I completed my first book of 2026. It was The Three Body problem by Cixing Liu. The author is Chinese and the book has been translated to English. Its a three part series and there is also a Neflix series based on it and season one is complete. I watched it before reading the book and the show is actually pretty good in my opinion.
Without giving too much away, it is a Sci Fi story about earth coming in contact with an alien species. It story alternates between past and present incorporates true Chinese history and hard science concepts and quantum mechanics. These concepts make it particularly interesting to me.
Admittedly, there were parts of the story that I didn't understand because the science was a little too complicated for my understanding. One part went somewhat deep into unfolding and atom into multiple dimensions and microsomic realities and all that. I was like, "this is all very interesting, but I don't know what the hell you're talking about right now." That was only one small part of the book but I just couldn't invision what was being explained by the author.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book but my one main criticism had to do with the translation, or maybe the authors writing style? Some parts of the story felt like they were written by different authors and certain parts read very amateurish to me, like they were written by a high school student or like the book was young adult fiction. For instance, I found the chapters about the past or the scientific concepts to be well written but then some chapters in the present moment were quite poor. Dialogue was especially challenging for me and took me out of the moment at times. It lacked elegance and came across as as poorly written, or again, like a childish writing style. I think that it could be a product of it being translated but it could also be that writing good dialog is is difficult.
Overall, for me it was the concepts that made it a very worth while read and kept me engaged and coming back for more. I'm generally a slow reader but I read this quite fast relatively speaking. I completed it in only 2 weeks, whereas most books typically take me about a month to read.
Have you read this book or watched the Netflix series? What are your thoughts and opinions?
Two other books I read at the end of 2025 were, The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown and a Graphic novel called Ducks. Dan Browns book was like his others in the Robert Langden series (ex. The Da Vinci Code). It was popcorn but entertaining, fomulatic but a good page turning mystery. The concept was actually pretty interesting too.
MILD SPOILER AHEAD SKIP IF NEEDED....
It was essentially where the CIAs Stargate program would be today if it had continued on after the 1990s (or maybe it actually has continued?).
Anyway it was entertaining and an easy read.
Ducks is a graphic novel about a young woman's experience of working in the Canadian oil sands. It wasn't the best graphic novel that I've read but it was a decent biographical story.
Do you have to read the other Dan Brown books to enjoy Secret of Secrets? Stargate is one of my favorite movies ever, so I might like that one. I am really looking forward to the new Stargate series they are working on at Amazon or one of the streaming services. I am currently starting the Harry Bosch series of books by Michael Connelly.
You don't need to read the other books. Its the same character but they are all self contained works with no continuation between them. I was joking to my wife about that. There is no way that a University professor would ever be put into this many of the same crazy situations. Its like, "What the actual fuck, how can this possibly keep happening to me!?!"
I'm not familiar with the Stargate movie or upcoming series. Was the movie good?
Oh, it's an absolute classic. I remember watching it in the theater and it was so amazing. The shows continued the universe really well too.
I'll have to check it out and the new series. I think that the CIA Stargate program is different than the movie - just reading the synopsis. Still sounds good though
Oh, okay, well that is disappointing :) I guess I should have known it wouldn't be quite so sci/fi for a Dan Brown book. I'll do some more research.
Yeah it might not meet expectations if you're thinking its more sci fi with worm holes and that sort of thing.
Two weeks is pretty fast to finish a book, so it clearly kept your attention despite the confusing parts.
Ya it was fast for me for sure. I typically take a mo th to read a book or longer lol