How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

By: Charles Yu

Narrated by: James Yaegashi

Minor Universe 31 is a vast story-space on the outskirts of fiction, where paradox fluctuates like the stock market, lonely sexbots beckon failed protagonists, and time travel is serious business. Every day, people get into time machines and try to do the one thing they should never do: change the past. That’s where Charles Yu, time travel technician—part counselor, part gadget repair man—steps in. He helps save people from themselves. Literally. When he’s not taking client calls or consoling his boss, Phil, who could really use an upgrade, Yu visits his mother (stuck in a one-hour cycle of time, she makes dinner over and over and over) and searches for his father, who invented time travel and then vanished. Accompanied by TAMMY, an operating system with low self-esteem, and Ed, a nonexistent but ontologically valid dog, Yu sets out, and back, and beyond, in order to find the one day where he and his father can meet in memory. He learns that the key may be found in a book he got from his future self. It’s called How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, and he’s the author. And somewhere inside it is the information that could help him—in fact it may even save his life.

©2010 Charles Yu (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

Hard to put into words

if you get it you get it. if you don't you'll be a 1star reviewer. I don't really feel like saying more, but just know if you get it, you'll be different after having consumed this book.

When it happens, this is what happens...

I think this is well worth a credit given the entertainment factor and that it's not an overly-long book. That said, I'm planted firmly in the *I adore this and no one can change my mind* side of things though, so I'm admittedly biased. I would recommend this novel for anyone who loves Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five" or maybe even Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

It has heart, humor, it makes you think about life and your mortality. It makes you think about how you view and experience the world. My absolute favorite gem from the book is this (paraphrased) bit about how "time heals ... time is a machine ... it will force you to move on and you have no choice in the matter" because it's stated so simply and yet, it had not occurred to me to be quite so aware that I should pay attention to actual in the moment feelings. Even the painful ones.

James Yaegashi is a wonderful narrator and I can't wait to listen to more from him. Likewise, I look forward to more novels from the author Charles Yu.

Surrealistic Fluff

The inner monologue of a not - too - exciting person in a surreal universe. I ended up feeling like very little actually happened.

Flat character, no plot

Feels amateurish, like a 'first book', and the narrator does little to inject humor or interest to his reading.

High Hopes, Dashed

I love time travel stories, and I love science fiction... Those aspects of this book were great, and I really enjoyed the writing style. What I couldn't get past, was the lack of story. It's a worth while read/listen for the science fiction, but if you're looking for a story, it's just not there...

a surprise

What did you love best about How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe?

The book sneaks up on you, becoming an elegy for times past, family, relationships, self discovery and longing, all under the guise of a time traveler - as he says toward the end, we are all time travelers being just who we are.

Confusing and Unsatisfying Payoff

I was not blown away by this story. It felt like two different books smashed together. About aman trying to rekindle his relationship with his father and a hyper technical sci-fi time travel story. I was let down by the end.

Just wasn’t for me.

I tried, but I just couldn’t finish this book. If you’re looking for a book with a plot that moves from one event to another, this is not the book for you. If you’re looking for a book where the author describes a time machine, describes how a time machine works, describes how him and his father built a time machine, and describes how multiple worlds may or may not work for chapter after chapter, you might enjoy this book. Interesting ideas but no story.

More existential allegory than science fiction.

This book is an allegory reminiscent of Richard Bach's Illusions or Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Although effective for its genre, this isn't really science fiction and shouldn't be filed here.

Started and ended well but got lost in the middle

Warning: Spoilers ahead. I’ve got to say, I really expected to like this book more than than I did. From the start, I enjoyed the way the story seemed to be a metaphysical thought experiment, dancing through could-be’s and should-be’s like a time-traipsing Fred Astaire. The main character spends his life bouncing from place to place in a time machine, correcting mistakes made by other chrononauts in fictional universes. His only companions are a pair of sentient computer programs and a retconned dog left in an abandoned escape pod after his reality’s creator decided he wasn’t necessary to the creator’s story. Soon, the main character manages to get his hands on his own autobiography, written by a future version of himself, which chronicles his life as it is currently happening. Interesting stuff, right? Unfortunately, about halfway into the book, the author /protagonist delves into a philosophical, meta-spiritual jaunt through his relationship with his father. While ostensibly part of the main story (the main character is searching for his father who went missing ten years earlier), the entire middle section of the book was a sappy, self-serving psychotherapy session intended to help the author through his obvious inferiority complex and abandonment issues. I regularly found myself rolling my eyes and wishing the story would get back on track. The resolution, when it finally came, felt rushed an unimportant, as if the author had worked through his problems and needed to be reminded that he had to finish the story for the readers.