I had to read the English translation since I cannot read or speak Mandarin unfortunately. Its a really good and engaging book imo, gets better with every page and supposedly loveecraft level shit goes down by the end.

In the beginning tho there are a few scenes describing the Cultural Revolution and struggle sessions.

Is it true that Einstein's theories of Relativity were frowned upon by red guard university students because they were seen as capitalist propaganda?

And is it true that some university lecturers were beaten to death during the struggle sessions? I mean cool if they deserved it (feudal landlords etc.) but the Relativity part seems a bit like the author making shit up.

Its funny how despite this the author is not even overtly rabidly critical of Marxism or Communism itself, unlike western authors who spend 10 pages to explain why "muh gommunism bad" every time such events get brought up. Liu seems to be critical of just the events which transpired during the cultural revolution.

You shouldn't pirate the book from z-library because its very unethical and a breach of IP, so you will be sent to hell when you die.

  • BladeRunner [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    In 1952, the Soviet Union launched a campaign to criticize Einstein and the theory of relativity, accusing Einstein of being "a An idealist through and through.” China followed “Big Brother” and published an article by Soviet Zhdanov in the People’s Daily in January 1953, accusing Einstein of relativism and agnosticism. Einstein’s worldview, his praise of human rights, democracy, and freedom, were all attacked, and he was considered a "reactionary", "democratic individualist" and "old democrat".

    BTW, "The Three Body Problem" is a masterpiece.

    • TheCaconym [any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      BTW, “The Three Body Problem” is a masterpiece.

      It really is. The whole trilogy was the freshest SF I read in a long time.

      • Orannis62 [ze/hir]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I've never seen a book consistently top itself from page to page like the third book did. Every time you're like "oh, I get it! Now I see what the book will be about", that thing happens in like 10 pages and the overall scope expands wildly

      • StellarTabi [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I'm curious if Einstein was a poorly selected example, or an ironically selected example, or perhaps there is more nuances to Einstein's beliefs once you dive deeper into subcategories of socialism.

        • Hewaoijsdb [none/use name]
          ·
          3 years ago

          I think this is why

          The Marxist-Leninist view of matter, as existing independently of human observation/manipulation, was called into question by scientific discoveries in the 1920s which seemed to indicate that attempts to observe certain subatomic processes would inevitably affect the processes in question (Fara 2009). According to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum phenomena, “...certain pairs of measurably physical properties, such as position and momentum [of electrons], are said to be incompatible with each other. Measurements of one will always uncontrollably disrupt the other” (Albert 1994: 60). The Austrian physicist, Erwin Schrödinger, proposed a famous thought experiment in which an unfortunate cat could be simultaneously dead and alive depending upon potential exposure to radioactive material.

          Link

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Imagine shitting on a nice old man who accidentally made possible the destruction of the entire world.

      Like, I don't know that much about Einstein but I thought he was a pretty boring socialist, politically.