The Problematic "Three Body Problem" Problem

The Problematic "Three Body Problem" Problem
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#sciencefiction #scifi #thethreebodyproblem

[@B0BsBooks]

I don't know how you managed to give three perspectives of a trilogy and still not really spoil any of it for potential readers. Excellent video Moid.

[@MediaDeathCult]

Thanks Bob

[@abcde_fz]

Definite agreement, the things was a treat!

[@jgosier]

Moid is the three body problem.

[@opresopre]

The videography is once again innovative. Moid, you just never run out of good ideas. Keep up the good work!

[@AStrang3r]

I loved the way you split this video up with different view points Moid. Great video! The trilogy is still a TBR for me but will get to it eventually.

[@arthur8013]

Really good video! Acknowleding the really cool ideas weighted down by the weak characters which adds a lot of fat that could be cut down makes this probably the best review I've seen on the series. Also, please do this angel/devil dynamic again, i really enjoy it. The angel being very sincere followed by the devil going "you're wrong. It's shit. No i will not elaborate" is very funny.

[@user-ly2ll5od1r]

I thought the style had some humor to it that most people missed. This is after 100 pages long setpiece of alien technology completely obliterating the solar system in the final book, after all that, this paragraph literally made me laugh out loud at work while I was reading: "They screamed, they cried and here came the final voice of the human race from the solar system: " Aaaaaaaaaaa" Also it's really weird how westerners completely forgive/ignore the dryness of Arthur C clarke's or Asimov's characters and writing style, yet Liu Cixin's style which is at least 50% more interesting gets a lot of flack from the same readers who ignore the same (let's be real: worse) problems of western authors. Just really really weird how that is, sure it has nothing to do with [REDACTED]? 🤔

[@khashayarr]

"More in the moment than in retrospect" is such a perfect description that I'm gonna have to steal it immediately!

[@MediaDeathCult]

I'm flattered

[@johnboardley]

I couldn't finish it. Hated it. Fantastic review - not enough to have me try it again, though. BTW, you all settled in after the move?

[@bensaylor9093]

I really enjoyed doing the monthly readalong and talking about the book with folks on the discord. Looking forward to the next few!

[@bendybruce]

I really appreciated this review. By summoning multiple versions of you from different quantum realities, you ultimately made it about the book and not the reviewer, which is exactly how it should be. Great job.

[@MediaDeathCult]

Thanks

[@drdoom2461]

It was an interesting read for me . First book is a cool (and sometimes pretty terrifying ) exploration of first contact , second book is a nice exploration of one of the Fermi Paradox solutions , third book went batshit insane with the ideas. I definitely think that the time invested was worth it , however people comparing the prose and world building to Banks and Herbert are IMHO delusional . Great video Moid(s) ! .

[@WeWereTheStorm]

Herbert is unfairly bashed for his prose imho

[@user-ly2ll5od1r]

@@WeWereTheStormbooktube really likes to trash the prose of every book in existence that isn't written by Mccarthy or Faulkner.

[@AngryArgie]

Discovered your channel through the Peter Watts interview. Great work and content! Greetings from Argentina. I loved the Three Body Problem trilogy though.

[@davidcottrell1308]

I agree....the books didn't deliver in the end....and it took a long, twisting way to not get there.

[@senpai1628]

The books did deliver Anyone expecting humanity to survive was delusional Although liu could've made cheng xin less annoying

[@1speed35]

This is a great review - I love the multi-pronged approach here! I think (probably like most who've read the trilogy) you represented my own view here very well. At the time I read this series, I fit into the "this is all brand new to me" mold. In fact, if nothing else I credit it with putting me on to sci-fi as a genre. (Previously, I leaned much more into the very specific non-fiction sub-genre of disaster stories - to this day I'd list 'Skeletons on the Zahara' as one of my all-time favorite reads.) But I was given the trilogy as a birthday gift and read all three books in quick succession. I loved it, and while I did pick up on the clunkiness of the writing and often one-dimensionality of characters, I wrote all of that off to an issue of lost in translation. I was definitely among those who loved the ideas enough to look past any limitations in the delivery of those ideas. Have I read what I'd consider better series at this point (some four to five years after reading this)? Sure - Tchaicovsky's Children of Time series, Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga, and Wendig's Wanderers are some of my personal favorites. But I'm not sure I'd have ever gone down the road that led to those if I hadn't been pulled in by this series back then. And I would still rank Three Body Problem pretty high up there just for its ambition: Liu packs a lot of very big ideas into one series here and even if you don't like the way he presents some of those ideas as a writer, you still can see what he's driving toward and just walking away with so many different things swimming around in your head makes it a worthwhile read.

