Matthew Martin

All Our Wrongs Today by Elan Mastai

There are two timelines: One is a post-scarcity world, a utopian version of Earth where things resemble the retrofuturism of The Jetsons (flying cars, jetpacks, teleportation, etc.), thanks to the invention of an engine that creates unlimited amounts of energy. The timeline we live in is, well, the darkest one. That sustainable energy source—the Gottreider Engine—was never invented thanks to a Bradburian time travel mishap from an extraordinarily bad time traveler.

It turns out that Jetsons timeline still has human problems, like daddy issues and unrequited love. Narrated by a likable but hapless buffoon, All Our Wrongs Today finds Tom Barren, the self-loathing son of a famous inventor, screwing up a test run of a new time travel device after his motives are compromised by his penis. All of his attempts to restore the first timeline only make things more complicated, as he tries to reconcile the life of his alternate self, his alternate family, and his alternate object of affection, alternate Penelope.

All Our Wrongs Today belongs in a burgeoning genre of books like Andy Weir’s The Martian that wrap self-deprecating dad humor around unabashedly nerdy science. In contrast to the gritty cynicism that surrounds most science fiction, All Our Wrongs Today could be better classified as earnest or normcore sci-fi. That’s not a knock—it’s actually refreshing, and none of that takes away from the braininess of the book, as Barren attempts to work through the convoluted consequences of alternate timelines. As a result, the characters—even Barren—feel a bit thin, but I suppose you come to science fiction for the science fiction.

Even for the book’s good spirits, there’s still a cautionary tale involved. Mastai introduces the concept of “the Accident,” that every new technology invented creates a new kind of negative corollary—the invention of the car, for instance, means now there are car accidents. And what sci-fi book would be complete if it didn’t connect that idea to human nature? “Every person you meet introduces the accident of that person to you. What can go right and what can go wrong,” Mastai writes. “There is no intimacy without consequence.”

Come for the time travel; stay for the accidents.

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Matthew Martin

Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street by Sheelah Kolhatkar

At the center of Black Edge is Steven Cohen, a poker player with a degree from Wharton, who found success trading in the ‘70s and ‘80s. In the early ‘90s, he founded the hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors, which at its height had accumulated $14 billion. Cohen is portrayed both as a genius and an asshole—a hard-ass boss that spent most of his time terrorizing his employees through a Bloomberg terminal. Cohen is motivated by competition. He encourages all the traders at SAC to find an “edge” over their adversaries—a “black edge” being insider information, the illegal knowledge that would prompt to a seven-year investigation of the company and ultimately lead to its downfall.

It’s easy to compare any exposé about finance to Michael Lewis, but this is an apt one. Though Black Edge doesn’t possess the language of The Big Short or Flash Boys, like Lewis, Kolhatkar’s best feat is showcasing her incredible depth of reporting. Sure, there are some prurient details of excess and partying, but the best moments of Black Edge have to do with the technical details. And it’s no small feat to make minute financial instruments interesting, or even intelligible. (It probably helps that, in addition to being a New Yorker staffer, Kolhatkar worked as a risk arbitrage analyst at two hedge funds before writing the book.)