I like science (fiction). I like mathematics. I even like humans. So it was only a matter of time, before I had to pick up Matt Haig’s The Humans. 

Professor Andrew Martin from Cambridge manages to prove the Riemann hypothesis, one of the biggest unresolved problems in modern mathematics and related to the distribution of prime numbers. The Riemann hypothesis is one of many inventions humans have managed to come up with without being able to handle it (according to Matt Haig other such inventions include the nuclear bomb, the internet and the semicolon). Proving the Riemann hypothesis has life-changing implications for professor Martin, but also for his wife, son and dog Newton.   

In The Humans we get to observe the human race through the eyes of an outsider. A clear storyline forms the skeleton of the book, but large parts of the meat consist of introspective considerations about what it means to be human. 

Humans, as a rule, don’t like mad people unless they are good at painting, and only then once they are dead. 

Quotable observations about humans, mathematics, religion, music, art, poetry and life in general are generously scattered around. Take a look at the quotes listed at Goodreads for this title – you just have to reorder them and you will more or less have the whole book. Some of the quotes are silly, some are funny, some are cheesy, most of them are spot on.

The Humans is a sweet, light-hearted ode to the human species with all its irrationality and imperfections. Mostly, I found it good entertainment, although it is doubtful whether I will remember it many years ahead. The last couple of chapters felt unnecessary. I would have finished the book after ‘the list’, thereby also avoiding the unsatisfactory end. After all it is part of the human condition that life is not neatly tied up in a bow. 

Title: The Humans
Author: Matt Haig
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Science Fiction