The Three Body Problem (novel/series)

[QuikSand]

Not to be confused with the mathematics condundrum...

I started on the first book, The Three Body Problem, and am sufficiently interested that i thought I'd launch a discussion here, to see if there are takers.

From Goodreads:

Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion.

I can tell already that it's a complex story, and I know from a bit of advance reading that it poses some difficult questions. So that has me pretty interested.

The cultural difference is a bit off-putting, I confess, as a typical American mind. But if I learn a bit more about Chinese culture and history along the way, that could be a very good thing for me personally.


Anyway, there's a chance that the adaptation coming to Netflix (I think) in the foreseeable future could be "a thing" and I'm down to get ahead of it, either way.

So, I will be reading, and if anyone else either already has or is down to start something sort of in real time... let's do it.

[QuikSand]

I admittedly didn't get that far with the books, but watched the Netflix series and enjoyed it, mostly. I like the genre of speculative fiction (adjacent to, but not quite the same as science fiction) and this hits those notes for me.

In the Wire, I felt for the first time I was invited into the world of the bad guys, the drug dealers, in a cops-and-robbers setup and ended up having complex feelings about the people who were in the Baltimore drug trade. The show did a lot of things right, in my view, but I think we overlook how hard that is to do.

I think this story is trying to do the same, to a degree. The knee-jerk is a hoo-ah Independence Day reaction to a coming clash with extra-terrestrials, but... what about people who don't necessarily subscribe that humans are the be-all, end-all, and that maybe "things" would be better off if we got our asses kicked? Is it even worth considering? It's a provocative question, and the story arc here seems to be getting into that.