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The Three-Body Problem
Cover of The Three-Body Problem
The Three-Body Problem
by Cixin Liu
Borrow Borrow

The inspiration for the Netflix series 3 Body Problem!
WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL
Over 1 million copies sold in North America
"A mind-bending epic."The New York Times

  • "War of the Worlds for the 21st century."The Wall Street Journal
  • "Fascinating."TIME
  • "Extraordinary."The New Yorker
  • "Wildly imaginative."—Barack Obama
  • "Provocative."Slate
  • "A breakthrough book."—George R. R. Martin
  • "Impossible to put down."GQ
  • "Absolutely mind-unfolding."NPR
  • "You should be reading Liu Cixin."The Washington Post
    The Three-Body Problem is the first novel in the groundbreaking, Hugo Award-winning series from China's most beloved science fiction author, Cixin Liu.
    Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.
    The Three-Body Problem Series
    The Three-Body Problem
    The Dark Forest
    Death's End
    Other Books by Cixin Liu
    Ball Lightning
    Supernova Era
    To Hold Up the Sky

    The Wandering Earth
    A View from the Stars

    A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

  • The inspiration for the Netflix series 3 Body Problem!
    WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL
    Over 1 million copies sold in North America
    "A mind-bending epic."The New York Times

  • "War of the Worlds for the 21st century."The Wall Street Journal
  • "Fascinating."TIME
  • "Extraordinary."The New Yorker
  • "Wildly imaginative."—Barack Obama
  • "Provocative."Slate
  • "A breakthrough book."—George R. R. Martin
  • "Impossible to put down."GQ
  • "Absolutely mind-unfolding."NPR
  • "You should be reading Liu Cixin."The Washington Post
    The Three-Body Problem is the first novel in the groundbreaking, Hugo Award-winning series from China's most beloved science fiction author, Cixin Liu.
    Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.
    The Three-Body Problem Series
    The Three-Body Problem
    The Dark Forest
    Death's End
    Other Books by Cixin Liu
    Ball Lightning
    Supernova Era
    To Hold Up the Sky

    The Wandering Earth
    A View from the Stars

    A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

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    Awards-
    About the Author-
    • CIXIN LIU is the most prolific and popular science fiction writer in the People's Republic of China. Liu is a winner of the Hugo Award, an eight-time winner of the Galaxy Award (the Chinese Hugo) and a winner of the Chinese Nebula Award. Prior to becoming a writer, he worked as an engineer in a power plant. His novels include The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death's End.
    Reviews-
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from September 29, 2014
      Fans of hard SF will revel in this intricate and imaginative novel by one of China’s most celebrated genre writers. In 1967, physics professor Ye Zhetai is killed after he refuses to denounce the theory of relativity. His daughter, Ye Wenjie, witnesses his gruesome death. Shortly after, she’s falsely charged with sedition for promoting the works of environmentalist Rachel Carson, and told she can avoid punishment by working at a defense research facility involved with the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. More than 40 years later, Ye’s work becomes linked to a string of physicist suicides and a complex role-playing game involving the classic physics problem of the title. Liu impressively succeeds in integrating complex topics—such as the field of frontier science, which attempts to define the limits of science’s ability to know nature—without slowing down the action or sacrificing characterization. His smooth handling of the disparate plot elements cleverly sets up the second volume of the trilogy.

    • AudioFile Magazine This new production of the Chinese sci-fi epic may be Rosalind Chao's first turn as an audiobook narrator, but you'd never know it. The veteran actor navigates long stretches of speculative physics and descriptions of shocking violence as ably as she voices colloquies among the characters. Listeners who come to the work from the Netflix adaptation will find Chao's warm, familiar tones--she plays astrophysicist Ye Wenjie in the series--carrying them into the Chinese milieu of the source story. She narrates with restraint, never overplaying Ye's increasing alienation or nanotechnologist Wang Miao's distress as mysterious phenomena hint at doom to come. Chao's brisk, no-nonsense evocation of the foulmouthed detective Da Shi as he connects the dots to reveal an alien invasion harks back to gumshoes of yore. V.S. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
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      All copies of this title, including those transferred to portable devices and other media, must be deleted/destroyed at the end of the lending period.

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