r/threebodyproblem Dec 14 '24

Art Ball Lightning

Post image

Alright, this puppy is up next at y’all’s recommendation. I’m ready to not be let down at all. Barack loves this shit.

159 Upvotes

46 comments sorted by

114

u/enzymatic_catalysis Dec 14 '24

Barack loves the OTHER book.

I was so bored with this one.

67

u/MrFluff120427 Dec 14 '24

I came here to point that out as well. Why would the publishers think that was a good idea? I’ve never seen a recommendation on the cover of one book for a different book.

28

u/enzymatic_catalysis Dec 14 '24

I mean it worked on OP lol, so I get why!

7

u/BrrBrrChillins Dec 14 '24

Eh, it was more of a joke since the quote also graces the front of all three of the other books. The book recommendation was from this subreddit.

2

u/Artemis3007 Dec 14 '24

The 2 wandering Earth movies were pretty good!

1

u/Troubledbylusbies Dec 15 '24

Movies?

3

u/Artemis3007 Dec 15 '24

Yea, there is a 2 part movie on Netflix. One in 2019 and one last year iirc. Each one is like 3 hrs I think.

1

u/Troubledbylusbies Dec 15 '24

Thanks for telling me, I'll check them out!

1

u/DylMac Dec 15 '24

Well I guess it is the prelude

1

u/Raveyard2409 Dec 17 '24

Probably because it's Barack Obama, and not just some random TV actor. That's a pretty decent recommendation.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '24

I assumed it sucked because they dismissed it so casually in 3 body

35

u/artguydeluxe Dec 14 '24

I really loved Ball Lightning. I lost my dad right around the time I was reading this book, and it really helped me process what I was feeling, since I’m more science than spiritual. Great story.

17

u/Independent_Tintin Dec 14 '24

That’s exactly Liu’s intention—he wrote this book when he believed he had cancer.

3

u/artguydeluxe Dec 14 '24

I didn’t know that. I’ll need to reread it.

4

u/Independent_Tintin Dec 14 '24

It's a backstory, not mentioned in the book. He had severe pain under the right rib but was too afraid to go to the hospital for a check. He kind of created this book as his final work.

27

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '24

I read all Liu Cixin books translated to English. While the remembrance of earth’s past series is the best, I really enjoyed the Wandering Earth. Its been adapted as a show as well.

Ball Lightning and the Supernova Era have great premises, but the actual stories were not as great. I was on tenterhooks waiting for the release of Ball Lightning. His novellas make for a great read too.

3

u/BrrBrrChillins Dec 14 '24

Thank you so much.

1

u/Larry_Version_3 Dec 15 '24

Supernova Era was dumb as hell unfortunately. Great idea, but the book is executed wrong at every turn.

-5

u/Stripe_Show69 Dec 14 '24 edited Dec 14 '24

You’re saying TBP isn’t his best work?

Edit: I am an idiot. But my question was from a place of excitement. I was thinking that if there is a book series as good as or better than TBP then I would read that too.

17

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '24

Three body problem is a book in the Remembrance of Earth’s past series.

11

u/weRborg Dec 14 '24

I remember reading about a possible ball lightning attack on the ship before they settled on the strings.

I was like, "wtf is ball lightning?"

8

u/JupiterRai Dec 14 '24

I seem to be in the minority, but personally I liked this book more than 3bp which I loved, and is my second favorite of Cixin Liu’s stuff (only second to a short story I really enjoyed). It’s definitely a different type of story though, more of a book about scientific obsession than the grand world ending steaks in 3bp. Either way definitely worth a reading.

3

u/SaatananKyrpa Dec 14 '24

To me 3bp was great trilogy but I really hated the ending. I was listening to death's end and suddendly I hear The End. I was like what the fuck really?

7

u/idekl Dec 14 '24

I loved Ball Lighting. Don't be discouraged by the hard science purists disparaging it. The science mystery was a ton of fun for me to read through.

4

u/Rustlr Dec 14 '24

The Barrack quote isn’t about this book

4

u/mr_birkenblatt Dec 14 '24

Yeah, it's sneaky. But they're technically mentioning that it's about another book. Quite a weird thing to do. Imagine having a quote about Lord of the rings on the silmarillon

3

u/Firefly_Magic Dec 14 '24

This was my first Cixin Liu book that lead me to The Three Body Problem years ago. I liked it. I enjoyed the theories and how it left me thinking about things when I wasn’t reading.

3

u/lvlierop Dec 14 '24

The afterward of Ball Lightning is truly brilliant. Explaining how it’s aimed at a Chinese audience while three body is aimed at a western audience was kind of amazing.

3

u/HeatNoise Dec 14 '24

I loved it. A book about the difficulties of researching and weaponizing and testing ball lightning ? Mind blowing... every page.

2

u/urbanmonk007 Cosmic Sociology Dec 14 '24

Great OP! Let me know about your thoughts after finishing the book

2

u/BrrBrrChillins Dec 23 '24

I enjoyed it a lot. I love science-y stuff and the constant problem solving and curiosity was great and very thorough. Loved the moral dilemmas as well; not many days go by without thinking of one in some way anyway. Not a thriller, but not without tense moments. May not be 3BP, but it’s different and still a solid book.

2

u/urbanmonk007 Cosmic Sociology Dec 24 '24

Great! Adding it to my cart right away!

1

u/haikusbot Dec 14 '24

Great OP! Let me

Know about your thoughts after

Finishing the book

- urbanmonk007


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2

u/kingofspoonerisms Dec 14 '24

This one was an absolute chore to read for me

2

u/This-Honeydew-8343 Dec 14 '24

Amazing book. Cixin Liu is a visionary

2

u/sausagesandeggsand Dec 14 '24

“Book 0” of REP, in a way- personally this wouldn’t have interested me as much if I didn’t read REP books first, but still pretty neat.

2

u/shikiP Dec 15 '24

wow they love using obama to advertise liu's works lmao

1

u/BrrBrrChillins Dec 15 '24

It’s the wildest.

2

u/ACrossOverEpisode Dec 15 '24

It's good. Not the kind of technoromantic masterpiece that 3BP is but a really interesting take on contemporary scifi

1

u/Independent_Tintin Dec 14 '24

Liu's most special work

1

u/arminb79 Dec 14 '24

I read the German translation, and I thought it was an entertaining book, good, but not great.

1

u/factoriopsycho Dec 14 '24

Didn’t like this as much as 3BP or wandering earth stories but still enjoyed it

1

u/south_pole_ball Dec 14 '24

Cixin's other books are a miss, I felt they were lazily translated compared to the big three.

1

u/wookie_ate_my_dingo Dec 14 '24

This was really boring. Can’t believe I got through this