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reviewed The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu (Three-Body Trilogy, #1)

Cixin Liu: The Three-Body Problem (Hardcover, 2014, Tor Books) 4 stars

Within the context of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, a military project sends messages to alien …

Review of 'The Three-Body Problem' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Although this book is really physics-inspired (just look at the name), it is not actually intended for physicists, and more for the general public (which is good! Just not expected). Let me explain:

I just finished my B.A. in physics, and although I'm in no means an expert, I do have certain knowledge in the field. This caused an unexpected problem for me.

The physicists in the book (except Ye Wenji maybe) aren't believable. They lack basic knowledge that all physicists have, or understand the situation far slower than expected.

For example, let's look at the 3body game. As a non-expert with limited knowledge, I was able to understand the mechanics of the game within the first chapter of it. For Wang, en expert with years more of experience it took 3 another several chapters.

Of course, this is not a problem for most people (I guess), since most people didn't a whole course named "Chaos Theory" last semester. Therefore of course the reader would have to introduce those concepts at a slower pace.
But it is a problem for the people who did, and so we get to my earlier statement:

This is a great physics-inspired sci fi book for the general public. But if you have physics knowledge, don't expect to be surprised too much.