It is wonderfully refreshing to read such an optimistic book that emphasises progress. ‘The Three Body Problem’ is in some ways a backlash to the dystopian portrayals that feature across modern portrayals of the future. Typically imagined futures seem to feature a lot of brutalism and a lack of humanity. In the author’s own words ‘I’ve always felt that the greatest and most beautiful stories in the history of humanity were not sung by wandering bards or written by playwrights and novelists, but told by science’.
Liu’s work is technical. How could a work that espouses such a love of science be otherwise, and while understanding of these details isn’t necessary to appreciate his work, it reminds me of Feynman’s ‘Ode to the flower’ where he says that understanding the technical details behind the beauty of a flower ‘can only add, I don’t see how they subtract’.
At times, the style of prose feels halting, and sentences feel rhythmic and factual only infrequently interspersed by words for their own sake. I found it fascinating to read such a different style and agree with the translator that ‘the best translations into English, do not, in fact, read as if they were originally written in English’.
I am delighted that Liu wrote this novel, it almost feels like a call to action.