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The Three-Body Problem - Blog Posts
2016 Drama Soup for the Soul
2016 Drama Soup for the Soul
The Asian Drama Philosopher (A-Philosopher)’s Chair thanks everyone for their warm support in the past, especially ladysighs for spreading the love for Six Flying Dragons beyond the drama blogging community. All the same, drama watching is a very time-consuming activity, so it does not really expect readers to watch any of the dramas covered on this site. What it truly aims for is cross-cultural…
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“There’s a strange contradiction revealed by the naïveté and kindness demonstrated by humanity when faced with the universe: On Earth, humankind can step onto another continent, and without a thought, destroy the kindred civilizations found there through warfare and disease. But when they gaze up at the stars, they turn sentimental and believe that if extraterrestrial intelligences exist, they must be civilizations bound by universal, noble, moral constraints, as if cherishing and loving different forms of life are parts of a self-evident universal code of conduct.
I think it should be precisely the opposite: Let’s turn the kindness we show toward the stars to members of the human race on Earth and build up the trust and understanding between the different peoples and civilizations that make up humanity. But for the universe outside the solar system, we should be ever vigilant, and be ready to attribute the worst of intentions to any Others that might exist in space. For a fragile civilization like ours, this is without a doubt the most responsible path.”
Cixin Liu, Author’s Postscript to the American Edition of ‘The Three Body Problem’.
. . . Lou Ji came over and put his hand on a small painting.
“Would you leave this one for me?”
Cheng Xin and AA moved the painting aside and set it on top of a box next to the wall. They were surprised to see that it was the Mona Lisa.
Cheng Xin and AA continued to work at disassembling frames. AA whispered, “Clever old man. He kept the most expensive piece for himself.”
“I don’t think that’s the reason.”
“Maybe he once loved a girl named Mona Lisa?”
Lou Ji sat next to the Mona Lisa and caressed the ancient frame with one hand. He muttered, “I didn’t know you were here. Otherwise I could have come to see you often.”
Cheng Xin saw that he wasn’t looking at the painting. His eyes stared ahead as if looking into the depths of time. Cheng Xin saw that his ancient eyes were filled with tears, and she wasn’t sure if he was mistaken.
Inside the grand tomb under the surface of Pluto, lit by the dim lamps that could shine for a hundred thousand years, Mona Lisa’s smile seemed to appear and disappear. The smile had puzzled humankind for nearly nine centuries, and it looked even more mysterious and eerie now, as though it meant everything and nothing, like the approaching Death.
Death’s End (p. 512), Cixin Liu
“Oh, heavens! Starry Sky!” AA cried out.
Cheng Xin knew that she was referring to Van Gogh’s painting. True, the universe really did look like the painting. The painting in her memory was almost a perfect copy of the two-dimensional Solar System before her eyes. Giant planets filled space, the areas of the planets seeming to exceed even the gaps between them. But the immensity of the planets did not give them any sense of substantiality. Rather, they looked like whirlpools in space-time. In the universe, every part of space flowed, churned, trembled between madness and horror like fiery flames that emitted only frost. The Sun and the planets and all substance and existence seemed to be only hallucinations produced by the turbulence of space-time.
Cheng Xin now recalled the strange feeling she had experienced each time she had looked at Van Gogh’s painting. Everything else in the painting - the trees that seemed to be on fire, and the village and mountains at night - showed perspective and depth, but the starry sky above had no three-dimensionality at all, like a painting hanging in space.
Because the starry night was two-dimensional.
How could Van Gogh have painted such a thing in 1889? Did he, having suffered a second breakdown, truly leap across five centuries and see the sight before them using only his spirit and delirious consciousness? Or, maybe it was the opposite: He had seen the future, and the sight of this Last Judgment had caused his breakdown and eventual suicide.
Death’s End (p. 529), Cixin Liu
我点燃了火，却控制不了它。
I started the fire, but I couldn’t control how it burnt.
[“My sunset,” Ye whispered.] And sunset for humanity.
Cixin Liu, from The Three-Body Problem (via the-final-sentence)
我点燃了火，却控制不了它。
I started the fire, but I couldn’t control how it burnt.
Well I've finally finished Death's End. That was the best book I've ever read in my entire life.
Read Selections from Cixin Liu’s Death’s End on Tor.com.
Every era puts invisible shackles on those who have lived through it, and I can only dance in my chains.
Liu Cixin, The Three-Body Problem
Juo Li, cosmic sociologist from the sequel to The Three Body Problem
Stephan Martinier’s cover art for the Tor versions of the Rememberance Of Earth’s Past (a.k.a. Three Body) trilogy by Liu Cixin.
[Top to bottom: The Three-Body Problem; The Dark Forest; Death’s End.]
We discussed the science fiction novel Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu, the English translation (by Ken Liu) was released on November 11th. First half is spoiler free/minimal, second half of the discussion contains major plot spoilers. All of the liveshow participants were fortunate enough to receive ARCs from the publisher, Tor.
Participants:
Michael from Bitten by a Radioactive Book: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaqri6yb-dGzmfw8SHMo0yw
Elizabeth from Books and Pieces: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXifXYnZ5fVrlhpuhDjZOGg
Kaitlin from Kitty G: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCubeiIJVCyYgn5bqfD0jl0w
Brock from Let’s Read: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMGoaqXQ6d6Z3Vr-I3JIy6A
Bri from Stories from the Shelf: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmTKGq0LnoybKSMk0PYCF-g
These two I imagine as Zhang Behiai and Wang Miao.
Infernal Affairs (2002) - dir. Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. 無間道/无间道
“The Three Body Problem” movie: sci-fi made in China?
Awesome! They made it into a fim. I cannot wait to see it.
Well I just finished The Dark Forest (3 body problem bk. 2) and now have nothing to do until September 20th.
The Three-Body Problem is apparently being made into a movie for 2016…
Cixin Liu’s The Dark Forest is a mind-bending blend of splashy SF and serious science. A review on The Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog.
Here’s a chance to win Cixin Liu’s The Dark Forest.
3 BODY 三体 : Posters (1)
based on the award-winning science fiction novel The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, starring Feng Shao Feng, Zhang Jingchu, Wu Gang, Tang Yan, Zhang Han, etc. set to be released in summer 2016.