[@carstenlucassen8125]

Good to see that you are back again, Moid!

[@stevetaylor5290]

That was a delight - congratulations to all three of you. Still not sure whether I want to read the trilogy or not…

[@nyxian_grid]

This video is a rewatch for me 😂 You deserve so many more subscribers, Moid!

[@MediaDeathCult]

Thank You

[@im_cart8656]

great format for this book. i liked the first.. the ideas presented.. the dark forest reveal.. but man the characters were brutal. cheng xin was intolerable to me and thoroughly ruined the last 2 books for me.. edit: 13:42... very VERY good point. this is really one of those things were u and 3 friends with basically the same exact tastes in books could all walk away in one of the 3 camps u presented here in some form. great review!

[@TheKidNamedHosea]

I just recently felt the itch to read(listen) to these again, but I definitely looked back with rose tinted glasses. If I could summarize how I feel about TBP, it would be "this series and plot is better experienced summarized and analyzed by a youtube commentator than actually read"

[@MediaDeathCult]

I'll take that as a compliment, thank you

[@roterotevideo]

I highly recommend the audiobook, it will really assist with the Chinese if you don’t already have a familiarity. Also I think the Dark Forest is maybe the best one. But honestly I read them back to back.

[@ilselauwers6009]

I lived in Azië for some time and from that periode got some immersion in the culture. The way of being, thinking, decision making etc . The characters felt very familiar to me . The author is Chinese. Different culture that the West . Maybe that has an influence .

[@Groaznic]

Super appreciate the honest perspective

[@magicsharkwizard4577]

The invisible gun holster vest on the ultra positive character was a nice touch. A+

[@chrishooge3442]

i think the writing suffers from a loss in translation. The big idea in this series tries to answer the question... Where are all the aliens? I suspect the Cixin Liu's answer to the question is very Chinese. China has had terrible relations with just about everyone throughout history. The mongols, the Japanese, Koreans, all of Europe and the USA too. We want to "Go Boldly Where No One Has Gone Before." Chinese would rather we just leave them alone. This is manifested in Dark Forest Theory. Better to huddle in the cold and dark forest rather than attract malevolent intention by lighting a warming fire. Seems very Chinese to me based on what I know of their history.

[@meesalikeu]

nothing at all is lost in translation. ken lui is by far the best you could want and a better scifi writer himself. i didnt really get snything chinese out of it other than the robotic characters that you care little to nothing about and are expendable … to the story of course but irl to the fascist chinese government.

[@neutral_narr]

Eh don't buy it, he was a fan of Asimov and Clarke so I don't think it's that big of a gap that people make out to be.

[@Badficwriter]

It is worth noting that "Chinese" is a flexible meaning. Most popularly, it refers to the Han Chinese, who were the conglomeration of various competing tribes, the Huaxia, along the Yellow and Yangtse rivers, though not the oldest culture. China pretends these wars and expansions were not imperial in nature, but when one takes over another and the tribe flees? It is a series of conquests. Modern China ignores the distinctions, but ancient Chinese historian like Sima Qian wrote of the differences as a 'chasm' between them and the not-them Chinese, the Hua-Yi conflict--which itself ignored the different tribes that made up the Han that existed prior. Unified rule is what allowed anti-warlord Confucian philosophy to arise and the ideal of civilized behavior (if you behaved like Han and recognized the Emperor as supreme). Because of this prejudice, in 350 CE, three of the five recognized Chinese barbarian groups were targeted in the Wie-Jie genocide, led by usurper Emperor Ran Min. Various near Han Chinese took on and competed over the identity of Chinese, sinicisation, some for the purpose of ruling. There was a recognition of different but equal of dynasties. Arguments went back and forth, one emperor argued in favor of equality, another recalled all manuscripts because he thought they made the government look bad, etc. The idea of culture over race turned plain racist in the late 19th century, but would end most recently with a declaration that all groups inside China were Chinese, rather than barbarian. How does this apply to the Dark Forest theory? In Chinese history, they were the threat in the forest until they sought peace because they won. This is how the cycle goes.

