Author : 劉慈欣
What is it about : A story of literally "Universal" proportion when a Chinese scientist in her desperate anger committed a bitter revenge which impacted and changed the course of human history. Yip Man Kit witnessed the death of her father in the hands of the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution and found herself exiled to a remote deep space radar station to carry out mundane scientific work, seemingly for the rest of of her life. By sheer coincidence, she intercepted and replied to an incoming message from the Cosmos and thus set in motion, the destruction and the end of our species.
Some thoughts after having read the book : The story line starts off with an anticing whodunit when numerous well known scientists have been murdered or committed suicide in suspicious circumstances. Our main man, Wong, a Nano Scientist, got caught up in the hunt for the murderers and found himself in the middle of the greatest battle, us trvial earthlings have ever faced - Extreme Revolutionaries have contacted The Three-Body Aliens and requested the complete annihilation of fellow humans. The author penned the story with original ideas with plausible use of hard science, for instance, the use of Nano Wires to commit silent killings en masse. The story put together a plethora of themes strung together with an amazing imagination - murder, history, science, alien arrival, human beliefs and last but not least, the meaning of our exiestence.
Would I recommend this book to you : A story about our species reaching out to other life forms in deep space, written in a unique way with oriental history, philosophy and perspectives, worth all my effort in borrowing this book from the local library. A big YES.
