Dark Forest
"Wildly imaginative." —President Barack Obama on The Three-Body Problem trilogy This near-future trilogy is the first chance for English-speaking readers to experience this multiple-award-winning phenomenon from Cixin Liu, China's most beloved science fiction author. In The Dark Forest, Earth is reeling from the revelation of a coming alien invasion-in just four centuries' time. The aliens' human collaborators may have been defeated, but the presence of the sophons, the subatomic particles that allow Trisolaris instant access to all human information, means that Earth's defense plans are totally exposed to the enemy. Only the human mind remains a secret. This is the motivation for the Wallfacer Project, a daring plan that grants four men enormous resources to design secret strategies, hidden through deceit and misdirection from Earth and Trisolaris alike. Three of the Wallfacers are influential statesmen and scientists, but the fourth is a total unknown. Luo Ji, an unambitious Chinese astronomer and sociologist, is baffled by his new status. All he knows is that he's the one Wallfacer that Trisolaris wants dead. The Three-Body Problem Series The Three-Body Problem The Dark Forest Death's End Other Books Ball Lightning Supernova Era To Hold Up The Sky (forthcoming)
Stats for nerds
36recommend
104mentions
95people
2015–2026years
38% recommend57% neutral5% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- > hand wavy sci-fi speculation
"The Dark Forest" by Liu Cixin is sci-fi, but I don't think it's too hand-wavy. It presents a pretty logical answer to the Fermi Paradox, based on a couple obvious axioms.
Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_forest_hypothesis
- Fiction:
- "The Dark Forest" by Liu Cixin and the whole Three Body Problem/Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy. Truly massive, grand SciFi. Would recommend 10/10. [HN]
- "Anna Karenina" by Tolstoy. Made me face deeper parts of my mind. Attempted to answer some questions I had. Great story. Huge book. Historical fiction is something I like across languages.
- "Candide" by Voltaire. Genuinely fun and entertaining, besides it being- you know- Voltaire.
- "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson. Very good story, world buulding, nice technology. Great thinking by the author.
Non Fiction:
- "Fermat's Last Theorem" by Simon Singh. Was very happy to see a Popular Math book where there are so many Popular Science books. Great book. Goes over FMT's solving history, with many many fun anecdotes, short biographies, etc. Truly enjoyable to read.
- "Code Book" by Simon Singh. Genuinely fun and learned a lot. Cryptography's history, progress, and so much more. [HN]
Self-Help:
- "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. Truly marvelous book and nice to read. This book requires the reader to be of certain kind attaining a certain level. Without that, this book will seem a fluff and overrated hugely. Fundamentally changed my thinking. [HN]
- "Four Thousand Weeks" by Oliver Bourkeman. Thought this was about saner time management with some wisdom. But was much deeper than that. Will recommend.
Bengali:
- "Abhajaner Mahabharat" by Mahbub Lilen. A fun and serious retelling of the Mahabharata. Goes deep, too. Really fun to read.
- "Khana Mihirer Dhipi" by Bani Basu. An account of feminism in the light of female-dominated inner part of Bengali elite households- and that in the light of female dominated, fully maternalistic hunter-gatherers of early human history. Very thought provoking and unique.
[HN]- chose primarily because recommendation in some past HN threads.
Read 23 so far. Target is 25. Currently reading Snow Crash and Exhalation.
- The Dark Forest, Liu Cixin. You’re sure you haven’t read it? If not, your concerns over geometry are… uncanny.
- Dark Forest theory best portrayed in the 2nd book of the Remembrance of Earth’s Past series by Liu Cixin (sci-fi at its best)
- - Thinking Fast and Slow (been around for a while - I am just getting to it) - The 3 Body Problem, Dark Forest, and Death’s End - a SciFi Trilogy by Cixin Liu. A masterpiece. Read them back to back - Think Again, by Adam Grant
- I definitely think The Dark Forest ranks up there with those.
I haven't even heard of Wolfe's book. Will check it out, thanks.
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