[@johnneiberger7311]

I also disliked the first book for the same reasons. I wooden characters, bad dialogue and exposition...ugh. I could barely stand it and I almost didn't make it through it. As bad as the first book was, I have absolutely zero desire to pick up the second book, especially since I'd have to re-read the first book to remember the story.

[@mikesbookreviews]

I noped out about 60% into the first book.

[@tishapatton7446]

The Moid Trinity. I never saw it coming but I like it.

[@marcusbenjilake]

Wow, great video.

[@Largecow_Moobeast]

"That's because it's shit" lol, I like the books this made me laugh so hard.

[@DeHeerKarim]

Might be the best video of MDC so far. I'm with white Moid, but I can understand the arguments from the other two. And I recommend this to everyone for the exact same reason given here!

[@parallaxe1]

This video was WAY more entertaining than The Three Body Problem. I was so annoyed by the first book that I dumped it half way through 🤮 I'm with devilish Moid 😈

[@TheDMFW62]

Great review. This perfectly captured my own ambivalence about the series. All I can say is that it has stuck with me. Sure, there were concepts I'd come across before, but there were also ideas I hadn't and whilst I found the idea of the sophon ridiculously over powered, I enjoyed the wallfacer concept and I really liked the dimension wars in the third book which provide such a nice explanation for the way modern string theory wraps up the extra dimensions it needs. Characters and prose were definitely clunky but somehow I didn't mind too much and the odd coldness in places just reminded me a bit of something like Olaf Stapledon, where the readers' alienation from traditional character driven story telling feels deliberate. It gives the narrative a strange flavour which I totally understand many people won't like (and I'm not sure I did, to be honest) but it may not be fair to call it bad - just unsettling and odd. Or maybe it is fair to call it bad. I won't reread it but I'll be interested to see how it is adapted.

[@joed180]

I just watched the series and had bought the book to start reading soon. After I saw the show, I will NEVER crack the first book. Sure, TV and movies can turn a great work into total crap. But there is NO WAY something THAT bad could come from anything worth the time to read.

[@MediaDeathCult]

Fair enough, there are just too many potentially great films and books out there to bother with something that doesn't grab you

[@ChrisG5000]

The Sci fi genre is so bad right now that people actually think this is a good show.

[@GoneYonkers]

Incredible video!

[@MediaDeathCult]

Thank you

[@paulcooper8818]

The 3BP is absolutely one of the worst SF reads ever written. It's not just sub-dimensional characters, it's reactions and motivations that are plainly wrong or senseless. All that stupid pointless exposition that people think is science. There is no way I'm wasting any more time on the remaining books. It's been awhile since I read it and I was utterly dismayed at the good reviews that plastered YT. Your half hearted recommendation errs on the positive side, like people should definitely give it a try and determine for themselves. That can be said about any book, however I did enjoy your video review and the effort you put into it.

[@johnpelosi4117]

I'm on Red Team.

[@praiha]

The characters were much better in the TV series. The action scenes were maybe better in the book tho. But yeah, that was only the first book, I hope they manage to do the next books as well... As well. I'm kinda positive about the upcoming Netflix series also. They are changing a lot of stuff, when the TenCent series was very book accurate, but I'd rather have that than the same thing again.

[@paulperkins1615]

I've got zero interest in reading books 2 and 3. Book one had a whole lot of cute ideas for fanciful weapons. These were inspired by actual exotic physics theories, which was fun but did not convince me that the ideas had anything to do with reality. So to me it's fantasy, not hard science fiction. And in fantasy, the magic has to have something to do with human beings and how we navigate the real world. Oops, it's not fantasy either. What is it? A bunch of meetings where a bunch of boring people argue about what to do when nothing they do can possibly matter anyway. No thanks.

