The Humans
Ratings252
Average rating3.9
When an extra-terrestrial visitor arrives on Earth, his first impressions of the human species are less than positive. Taking the form of Professor Andrew Martin, a prominent mathematician at Cambridge University, the visitor is eager to complete the gruesome task assigned him and hurry home to his own utopian planet, where everyone is omniscient and immortal.
He is disgusted by the way humans look, what they eat, their capacity for murder and war, and is equally baffled by the concepts of love and family. But as time goes on, he starts to realize there may be more to this strange species than he had thought. Disguised as Martin, he drinks wine, reads poetry, develops an ear for rock music, and a taste for peanut butter. Slowly, unexpectedly, he forges bonds with Martin’s family. He begins to see hope and beauty in the humans’ imperfection, and begins to question the very mission that brought him there.
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Popular Reviews
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LOVED this. I definitely would recommend it. It reminded me of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Almost too much so, really. But I still enjoyed it once I got past that annoyance.
Great twist on the perspective of ‘The Human Condition' from the eyes of an outsider. I found it insightful and a great read to make you feel the need to be a better person.
At the start, I thought this book was going to be cheesy. An alien comes to Earth and points out all these inconsistencies in human behavior and it felt like an intro to anthropology course in college. But as the book went on and the alien has to struggle more with adapting to human life in order to remain hidden and starts seeing not only the inconsistencies in human life and behavior, but also the joys in it, it becomes much more interesting and challenging. Anyone can point out that the amount and types of clothing humans wear can be silly, but demonstrating the power of love is a much different concept.
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