# How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

By Charles Yu

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/how-to-live-safely-in-a-science-fictional-universe-b1d6dd60/

Charles Yu repairs time machines for people who keep trying to change the past. His own unfinished business is finding his father, the inventor of time travel, who has disappeared. In Minor Universe 31, a book bearing this novel's title may offer a way to reach him.

## What makes it funny?

Minor Universe 31 was abandoned with its physics only 93 percent installed. Charles has an unfinished degree in Applied Science Fiction; even the qualifications for his impossible job sound like ordinary academic disappointment. His traveling companions include a self-doubting operating system and a dog whose existence is uncertain.

### The comedy at work

Yu borrows the language of technical explanations to approach regret and the distance between a father and son. Footnotes, diagrams and pieces of an instruction manual turn the attempt to explain a malfunctioning universe into part of the joke.

### Try this if…

Readers who enjoy philosophical science fiction and experiments with form have plenty to explore here. The loneliness and family longing matter as much as the impossible technology, so expect melancholy alongside the playfulness.

### Good to know

Diagrams, footnotes, manual fragments and deliberately blank pages are part of the novel's design.

## What to expect

- Genre: Contemporary & literary · Science fiction
- On the shelf: Time travel
- Kind of humor: Absurdism
- The atmosphere: Whimsical
- Format: Novel
- Length: 256 pages
- Audiobook: 6 hr 10 min
- Published: 2010

## A few distinguishing details

- A universe with unfinished physics
- A time-machine repairman's search for his father
- Technical diagrams and manual fragments

## Sources & further reading

- Publisher: [How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu: 9780307739452 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/203055/how-to-live-safely-in-a-science-fictional-universe-by-charles-yu/9780307739452)
- Library catalog: [How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe - Princeton University - OverDrive](https://princeton.overdrive.com/media/2360436?cid=15533)
- Review: [Glen Weldon review for NPR](https://www.kcur.org/2010-10-04/time-traveling-dropout-rules-fictional-universe)
- Publisher: [Publisher](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/203055/how-to-live-safely-in-a-science-fictional-universe-by-charles-yu/9780307739452)
- Review: [Kirkus review](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/charles-yu/how-live-safely-science-fictional-universe)