[@mostafabinali7109]

yeeeeh white moid we are with you

[@user-ly2ll5od1r]

I think the point that the author was trying to convey was that *we shouldn't look for aliens* and should focus on ourselves, at least for now for a few hundred or thousand years. Following the dark forest hypothesis: We revealed ourselves, and sure we held off against another hunter for a while, we even won against him, but we made so much noise in the process that another much more experienced hunter took us down a few moments later, while instead we should have remained hidden behind the trees and looked for food and shelter and survived for as long as possible.

[@BeneficialBacteria]

Absolutely banger video. Best and most level-headed coverage of this series that I've seen. I somehow found myself agreeing almost completely with all three perspectives.

[@Katzenkaiser4]

what a coincidence that the best take is the one you agree with. not to attack you but a reminder that we should always watch our biases

[@anurag3619]

The Three Body Problem with a Discussion Between Three Bodies lmao, good one Moid. Not sure everyone got the joke but brilliant execution as always mate

[@Largecow_Moobeast]

I feel silly for not seeing this lol.

[@abcde_fz]

I wrote before I noticed others saying the same sort of thing I did, have to agree, very engaging video!

[@jasonbates9906]

Just finished The Dark Forest last week. Really didn't care for 'main character falls in love with woman he imagines; later UN finds woman matching his description of her; they cohabitate and have a kid" as a plot device.

[@jaspertandy]

That whole thing was so weird and offputting. I though it was probably trying to show what would likely happen if any normal person was given unlimited resources, but the wallfacer plot device gives you carte blanche to be like "that was all part of his plan" which I don't love. I did enjoy the series overall, but the first one was by far the weakest for me, and that whole bit was a significant contributor to that! The prose, too.

[@user-ly2ll5od1r]

@@jaspertandy Can someone explain why three body problem gets so much flack for prose, characters and sexism, but Asimov's and Arthur C Clarke's novels which are arguably much, much worse in those aspects (and ideas as well) get a pass? The protagonist in Rendezvous with Rama has like 3 wives and it's portrayed as normal for any American man of 2200's

[@Idylliac]

the part of "... falls in love with woman he imagine" shows Lougi's talent. He imagined a girlfriend, and imagined that he falls in love with her, He is capable of being a wallfacer to close off himself from the outside world to devise a plan, deceive everyone including San-Ti, and execute it well.

[@t3amtomahawk]

​@@user-ly2ll5od1rI often compare these books to Foundation where the ideas are peak and characters kinda exist to move stuff along. It works for the scope but it isn't perfect

[@user-ly2ll5od1r]

@@t3amtomahawk maybe it was different for the time, but I didn't think there were any interesting ideas in foundation at all. To add on top of that - I at least remember some names and some character traits from 3 body trilogy. I only remember the Mule from foundation.

[@lorcannagle]

I'm largely with Red Moid here. I'm mostly frustrated with the books where there's a great plot in here but it's let down at almost every turn with how Liu decides to pace things, to depict how decisions are made and actions are taken. There's a lot I really enjoyed in the books - Zhang Behai's arc in Dark Forest, and the crew of Blue Space investigating the weird dimensional pockets in Death's End stand out - but in those sections the characters feel like they have agency and drive, while for most of the books it feels like the characters are there to bear witness to the next thing.

[@WeWereTheStorm]

Same. The Three Body Problem was good, The Dark Forest was okay (had some interesting ideas but it was erratic pacing wise.) Death’s End was just bad.

[@zacharyrupley3264]

100% agree

[@funnycatvideos5490]

Yet he didn't want to just come out And hate it, he gave it a chance but you can tell he didn't love any of these books. I think it's geared toward less experienced sci-fi enthusiasts

[@chrisw6164]

Moid can review kitchen utensils and I’d watch it.

[@vigfusg]

I loved the originality of this review format. Thanks Moid.

[@Yellowblam]

You know, there’s good remedies for schizophrenia nowadays.

