Although it took me a while to finish it (for personal reasons and other books in my life), I still think The Humans is a fast read due to its short and captivating chapters. If you want to see humanity through a different perspective, then this book is for you. Plus it will also add some drama and mathematical mysteries on top of that.
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| ★★★★★ |
It will be hard to review it without giving up everything, but personally, that's how I think it's best to go into this book: not knowing anything. Even though the big reveal I am trying to avoid is not really that big and you will find it out from the first chapter. But still, I do not want to tell you.
"Humans, as a rule, don't like mad people unless they are good at painting, and only then once they are dead. But the definition of mad, on Earth, seems to be very unclear and inconsistent. What is perfectly sane in one era turns out to be insane in another. The earliest humans walked around naked with no problem. Certain humans, in humid rainforests mainly, still do so. So, we must conclude that madness is sometimes a question of time, and sometimes of postcode.
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."
Stay Away from Complex Unsolved Mathematical Equations
If possible. Or you too, might wake up one day feeling not quite yourselves like our main character, the mathematician and Cambridge professor, Andrew Martin, does. A day after solving the biggest and hardest mathematical enigma of our times, Andrew Martin find himself naked on the streets of Cambridge. He suddenly hates everyone and everything, except for his dog, Newton.
And that's about as much as I will tell you about the plot - which is more or less the synopsis you can find on the back cover. But, trust me, you do not want to know. It's better to be surprised (although don't imagine a huge reveal) and learn what the book is actually about while reading it.
"A paradox: The things you don’t need to live—books, art, cinema, wine, and so on—are the things you need to live."
Discover Humanity Through a New Perspective
What I loved the most about this book is that it forces you to see the world and the humans through a new lens: one that is not familiar with humans. You get a new perspective and you might just rediscovered things that make humans special, but may have forgot due to all the things that makes humans quite bad (for the planet and ourselves). It's nice to stop and notice the little things, what makes us humans, and why, in spite of all the stupid things we do, we continue to believe in humanity.
"Maybe that is what beauty was, for humans. Accidents, imperfections, placed inside a pretty pattern. Asymmetry. The defiance of mathematics."
As with most Matt Haig books, I could highlight the entirety of it. This author doesn't waste one bit of his writing telling you things just for the sake of covering more pages. Every phrase has a meaning. Although a fiction book, in a way it felt like a self-help book full of wise thoughts.
"Politeness is often fear. Kindness is always courage. But caring is what makes you human. Care more, become more human."
I especially loved how he emphasizes the simplest things in life:
"The tea seemed to be making things better. It was a hot drink made of leaves, used in times of crisis as a means of restoring normality."
"You get up. You put on your clothes. And then you put on your personality. Choose wisely."
Read It, Dream It, Learn from It
Although there were a few things used to simply further the plot, I still couldn't take away from the five stars because... The writing is brilliant. Minimalist, yet meaningful.
There where times when I had to stop to google a song or to think about a phrase, there were times when I couldn't stop because I just had to read more and more and see what's happening, and there were times when I didn't want to stop, but had to because I was in tears. Humanity is wonderful.
"You are lucky to be alive. Inhale and take in life’s wonders. Never take so much as a single petal of a single flower for granted."
The Humans by Matt Haig was first published in May 2013
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