The Three Body Problem

Liu Cixin's The Three Body Problem is a wildly popular Chinese science fiction novel, and it's easy to see why. It opens during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, setting the tone for a multigenerational, universe-spanning story that careens between missing scientists, a mysterious video game, and an exploration of the nature of humanity and the cosmos itself. In this episode, we situate Liu's novel within the history of Chinese science fiction and also bring in Dr. Colin West, a theoretical physicist from the University of Colorado, to help us understand the science in the The Three Body Problem.