[@pgattei]

The Three Body Problem reviewed by The Three Body Moid... classic

[@LightningRaven42]

The first book is quite nice. It's very mysterious and if you didn't read anything about it at all, you kinda keep guessing what the hell is causing the deaths and the numbers. The Dark Forest was great for its second half and the solution being a sociological idea, rather than a hard sci-fi or warfare angle. Book three was good because of the massive amount of ideas and the vast scale of it all. However, all three books have the same issues. Poor characterization, clunky exposition and wishy-washy sociology in order to support the negative view of social interactions the author was going for. Overall, I agree with Moid's statement. It's good in the moment but it doesn't stay with you all that much. It's a good series that I have no desire to read again.

[@wingracer1614]

I can't really comment because I read a sample chapter way back when the 1st book was first coming out and found it so amateurly written I just lost all interest. It was like reading a talented but inexperienced high school student's first attempt at fiction writing. I'm sure he did improve in the next two books but I have no interest in subjecting myself to the pain of the first one just to get to the next. And let me stress that I can deal with clunky prose, I mean I'm a huge Sanderson fan after all but that wasn't the problem. It was just full of the most basic mistakes all student writers make in their earliest attempts. Things like characters telling each other things they already know as a way of explaining their story through dialogue. If you ever have a character say "well, as you know Bob..." followed by a page of infodump, delete that chapter and start again.

[@user-ly2ll5od1r]

"well, as you know Bob..." followed by a page of infodump, delete that chapter and start again." Look buddy I like Brandon too, but that shit happens at every single chapter in Mistborn, especially in the final empire, which is like every other page. "as you know Vin, ska are opressed, Lord Ruler has blablabla............"

[@gypsyboomer]

Slogged and slugged through the first one, was under-impressed. Should I try again? Help me Holy Trinity!

[@jbaidley]

I enjoyed all three books, I think I agree with both the praise and the criticism. There's a lot bad about the books, but there's also a host of interesting plot lines and ideas that I still think about years later. There's not many series that can say that.

[@warrenford]

I was never a reader until my twenties then someone passed me the wasp factory, then my favourite book the bridge and then started reading the culture books, thirty years on and not reading anything for a long time I picked up the three body problem and it blew my mind with its ideas, sure it may have been written before but this was my first taste of big concepts and I followed with the series leading me back into reading and sci fi, I loved the books

[@BCWasbrough]

I liked how all three perspectives looked like they were quietly listening when it wasn't their turn to talk. Really sold the idea that we were watching three separate people with three different impressions of the series. Well done!

[@tinustinus571]

very original way to introduce readers to this book. it's not objective, it's not the only one review, the absolute and definitive one. it's several voices, several subjectivities, it's thought-provoking. it's definitely smart. and it's actually a good way to review books in general, it's kind of humble to play different variations. and the gimmick is quite cool and entertaining. maybe you can make more out of the characters and push them a little bit further.

[@reynoldsmathey]

Brilliant and balanced take on a book series that has generated a lot of interest. I've read Three-Body and am looking forward to the others. You new home looks lovely. Thanks, Moid, and Happy Holidays.

[@abcde_fz]

I never 'gush' in my comments, but a couple of minutes in, your three selves carrying on a conversation from 3 POV's was really impressing me, in its cohesiveness, its 'give and take', its tone, content, and finally, its effect. Excellent editing. Wonderful to feel I was a fly on the wall taking in a real conversation. Before pressing "Comment", ...I couldn't help noticing other viewers pointing out the same thing... 🙂 Truly well done!!!

[@MediaDeathCult]

Thank You

[@brightbeacon]

Great review. I listened to all three on Audible. I did not enjoy them. While I am a fan hard sci-fi, I too am happy reading just for pleasure and can overlook many “sins” (mediocre writing, pacing, iffy science) if my overall reaction to the story is that I connected with the characters. I legit didn’t care about anyone. In particular, I thought the female characters were just caricatures. Very disappointing.

[@adrianmcmahon5731]

I don't think it's a loss in translation or cultural differences issue with the book. I've read other Chinese authors (mostly ordinary literary fiction not SF) that have had none of the problems I had with the Three Body Problem series. The writing improves somewhat over the 3 books but the major structural and character issues couldn't be fixed by the author, he's an imaginative guy but not the best writer in the world and to the books credit it mostly succeeds despite it's inherent flaws. It's far from a perfect book series that some reviewers I've seen have painted it as and Moids review is very fair with both praise and criticism and the Devil and Angel voices is a highly imaginative way to highlight that contradiction without seeming to be overly negative or positive. Hopefully now Moid is into the new house and getting settled his creative juices go into overdrive.

