https://www.reddit.com/r/SF_Book_Club/comments/30xhj0/three_...
I enjoyed the 3 books. After reading the first one I was intrigued but it didn't blow me away. After reading all of them I am very appreciative of the epic scope, and while the it seemed to have less character development, the ideas more than made up for it.
As far as scientific ideas - they were all a stretch. He is neither Stephenson in accuracy, nor Gibson in the vague, but accurate, predictions.
I mean, the author is an employee of the Chinese government, and doesn't seem to be a fool.
I found it great for this reason. For once I was absorbed in the fiction and not put off by excess sermonizing or social commentary.
I don't think that the events would've unfolded differently if the first contact were made by a different country. The motivation of the contacter would've been different but it wouldn't change the reaction of Trisolarians.
Like OP said, not a tutorial. It talks about different thought processes and techniques. Extremely good stuff to know. Take notes on it. It's dense in things you should probably research more in depth.
Their big mistake was trying to use the "move fast and break things" mentality in biotech. If Holmes had started an ad company instead, she'd be lauded for her entrepreneurial accomplishments instead of being under investigation by the Feds.
http://linusrosskamp.com/articles/2017-08/three-body-problem...
Guess what.
You can achieve the same power of computation with 1 person, a pen, a paper and our standard number symbols 0-9.
Do people not realize why we use gates and binary logic in electrical computer systems?
It's also a small part of the story. I wouldn't judge the entire trilogy based on thinking this one scene is really stupid.
On a side note, is our system of government really all that different from a mass human computer?
Yes, our system of government is a mass human computer that would be made really inefficient if everyone could only communicate in binary and if we restricted one persons functional processing to output that of a single logical gate.
Bad Blood : Man, this book really does read like a Hollywood movie screenplay. The rise and fall of Theranos, documented through interviews with hundreds of ex-employees by the very author who came up with the first expose of Theranos. Truly shows the flaws in the "fake it before you make it" mindset and how we glorify "geniuses".
Shoe Dog : Biography of the founder of Nike. Really liked how it's not just a book glorifying the story of Nike, but tells the tale of how much effort, balance and even pure luck went into making the company the household name it is today.
Master Algorithm : It's a book about the different fields of Machine learning (from Bayesian to Genetic evolution algos) and talks about the pros and cons of each and how these can play together to create a "master algorithm" for learning. It's a good primer for people entering the field and while it's not a DIY, it shows the scope of the problem of learning as a whole.
Three Body Problem: Finally, after years of people telling me to read this (on HN and off), I read the trilogy (Remembrance of Earth's Past), and I must say, the series does live up to the hype. Not only is it fast paced and deeply philosophical, but it's presented in a format very accessible to casual readers as well (unlike many hard sci-fi books which seem to revel in complexity). If I had to describe this series in a single line, it's "What would happen if China was the country that made first contact with an alien race?"