The technology mentioned in All of Our Wrong Todays is straight out of Hanna-Barbera’s classic cartoon The Jetsons. The scientist manages to harness the power of the earth’s rotation safely and through cause and effect, leads to the futuristic utopia that Tom knows and misses (in some respects). Lionel Goettreider’s choice to throw the lever on his engine that would either change the course of humanity or potentially cause at least a partial apocalypse, worked in the alternate 1965. All of those fun-filled futuristic visions that people were sure were going to happen actually came to fruition because of one man’s decision.

As described in the first 100 pages, according to Tom, life was actually supposed to be much different for all of us. That is the premise of All of Our Wrong Todays, a fictional memoir told in the first-person at a brisk pace. This novel succeeds in turning a common time travel plot on its head: What if our reality is not supposed to be? Are we actually living in a dystopian society? It was never to be, and only happened because of one man’s impulsive decision to take his father’s time machine out on a joyride so that he can be the first to witness an historical event. Our reality, our 2016, is a mistake of epic proportions. He is alone, resentful and depressed, and it is at this point that he makes one bad decision - a decision that changes the very fabric of reality.

This normal often feels inadequate and a like a disappointment to his famous super-genius father whose lab employs him.Īfter two life-changing and heart-breaking events wherein he loses his mother and the love of his life, Tom becomes desperate to do something extraordinary, to be the first at something for once, or to feel anything at all. In this entertaining and imaginative debut novel, Mastai tells the trans-dimensional tale of lab worker Tom Barren, an everyday man who has a good heart but struggles to find his place in the world. For those of you who dream of an alternate reality and a futuristic utopia, you need look no further than All of Our Wrong Todays by Canadian screen-writer-turned-author Elan Mastai. I may have only attained rudimentary success in college level science and the intricacies of physics may be a bit beyond me, but I enjoy reading about science and all of the possibilities it entails.

All our wrong todays