Liu Cixin
Chinese science fiction writer, best known for the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy (The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, Death's End). Former engineer; winner of the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel (The Three-Body Problem, English translation).
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
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1. Remembrance Of Earth's Past
The Three-Body Trilogy
Across decades, humanity's first contact with an advanced alien civilization—triggered by a disillusioned scientist and a clandestine message sent into space—sparks political turmoil, scientific breakthroughs, and the unraveling of long-hidden cosmic dangers. An alien species from an unstable three-sun system intervenes, using subatomic surveillance and the threat of invasion to destabilize Earth's societies, prompting competing human factions to pursue collaboration, betrayal, and radical strategies for survival. The story develops a chilling cosmic-sociology idea known as the Dark Forest, explores the construction of interstellar deterrence and mutual-assured destruction on a galactic scale, and follows the moral, technological, and existential costs of confronting truly alien minds. It is an expansive, mind-bending examination of civilization, survival, and the terrible choices provoked by contact with a hostile cosmos.
The 17152nd Greatest Book of All TimePurchase from Bookshop.org -
2. Three Body Problem Boxed Set
Spanning decades and escalating from local political trauma to cosmic stakes, this sweeping science-fiction saga follows humanity’s discovery of an alien civilization from a chaotic three-sun system and the cascading consequences of contact: a covert invitation, an approaching invasion, and technological sabotage that stalls progress. As nations fracture between collaboration and fearful secrecy, unconventional strategies arise—most famously a set of human ‘wallfacers’ given secretive authority to craft long-range plans—and a chilling theoretical framework about the universe as a dangerous “dark forest” where survival requires ruthless secrecy and preemptive strikes. The narrative traces scientific breakthroughs, moral dilemmas, vast engineering projects, and both individual heroism and tragic sacrifice as humanity confronts existential risk, grapples with the ethics of deterrence, and ultimately confronts the indifferent, often brutal scales and rules of cosmic civilization.
The 17152nd Greatest Book of All TimePurchase from Bookshop.org