“Just read Three Body Problem, it’s a great book, and I know you will like it!”
“What’s it about?”
“Well, I can’t really tell you without spoiling the book. It’s an experience in itself to be discovering what the book is about while you read it.”
Intriguing. This exchange was a few weeks back, and finally I got around to devouring this fascinating book and finding out that indeed, this was not the book I thought it was going to be, and it was a fantastic ride.
And so similarly, I want to describe the experience without ruining the experience, and hopefully others if you are commenting you can likewise follow suit.
Well what’s the title referencing anyway? Going into this book I only knew that the Three Body Problem involves solving a set of equations corresponding to the movement of three planetary bodies in space. There are known solutions in very specific cases, but there does not exist a general (closed-form) solution. It also has the property that the solutions are very sensitive to the initial configuration. A tiny change in initial positions can wildly change the trajectories: in other words, chaotic. How does this play a role in the book? Is the book discussing the journey behind attempts at solving this problem? Perhaps it’s a metaphor describing something else entirely?
I also knew going in that it was a work of fiction, and that the setting starts during the Chinese cultural revolution. Okay, so maybe it’s historical fiction? Well I won't say much more than this.
The book reveals a level of technical detail that I find surprising and refreshing, in terms of explaining various concepts in math, physics, and computer science. An attempt at tricking people into learning a little bit, if you will. My favorite kind of subversive learning. Okay, not really, it’s more likely that you might glaze over them like I did, at least for some of the theoretical physics.
Still, not knowing what the book is about, how would you know if it’s your cup of tea? You might be thinking “No, I don’t want to be tricked into learning science!” to which I would say… You know what? Forget I said it. It’s not important. Just know that the world is not what it seems, and conspiracies abound. It’s intrigue… mystery… the characters are well developed and I took a liking to a particularly crafty fellow. Pretty much, you won’t be able to put the book down.
I only just finished the first book in the series, and look forward to continuing the series. It seems it’s also being turned into a movie, and well, that should be fun.
How did I do? Did I say too much already? If you read it already, how would you sell it?