[@philstaples8122]

I never liked it very much, the characters annoyed me mostly and I found the plot and politics rather poor. A very over rated series of books.

[@brentasmith]

My experience was TBP: This has bad writing but kinda cool. TDF: Why is so much of this about thus knob's fake girlfriend? DE: 🤯

[@wonder_platypus8337]

No i think that's just human, every culture that has come into contact with a less advanced culture has either wiped them out or enslaved them. The only real exception that i know of is the Sentinels of North Sentinel Island. We've left them alone. But even that doesn't work because we HAVEN'T left them alone, and even if we do now they've attacked anyone who comes close themselves. RoEP shows how the chain of suspicion can cause even "peaceful" cultures to act aggressively by default.

[@actung74]

Top notch video once again. What a crackingly unique way to review a book. Pro's and con's delivered perfectly. This book has been on my TBR for a while and you have offered up plenty to consider which probably will aid my reading of this book to be that much more enjoyable. Excellent stuff.

[@GiRR007]

My biggest critique of the series is that every now and then while reading you will run into what I can only describe as a metaphorically patch of literary quick sand that you cant back out of and have to trudge though to get to the other side. These patches aren't very big or deep but do take away from the experience of reading the books. And despite there only being like a hand full of these bogs, the first and arguably largest one just so happens to be the beginning of the first book. 😅

[@stobiusshroden]

whoop so excited! (amazing stuff! the droplet destroying the fleet was physics fun! like the gatling gun scene at the end of the last samurai.)

[@turtle2720]

I slogged my way through the trilogy (took me four months) because of Moid's philosophy: "Read it! You can't have a proper opinion if you haven't read it". And I think people should give it a try... you might like it. TBP fans should know that Netflix is making a series on it.

[@patrickfave3108]

I hope that the Netflix series will be good (I am not very optimistic). I saw a chinese adaptation of the first book : it's easy to adapt the plot, but more difficult to adapt the idea, or the sense to be a "lucky witness".

[@danellskius2]

Three body problem. overrated. There's muchbetter stuff out there. Take for example blindsight by peter watts. It's a really complex book and makes you think and read it again. 3 body problem just pretends to be complex. Mostly it's just people talking. exposition the book.

[@DejectedCat]

First book was legitimately great, with a damn good conclusion. The story could've stopped there, but then comes 2nd and 3rd book. To say that it jumped the shark would be an understatement. Also, much of the first book had cynical pragmatism to it. But 2nd and 3rd books are practically advertisements for authoritarianism. Which's fine, if it's just another dystopian story. But once you watch the author's many interviews, you quickly figure out that he's a huge simp for fascism and social Darwinism, that he truly believes in these stuff.

[@DarkDrakman]

Only read the first book, and I share the same experience. Awful exposition, but very intriguing mistery and science. I started to lose interest after the mistery of the three bodies is explained, as the book starts to be a vomit of ideas. The sophon? cool stuff, but too much to be introduced in the last 10% of the book. The cutting-ship nanomaterial? Was that really necessary? So in the end I had a great time, got very fascinated by the whole in-game part, but the last forth of the book made me lose all interest to continue.

[@ParGellen]

This series is too puerile for me. Too much high school drama dumbness. I loved the universe and sci-fi ideas but anything dealing with the actual characters just made me constantly roll my eyes and want to vomit.

[@DrOss-qz1cw]

Great way to review it. I get your points because I also struggled with the style, but in the end the scale of the story and the multitude of ideas just did it for me.

[@necalovescake]

i couldnt get along with this one and DNFed the first book about 3/4 of the way through in our read along. the whole explain your evil plot to the heros in a really awkward unrealistic fashion as a vehicle to tell the audience whats going on is the sort of hacky nonsense id expect from an episode of danger mouse. the behaviour of the characters kept getting further and further from credibility for me until it was annoyingly daft. i need more than ideas, i need a decent book and i thought this was poor.

[@steveschnetzler5471]

I enjoyed the reading, but did not really connect with the characters, and actually don't remember many of the details. I also disliked the ending, and I would not read it again, but glad I read it once. Thanks.

