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Here’s the place to discuss any books or stories that relate to Three Body; as direct influences or simply with similar themes or ideas.

Here are links to two stories that were referenced in the text.

Liu Cixin’s story "Ball Lightning", where the character of the physicist Dong Yi previously appeared.


The Asimov Story “The Billiard Ball�, referenced by Ding in the game of Pool with Wang when he’s describing how fundamental particle laws have become inconsistent. Asimov himself admitted that the science of his light speed billiard ball is impossible.



A couple of similarities with other books I noticed:

Liu has said in many interviews that his main science fiction influences are Golden Age western writers, especially Arthur C. Clarke. While alien invasion is obviously a recurring theme for science fiction, Clarke’s Childhood's End seems like one of the more obvious influences, although Clarke’s aliens are benevolent. In his article published in Tor (link provided in the ‘general� discussion thread), Liu says that historically most Chinese Science fiction has followed the benevolent alien concept.

The planet of the Trisolarians with their culture that rose and fell with the planetary conditions reminded me of the Helliconia books by Brian Aldiss. While not chaotic, Aldiss� planet has a year that lasts 2500 earth years. There are two races on the planet, one of them human whose culture rises and falls with the start and end of the long summer. Helliconia Spring is the first (and best) of the series.

With respect to the on/off nature of Trisolarians civilization as a result of planetary conditions reminded me of A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge. The sun that provided light to the planet in this story regularly turned itself off, causing the aliens (sentient spider-like creaturs) to hibernate during the off periods.

With respect to the protons, I kept remembering a story I first heard in the 1960's. What I remember about it was that there was a world, like the one I lived on, that was destroyed with it collided with a similar sized body. Turns out, the world was a pool ball and what collided with it was the que ball. I thought the story must be The Billiard Ball to which Whitney provides a link to above, but it isn't. I remember exactly where I was when I heard the story (I did not read it) - a middle school classroom in Southington, Connecticut. The story has remained with me but I cannot remember the name of the story or the author.

Linda wrote: "With respect to the on/off nature of Trisolarians civilization as a result of planetary conditions reminded me of A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge. The sun that p..."

I could have sworn I read A Deepness in the Sky, but now I realize I only read A Fire Upon the Deep, which I really enjoyed. I need to rectify this situation! Now I also want to find out what your billiard ball story is...

In the scene where Ye Wenjie meets with the Red Guards who killed her father, one of them mentions the film "Maple" to make the point that everything they did means nothing. The film was based on a story by Zheng Li, who was a member of the Red Guards and one of the first people to write about the fights between different Red Guard factions, (something I was completely ignorant of before reading this book). Here's a link to a brief article and interview with Zheng from "Morning Sun: Interviews with Chinese Writers of the Lost Generation":

I am not typically a Science-fiction reader so I never read Asimov before but I have heard a lot of really good things about him and being a fan of the game of billiards I was intrigued by the mention of his story "The Billaird Ball."

I looked it up and read it and I thought it was quite an intersting story and made ma cur ruins to read more of Asimov's writing. Also I can see the influence that Asimov had upon Liu Cixin.

Particularly interesting was the discussion of the sun in The Billaird Ball, and the questions posed about how we can know it will rise again the next day in relation to Three Body.

Whitney wrote: "In the scene where Ye Wenjie meets with the Red Guards who killed her father, one of them mentions the film "Maple" to make the point that everything they did means nothing. The film was based on a..."

Thanks for the link, Whitney. Interesting that Zheng did not think he had done his best work with Maple and was surprised at all the attention it got.

The way that the ETO used The There Body game to recruit members reminded me of a cheesy 80's movie called "The Last Starfighter". The film was a bit of wish-fullfillment for the arcade video game generation. The video game Starfighterwas created by a good alien race in a war with a bad alien race, and they recruit the teenager with the high score on the game to help defeat the baddies. I'm pretty sure Earth was threatened as well in there somewhere.

Silver wrote: "I looked it up and read it and I thought it was quite an intersting story and made ma cur ruins to read more of Asimov's writing. Also I can see the influence that Asimov had upon Liu Cixin. ..."

I made a not about how the following passage in TTBP reminded me of "Gaia" from Asimov's Foundation series. Gaia was introduced in the 4th book, which I thought was a little weak compared to the original trilogy, it is essentially a sentient planet, based largely around the "Gaia Hypothesis" popular at the time.

From TTBP:

"The princeps pointed to the giant eyes in space. “Do these show that the microcosmos contained within the unfolded proton harbors intelligent life?�
“Our definition of ‘life� is probably not appropriate for the high-dimensional microcosmos. More accurately, we can only say that universe contains intelligence or wisdom. Scientists have long predicted this possibility. It would have been odd for such a complex and vast world to not have evolved something akin to intelligence.�

Whitney wrote: "Silver wrote: "I looked it up and read it and I thought it was quite an intersting story and made ma cur ruins to read more of Asimov's writing. Also I can see the influence that Asimov had upon Li..."

I looked up the Foundation series, it isn't the type of thing I normally read but I am intrigued. It sounds potionslly intersting.

Silver wrote: "I looked up the Foundation series, it isn't the type of thing I normally read but I am intrigued. It sounds potionslly interesting..."

It is very interesting, although I haven't read it since my teens or early 20's, which makes everything seem more mind blowing than it otherwise might be. Asimov is definitely of the 'old school' of SF writers. Ideas are his focus, and some of the more "literary" elements such as character and dialog can be a little lacking.

Whitney wrote: "Silver wrote: "I looked up the Foundation series, it isn't the type of thing I normally read but I am intrigued. It sounds potionslly interesting..."

It is very interesting, although I haven't rea..."

I am enjoying Three Body but I can really see that Asimov connection, it does seem that proposing certain ideas is the main focus of Three Body as well.