Just Finished: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

Charles Yu’s How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe is the last book I finished in 2010. (Bought it on 12/26, I finished it on 12/31 with just hours left on the clock, no less! I’m not a fast reader, either.)

Like this, but with 100% fewer flying DeLoreans.

Set in an alternate universe where only 93% of the laws of physics have been installed, the story focuses on Charles Yu’s time-machine repairman counterpart, also named Charles Yu.

The first (almost) half of the book is packed with science fictional ideas, and the whole thing is written with a bold, fresh voice. There’s no technobabble doublespeak explanations here; no lame Star Trek knockoffs to be found.

The most interesting sci fi ideas in the book regard how he deals with time travel: namely, through semantics; the engine that powers time travel in Minor Universe 31 is well reasoned and well thought out; it is literally derived by the tense of language, it is not powered by some simple applied phlebotium.

Without being too direct in the area of spoilers, there are various red herrings planted about in that first half; the second half starts with one, and goes off in an entirely different direction, exploring familial themes more common to straight up fiction (or W.P. Kinsella’s Shoeless Joe). That isn’t to say I found the back nine to be boring or without merit; on the contrary, to explore these themes within a genre story makes it the more remarkable. The story's resolution is very satisfying. And there is a neat little trick at the end that reminded me greatly of The Man in the High Castle.

Fun ideas, bold new voice. Highly recommended.

From the book:

“There is just enough space inside here for one person to live indefinitely, or at least that’s what the operation manual says. User can survive inside the TM-31 Recreational Time Travel Device, in isolation, for an indefinite period of time.

I am not totally sure what that means. Maybe it doesn’t actually mean anything, which would be fine, which would be okay by me, because that’s what I’ve been doing: living in here, indefinitely.”