Editors Reads Verdict
A deeply kind book dressed up as science fiction comedy — Haig uses the alien perspective to defamiliarize ordinary human life until it looks miraculous, and lands emotional punches that sneaked past every defense.
What We Loved
- The alien's list of observations about humanity is both genuinely funny and genuinely moving — a difficult combination to sustain
- The emotional payoff is earned through the whole novel's architecture, not manufactured at the end
- The novel argues for life without condescension or false cheer — it acknowledges that humans are genuinely difficult creatures
Minor Drawbacks
- The science fiction premise is thin — readers expecting rigorous SF logic will be disappointed
- The sentimentality is deliberate but not for every taste
Key Takeaways
- → Alienation — from one's own life, one's family, one's work — is the default human condition, which is why it takes an alien to see through it
- → The small pleasures of embodied life (food, music, dogs, love) are not consolations for its difficulty but its actual content
- → Mathematical genius and human connection are not opposed — the novel's central loss is that the protagonist had to choose
| Author | Matt Haig |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Penguin Books |
| Pages | 304 |
| Published | July 4, 2013 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary Fiction, Science Fiction, Humor |
The Humans Review
The Humans begins with an alien announcement: an extraterrestrial being has taken over the body of Andrew Martin, a Cambridge mathematics professor, because Martin has just solved the Riemann hypothesis and the aliens who sent the body-snatcher consider this information too dangerous for humanity to possess. The alien’s mission is to destroy all evidence of the proof and eliminate anyone who has learned of it, then return home.
What follows is not the thriller this premise might suggest but something far warmer and more disarming: the alien’s account of learning to be human. It catalogues its observations — the confusing nature of human clothes, the incomprehensible appeal of peanut butter sandwiches, the extraordinary poems of Emily Dickinson, the unconditional attachment of a dog called Newton — with the fresh eyes of someone for whom none of this is ordinary. Matt Haig uses the alienation device to defamiliarize the texture of ordinary human life until it looks, as it actually is, miraculous.
Haig wrote The Humans while recovering from the panic disorder and depression he later described in Reasons to Stay Alive, and the novel’s emotional architecture reflects that experience: it is a book about someone discovering, against their original intentions, that there are reasons not to die. It makes this argument not through therapy or self-help but through story, through the specific accumulated weight of small pleasures and genuine connections. Some readers will find the sentimentality too much; others will find it exactly sufficient. It is one of those novels that people give to friends going through difficult times, and it is given for good reason.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "The Humans" about?
An alien assumes the identity of a Cambridge mathematician who has just solved the Riemann hypothesis. As it learns what it means to be human — through peanut butter, Emily Dickinson, and a dog named Newton — the novel becomes an unexpected meditation on why life is worth living.
What are the key takeaways from "The Humans"?
Alienation — from one's own life, one's family, one's work — is the default human condition, which is why it takes an alien to see through it The small pleasures of embodied life (food, music, dogs, love) are not consolations for its difficulty but its actual content Mathematical genius and human connection are not opposed — the novel's central loss is that the protagonist had to choose
Is "The Humans" worth reading?
A deeply kind book dressed up as science fiction comedy — Haig uses the alien perspective to defamiliarize ordinary human life until it looks miraculous, and lands emotional punches that sneaked past every defense.
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