On a serious note; I wonder whether the size of planets has much bearing on whether life could be started or sustained, or if this is usually trumped by other factors.
No more spoilers! Now you must read it!
If you are fishing for me to run out of books that are "better" than TBP, honestly, it would be a long list. If you are genuinely interested, tell me what kind of books you like, and I will be glad to give you more.
I guess I'm looking for sci-fi involving grand picture of the universe or 4X-style books, but not necessarily limited to it.
Out of the books you've named, I've read Diamond Age and Neuromancer and while I can't say anything bad about them I still like the Liu Cixin's book more.
"Deepness in the Sky" is on my to read list.
I haven't read Martin Iden, but liked Alaska stories a lot. Remarque is good, but I like Heinrich Böll much more.
Of course, you might also enjoy Piknik na Obochine, Trudno Bit Bogom, and Neukratimaya Planeta, as people of your particular background tend to do ;^)
Though that last one didn't really age well as I grew up. Oh, and Chekov is amazing when compared to the other famous Russian authors imo.
Your turn for some recommendations, i.e. your top 3, since I am looking for stuff to read. Not necessarily in this genre.
I am not sure about top 3, but if I had to reread something I've read before, I'd start with Dostoevsky's 'Idiot', continue with "За миллиард лет до конца света" by Strugatsky brothers, and maybe I'll reread the Permutation City by Greg Egan.
As for the Three Body Problem, I find it unique in that it realisticly represents the humanity's place in the galaxy (a fly on the wind shield). Lui Cixin's cosmic sociology [0] rings true to me too. The idea of laws of physics being the result of the activity of advanced civilizations, while not original (see Lem's “The New Cosmogony”), is fascinating nonetheless. The story of how 'right' moral choices in the context of that world lead to the end of humanity is another original bit.
[0] https://whatever.scalzi.com/2014/11/11/the-big-idea-liu-cixi...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Pelevin
I might have one more author, if it turns out the book wasn't by the guy above. Unfortunately, I don't even remember the name, and I don't see it in his bibliography.
For reference, my current favorite SF is the Night's Dawn Trilogy. Not sure if that flavors my 'review' for anyone.
It (and the whole trilogy) have a handful of really good ideas. The translation at times seemed clunky, the pacing was, uneven and the plotting was not quite as tight as I would have liked. But the handful fo good ideas were good enough that the book stayed with me for a while.
TBP's characters are comical. Not much else to say - the womanizer slacker obsessing over the quiet girl was too much to keep reading. Well, that, and some of the "brilliant defense strategies."
That sounds smart, but both assertions are wrong.