[@OurRawHeart]

Finished the 2nd one recently. I dunno, I adored it. That teardrop scene will stay with me forever.

[@marksnow7569]

I was hoping the humans would try an antimatter attack against it. Like the sophons, for me the teardrop relied too much on narrativium.

[@kingj282]

There are so many classic SF masterpieces that I haven't read. By the time I get to this series I'll be old and jaded

[@chrisw6164]

I might get more out of this series after doing some research into the “three-body” hypothesis, which is a real thing. I had no idea about it going into the book.

[@durwoodmaccool890]

Only read the first book, I found it pretty meh. A few interesting things, mostly the Cultural Revolution stuff, but slow, talky and just an overall world view that I found depressing and unhelpful. No intention of reading any of the others. What I've read about them just reinforces that. If I wanted to read about murderous internecine struggles between allegedly intelligent beings I'd read a newspaper. Love the review style, a great approach to a controversial book. Keep rockin on Moid!

[@Bakarost]

Its a chinese savior story

[@michaeljdauben]

I'm one of those people who just didn't like the book. I really enjoyed the format of this review, though. Having different "Moids" reviewing from different points if view was entertaining and I think resulted in a balanced and informative video. 👍

[@waltera13]

Missed ya Moid. I'm gonna drop my comment before I watch, just to say this looks like a great idea of a topic to handle. Thanks, And keep doing what ever makes you happy. Have a GREAT new year!

[@laststorm7726]

Moid, your video's have become amazing. I always click on your videos. Your videos gone from content to art.

[@thehawkinator]

The Dark Forest is my favorite out of the trilogy. The writing style in that novel just seems a little bit better than the other two, maybe because it had a different translator? I'm not sure, but it actually felt like a story to me from start to finish. The whole series is great on ideas, poor on characters, with mediocre writing that makes it average out to just okay. I kind of feel like if the series has a better editor maybe some of this stuff would get cut out or reworked to be better. Shout outs to the scientist in Death's End who fell in love with a literal black hole and decided to float into it, then his family couldn't collect his life insurance policy because they argued he technically wasn't dead from their perspective.

[@mostafabinali7109]

actually i strugled with translation of 2nd but i liked it more than other

[@pleadthefilth]

I, admittedly, don't have a huge breadth of sci fi reading history; AND, admittedly, I have only read the first book. However, I really enjoyed it. There's a decent amount of talk in here about "writing dexterity" or "clunky storytelling" and I mostly attribute that to translational differences. I've read a good handful of books that have been translated to english (different genres of course), but I always find a bit of clunkiness to it. I'm not sure about how original the ideas presented in the first book were, but again, I will admit to being a newcomer to the genre. But as far as shortcomings in tone, wit, or dexterity I generally chalked up to translational differences

[@pleadthefilth]

Still stoked to read the rest of the trilogy though!

[@neutral_narr]

Nah that's just how he writes as I have asked Mandarin speakers who have said.

[@oasis71]

I love this, the bouncing back and forth between the different ideas and criticism of the good point about the book and the negative. I felt the same way, it was not the smoothest or the most well written but some of the ideas in here are mind boggling. Well worth your time imo.

[@paulallison6418]

Never mind the SF, you are blowing my mind here MOID! I am in the camp of been-reading-Science-Fiction-for-50+-years and wondered what all the fuss was about when I read this series and the writing was weird, even tedious. I have re-read 3 body but not the other two yet because of the hype and yes I liked it better the second time.

[@stefanoberli5920]

Very good idea with the 3 perspectives! Yes the books are very overconvoluted, and it's a pain getting through the first one. But for me the idea of dimensional collapse as a weapon blew my mind. Great voids as collapsed 2D space, remnants of war. That was very eerie. The characters may be not very relatable (maybe they are to chinese), but the worldbuilding is credible. But yeah no need to read it again.

[@samw1501]

Very thankful for this video. I've been a little bemused by all the love for this and now I think I understand it. The love is not unwarranted, but these books are not for me.

