The Three Body Problem 1

LIFE•

"The Three-Body Problem," the first novel in Liu Cixin's "Remembrance of Earth's Past" trilogy, explores a fictional past, present, and future where Earth encounters an alien civilization from a system of three sun-like stars, representing the three-body problem in orbital mechanics. 

Here's a more detailed summary:

  • The Premise:

    The story begins in 1967 during China's Cultural Revolution, where Ye Wenjie, a young physicist, witnesses her father's death during a struggle session. 

  • First Contact:

    Decades later, Ye Wenjie, now a scientist, receives a message from a concerned alien pacifist from the planet Trisolaris, warning her not to respond or else the inhabitants of Trisolaris will locate and invade Earth. 

  • The Trisolarans:

    The Trisolarans, a civilization facing a cataclysmic end due to their unstable three-star system, are desperate to find a new home. 

  • The Three-Body Problem:

    The novel takes its name from a real-life physics problem, which attempts to solve for the trajectories of three masses in an orbital system using Newton's laws, which are chaotic and have no closed-form solution. 

  • The Novel's Themes:

    The book explores themes of technology, progress, and the potential for violence and destruction, as well as the nature of human society and our relationship with the universe.