defense investments. There's a difference of 3-4 or n sigmas statistics likelihood. In the former case, the likelihood of a rare rival emerging is high enough that pre-emptive defense strategies will be considered, and rudimentary systems of deterrence put in place. In the (high) n theory, it probably would not. How a civilization in the early stages of hegemony determined this fact, would be an interesting and possible civilization-saving (or destroying) feat.... Side note, haven't heard of the Revelation Space trilogy. Does it offer a workable theory for the origins of the predator dynamic?

nategri 8y ago

Extremely pleased to find I'm not the only person to think so.

theli0nheart 8y ago
Ditto. I found the trilogy to be incredibly over-hyped. The "science" was essentially just inventing ridiculous things to make the story work. The plot started off alright, but by the end of the 2nd / beginning of the 3rd book, it really went downhill.

Latteland 8y ago

I thought that policeman was memorable

levthedev 8y ago

It's a sci-fi book with an impressive sense of scale. Every hundred pages or so the story zooms out; from one man's life, to a country's struggle, to a global calamity, to an interplanetary and then galactic crisis, and finally to even higher dimensions. It does this while threading characters from each stage of "zoom" into future stages, creating for a lot of interesting cross-over plots and sub-plots. As other commentator's have said, it also wove together Chinese culture with science fiction and history with drama very fluidly. It was, for me personally, a very "fun" read. Kept me excited at each chapter, and I genuinely didn't know what to expect next. I highly recommend to any sci-fi fans out there, even those like me, who initially didn't think they could stomach around 1,000 pages of a translated-from-Chinese sci-fi novel.

arkh 8y ago
> It's a sci-fi book with an impressive sense of scale Which is not really new. The three books could be condensed a lot. It felt like reading the Dune prequels and sequels: useless details not advancing any plot just to make the book bigger. It may come from the difference between western and Chinese ways to tell a story. Or the translator job. But they were snooze-fest for 300 pages then 10 pages of something happening then back to boring.

immernerstheime 8y ago

science in fiction novel being garbage is the point exactly of making fiction around space Ship or whatever group of peoples saga around fantasy ship, late add:(otherwise the author would be making Money with technology instead of selling freaking books right) it is the poetical freedom and novelistic freedom and fiction freedom right and there is always reading choosing freedom and freewill of reding books and unreading and reading again and not reading the ship book to start with right always aand just to clarify I did not read that shit book people talkabout here and I do not plan to read as my freewill cammands cannabis come on thanks

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

swebs 8y ago

>It has no soul Non-arguments like this make me actually want to check it out.