[@Marcus-id5ur]

Hated the first book, couldn't get past the horrible writing. DNF the 2nd book, writing wasn't getting any better and plot was getting stupid

[@uncletimo6059]

wut r u bangin on about? this book / trilogy was unoriginal and it has alll been done before? bruh...... LOL

[@Wannabanauthor]

To the people who told you to read the whole trilogy before passing judgment, books in a trilogy/series still need to stand on their own. If the first book is not good, why would someone want to read more from that same author before passing judgment? The book still needs to be a good book and shouldn't get a pass just because it's part of a trilogy. The first book being the weakest is not a good sign because that's supposed to introduce you to the story and get you hooked. If it's boring or bad, then it failed at its job.

[@michellevey9608]

You're my favorite sf reviewer. I even agree with you on Ender's Game. If you're read this, l just finished this trilogy. It SUCKED! It was all l could do to make it to the end. All the hype is from idiots.

[@shenmue249]

I love Three Body problem so much. I love the writing style, the characters, everything. My dad strongly recommended it to me and it got me back into reading SF after almost 20 years - leading to Reynolds, Hamilton, Watts, etc, and this youtube channel. So, that's my 2 cents. One note about the imaginary girlfriend scenes in TDF: (spoiler free addendum for youtube comment readers who actually click 'more'): These 200 pages were agonizingly boring for a reason: People. Literally. Live. Like. This. This was not a big part of the SF plot, but simply showing from the outside what humans look like when the most crucial problems in all history are waiting to be solved, and they turn away from reality, waste their potential, turn inward to FANTASY. video games, porn, imaginary GF, whatever it is. In fact this problem will only get worse in coming years. So yea, I hated reading it, but it had a purpose, just not one very close related to the main plot.

[@_jared]

You're an artist, Moid.

[@MediaDeathCult]

Thank you Jared

[@manw3bttcks]

The Sophon's are just way too OP, that is, they're McGuffin's to the 3rd power.

[@keywiz2112]

I really enjoyed the trilogy, especially The Dark Forest with some truly terrifying ideas. Has anyone read Artur C Clarke and Stephen Baxter’s trilogy? Times Eye, Sunstorm & Firstborn, because I read them a couple of months ago and found a similarity of quite a few ideas to the three-body problem, especially the second and third books. If you have not read them, then please try to find the time to, as they are superb.

[@warrenashley2877]

1k upvote! Coolest thing I’ve done. Howdy from way out here in Appalachia!

[@franckmalers2299]

Loved the 3 body problem trilogy. No sweet happy ending. Grim story. Although a bit difficult to follow with the chinese names all over it, it's an amazing series that will stay with me my whole life.

[@enjoybing]

After watch this, I want to translate this and bring it to Chinese Webs. But I have to say, the discussion about this book series has already gained enough fermentation ---- all of the three perspectives have been fully discussed in China on its webs. It's a great video though. Personally, it's good for a westerner to read anyway if you find there's nothing new in your sci-fi market. According to Liu in one of his interview, he depicted these characters in a bland way, making them seemly not real at all, because he had deeply compared many ways of writing from many famous sci-fi writers back before 1990, finding it's a good way to bring readers many mind-blowing ideas in a relatively shorter length. Otherwise, it would go like 1,300x10 pages in total. From a reader's perspective, he is good at characterise a person, marking their motives and purposes. Therefore I trust his words. Finally, another anecdote about this book is Liu wrote it during slacking off at work. The whole series had been done during his tedious workplace, to pass time and earn a part-timing money. That's all he wanted. It would be better if he had put all his minds into it. But what if he didn't want to write this in the event of a pleasing life? Then all the discussion would disappear.

[@prasannabhat8631]

I haven't read the books. But I have watched a few review videos If aliens can't lie, how did humans get deceived? Why is there only one person who received warning message? Why isn't there more communication and negotiations with aliens?

[@havedrill1]

Nice balanced critique of the books. I like the concept and ideas. But I found the story to be cold and impersonal. I felt no connection with any of the characters. I mentioned to a Chinese friend of mine that almost every one dies. He said: it’s a Chinese SF love story. Of course everyone dies. It’s so romantic.😂

[@danellskius2]

Did you ever consider reading the absolute the absolute sci fi masterpiece mangas " Blame" or Gantz?