Feb 24, 2017

A year of Science Fiction

I have been intending to write this post for a while.

For the past year, I am getting fascinated by the world of science fiction.

As with many of our generation, TV was the first channel that introduced science fiction to me. I remember seeing Star Trek TV series and Johnny Sokko and Giant Robot in late 80s.

But books, they open new wonderful worlds for the readers. In the past year or so, I have read some phenomenal science fiction books.

Some of these being:
1. Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
2. Micro by Michael Crichton
3. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin

I also saw the movies Andromeda Strain, Jurassic World, Jurassic Park (second viewing) and Interstellar in the last year or so.

Science fiction is a mesmerizing genre. The imagination of the author or the movie-maker astonishes me as much as the story fascinates me.

Michael Crichton stands out with his out of the world thinking and imagination. Andromeda Strain is a novel written in 1969. The story is as thrilling today as it would have been four and a half decades ago. For me, alien would be like the one in the movie Alien or Independence Day. But Crichton delves into physics to give you a micro-alien which is like grass. Immune to the most powerful of storms or man made weapons.

My latest reading - Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem was a totally different experience. A story spanning over 4 decades, the protagonist mixing real life with that of a virtual reality base game. And the universe sending threatening messages through cosmic microwave background. The story is fantastic. The philosophy of planet that an extra-terrestrial race progressing rapidly due to the fragility of its planets existence is amazing.

The book is being adapted into a Chinese movie as well. I await the movie eagerly!

I am also looking forward to complete the trilogy - Dark Forest and Death's End.
I hope they stand up to the expectations set by the first book.

I leave you with the trailer of the movie Andromeda Strain. Remember it was early 70s when the movie was made.



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