The Humans

An alien is sent to Earth to inhabit the body of Professor Andrew Martin, a Cambridge mathematician who has just solved a major mathematical problem. The alien’s mission is to destroy the proof and eliminate anyone who knows about it. But as he occupies Martin’s life, interacting with his wife, teenage son, and a dog named Newton, the alien begins to discover things about humanity that his briefing did not cover: poetry, peanut butter, wine, Emily Dickinson, and the strange, irrational power of love.

Why Start Here

The Humans was the novel that first demonstrated Haig’s ability to use a speculative concept to explore real emotional questions. The alien-narrator device is simple and effective: by looking at human life through entirely outside eyes, Haig makes the ordinary strange and the strange ordinary. The result is a novel that is frequently very funny, occasionally heartbreaking, and ultimately a celebration of the messy, imperfect, beautiful business of being alive.

If you have already read The Midnight Library, this is the natural next step. It shares the same preoccupations, what makes life worth living, what love actually is, why imperfection matters, but approaches them from a completely different angle.

What to Expect

A 304-page novel narrated by an alien learning to be human. The tone mixes comedy, science fiction, and genuine emotional depth. The humor is sharper and more satirical than The Midnight Library. The book includes a list of advice from the alien to humans that has become widely shared online. Originally published in 2013 to critical acclaim.