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Try "The Three-Body Problem". It opened my eyes when I first read it, and every re-read still mesmerized me. The original text is in Chinese but the translation

Try "The Three-Body Problem". It opened my eyes when I first read it, and every re-read still mesmerized me. The original text is in Chinese but the translation to English was done very well. It's a trilogy in three books. If you are not sure, just purchase the first one. But I bet you would regret about only purchasing the first one.

thorin 5y ago
I've been meaning to read this, but I've been struggling with reading since "the virus" came. I think I'll give it another go, it's right there by my bed.
marcocampos 5y ago
I'm a bit conflicted about these books. The ideas are super interesting but the characters seem very "cardboard-like". Also they are bit too long and by the 3rd book I didn't care anymore... Still, pretty interesting on their own.
- markus_zhang 5y ago
  Yeah he doesn't really build characters. It's kind of grand narrative that individuals don't really matter. Kinda makes sense in the story though.
dcminter 5y ago
I see this recommended a lot. Nonetheless I hated these books. The opening of the first book is excellent, it set up a decent exciting mystery, but about halfway through it dissolved into paper thin borderline fantasy-physics. The characterizations also declined sharply.
- markus_zhang 5y ago
  Yeah he doesn't really build characters. Kinda makes sense in grand narration when individuals are not that important. But I totally understand why many people don't like this style.
  - dcminter 5y ago
    Actually what I found frustrating was that there was some great characterization work in the opening chapters and then it was all thrown out of the window! That's where I lost interest and never regained it, though I ploughed through to the end.
    - markus_zhang 5y ago
      They are just there to provide context I think. The same as the second part of the story of Wenjie Ye in later chapters. But in book 2 and 3 much less effort is put into character because I think the grand narrative already took off and it doesn't make sense to go back for individuals anymore. There are exceptions of course.

thorin 5y ago

I've been meaning to read this, but I've been struggling with reading since "the virus" came. I think I'll give it another go, it's right there by my bed.

marcocampos 5y ago

I'm a bit conflicted about these books. The ideas are super interesting but the characters seem very "cardboard-like". Also they are bit too long and by the 3rd book I didn't care anymore... Still, pretty interesting on their own.

markus_zhang 5y ago
Yeah he doesn't really build characters. It's kind of grand narrative that individuals don't really matter. Kinda makes sense in the story though.

dcminter 5y ago

I see this recommended a lot. Nonetheless I hated these books. The opening of the first book is excellent, it set up a decent exciting mystery, but about halfway through it dissolved into paper thin borderline fantasy-physics. The characterizations also declined sharply.

markus_zhang 5y ago
Yeah he doesn't really build characters. Kinda makes sense in grand narration when individuals are not that important. But I totally understand why many people don't like this style.
- dcminter 5y ago
  Actually what I found frustrating was that there was some great characterization work in the opening chapters and then it was all thrown out of the window! That's where I lost interest and never regained it, though I ploughed through to the end.
  - markus_zhang 5y ago
    They are just there to provide context I think. The same as the second part of the story of Wenjie Ye in later chapters. But in book 2 and 3 much less effort is put into character because I think the grand narrative already took off and it doesn't make sense to go back for individuals anymore. There are exceptions of course.