The Three-Body Problem and The Dark Forest: Science Fiction That Captivates

I read these books like a child captivated by the wonder of science fiction. Liu Cixin brings back that hard sci-fi where physics and mathematics aren’t just decoration but the foundation of the plot.

The Three-Body Problem

The first book starts with the Cultural Revolution in China and ends with the three-body problem in astrophysics. The author manages to connect the Cultural Revolution with first contact — and it works.

Lots of complex scientific terms — sophons (multidimensional proton-computers), multidimensional unfolding, quantum entanglement. But it’s all understandable, especially if you have a technical background. Cixin doesn’t simplify physics for the reader, but doesn’t turn the book into a textbook either.

What’s particularly impressive is the idea of blocking human science by controlling the results of all physical experiments. This isn’t just technological superiority — it’s control over the very possibility of knowledge. When I read to that part, I had to put the book down and go google whether this is even theoretically possible. Spoiler: not yet.

The Dark Forest

The second book is completely different. Less action, more philosophy. The main idea is the axioms of cosmic sociology and the “dark forest” concept. The universe as a forest where every civilization is a hunter who must stay silent to survive.

Cixin takes two simple axioms and spins them to their logical extreme:

1. The primary goal of civilization is survival
2. Resources in the universe are limited

And from this derives the cold mathematics of interstellar relations. No romantic vision of space — just game theory on a galactic scale. I remember finishing that chapter around 2am and couldn’t fall asleep for a long time — the picture of the universe it paints is too bleak.

Humanity waits a hundred years, plans centuries ahead, people - the Wallfacers - receive unlimited power. Here science fiction works as a thought experiment: what happens to humanity when time is measured in centuries and decisions are made for hundreds of years ahead?

What Hooked Me

Cixin isn’t afraid of scale. His time frames are centuries, his space is the galaxy, his problems are the survival of civilization. Yet the story remains human through the lens of specific characters.

There’s something of Jules Verne in this approach. Verne for a child’s mind scattered scientific terms — bathyscaphes, electricity, submarines. And it created a wild desire to study and learn. Cixin does the same thing but with modern physics. Though I stopped myself in time — didn’t dive into quantum mechanics, my head would spin.

Physics here isn’t magic with scientific terminology. Sophons work according to the laws of quantum mechanics, spaceships accelerate for years, and interstellar communication is delayed by light-years. This is pure science fiction.

The philosophical component of the second book might seem drawn out, but it’s necessary. “The Dark Forest” isn’t an action movie about space battles, it’s a meditation on the nature of civilizations and contact between them.

I devoured both books in one go — it’s been a long time since I had that with science fiction. If you miss proper SF where physics is physics and not magic with smart words — grab them, you won’t regret it.

I read in Russian, the translation doesn’t interfere with comprehension.

I’ve already started reading the third part — “Death’s End”