My favorite book ever

THE HUMANS, Matt Haig

I know this is a French edition cover, but I think it's really a good illustration of the book, better than the English edition, at least the one I own.

This article is a revised version of the book review I wrote last year, but as I re read this book a few weeks ago and it's my favorite book, I decided to share about it :)

Basically, the key rule is, if you want to appear sane on Earth you have to be in the right place, wearing the right clothes, saying the right things, and only stepping on the right kind of grass.

The Humans will make you discover Earth and the humans that live on it from an alien's point of view. Funny, catchy, truthful, a bit sad but overall truly beautiful, it definitely is my favorite book.

An alien from Vonnadoria, an extremely far away (further than Star Wars' galaxy) and technologically advanced planet, is sent on Earth in Cambridge, UK, under Professor Andrew Martin's appearance. Andrew Martin is a mathematician who has just proved the Riemann hypothesis, considered by many people as the hardest and most important unsolved problem of pure mathematics. This proof could uplift humans' knowledge and understanding of technology to a very high level and thus could be dangerous for the Universe. So this Vonnadorian alien is there to destroy all the proofs of Andrew Martin's discovery.

Originally, the mission of this alien is to destroy this proof, kill any human that could be involved (including Andrew Martin's wife and son) and leave. But he will become interested in Humans and realize that they're not all arrogant, violent, cupid as he has been told. Those referred to as the Hosts won't be very happy to learn his interest in humans and will try to make him remain “pure” and complete his task.

This book is written from the Vonnadorian's point of view, so we share his thoughts, which are extremely negative at the beginning, but as he spends more and more time on Earth living with humans, his point of view becomes accurate about the humans and their behavior. That's what makes this book funny and moving for Earthlings like you and I.

This book is my favorite book, I've read it 5 times already and will certainly read it a few more. I read it first when I was 12 or 13 years old and it's the first book that I really defined as “beautiful”. It addresses many aspects of human life such as death and love but also music, food and poetry. Every time I close this book, it makes me think how much life can be great.

I highly recommend this book (surprising since I just wrote an article about it and said it was my favorite book), it will make you laugh and maybe cry a little.

If anyone wants to read it, ask me so I can lend it to you !

 Iska