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The Humans
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
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The Humans
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Summary
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME. OR IS THERE?
After an 'incident' one wet Friday night where he is found walking naked through the streets of Cambridge, Professor Andrew Martin is not feeling quite himself. Food sickens him. Clothes confound him. Even his loving wife and teenage son are repulsive to him. He feels lost amongst an alien species and hates everyone on the planet. Everyone, that is, except Newton, and he's a dog. Who is he really? And what could make someone change their mind about the human race . . . ?
What listeners love about The Humans
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Oskar Berggren
- 03-04-21
Funny, sad, beautiful, uplifting
Just excellent! Especially for those struggling with their faith in humanity. A much needed tale recognizing the ugliness and terrible things of humanity but then leading the reader/listener to find astounding beauty shining through the cracks of human fallibility and mortality.
31 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Techczech
- 17-06-21
Hallmark wisdom dressed as fiction
Cliche ridden inanity ameliorated by the occasional burst of good writing and a snappy turn of phrase. Had to skip huge portions of Hallmark card level wisdom to get through this. Even the great narrator could not save this.
20 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Noreen F H
- 08-03-21
Beautiful
Adore this makes one contemplate what it IS to be human . Warm, funny , thought provoking x
19 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Snoopy_K
- 18-08-21
So beautiful and life affirming
I love Matt’s writing. This book draws you in with humour and laugh out loud moments and then intrigues you what first looks like a straightforward storyline, and then somewhere along the way it gets to the very heart of what it is to live and love. Brilliantly researched and wonderfully peppered with poetry and music. I imagine the ‘100 pieces of advice’ will be quoted in many a coming of the age birthday speech. Loved it, will be reading it again when I need picking up!
16 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- M. MAY
- 17-10-21
The start was a bit odd.....
..... and I almost returned the book. But I'm glad I stuck with it, this is a really thought provoking story, which I will return to soon.
13 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Paul R
- 11-07-21
Slow and plodding with no actual point.
The story just slowly plods along never actually seeming to get to any actual point. When what appears to be the main plot line ends, there still nearly a third of the story yet to go. That last third nearly sent me to sleep, which given I listen while I drive wasn't a good thing.
There's never any explanation of really who the advanced alien species is, and why their so concerned about the humans figuring out the Riemann Hypothesis.
If you like navel gazing and maths this might be a story for you, but it's not for me.
One last thing, when the narrator is reading out the Drake Equation, he reads it out as f to the power of p, and f to the power of l etc. That's not how it's pronounced, it's f sub p and f sub l etc. A minor point, but as the character in the story is supposed to come from a mathematically advanced civilisation it's pretty unforgivable.
5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Clare Bennett
- 06-04-21
simply wonderful
Really clever and thought provoking, I'm making my way through all of Matt Haigs books now and none of them disappoint! thoroughly recommend
5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lisy_Lou_86
- 08-06-22
Hilarious
Professor Andrew Martin is dead before the book even begins. An alien from another galaxy now inhabits his body. As the alien soon discovers, Andrew wasn’t a very nice person. The alien is sent to Earth to destroy evidence of a major mathematical problem that Andrew had recently solved. But he soon finds himself learning more about “the humans”, including the professor, his wife and son, than he ever thought possible, and he even starts to care for, and even love, his wife and son. The alien must make a decision whether to complete his mission and return home, or to find a new home on Earth.
Oh, I absolutely LOVED this! The alien who inhabits Andrew’s body is so funny. He makes really amusing and accurate observations about humans’ appearances, and about human behaviour, that we ourselves have observed on a daily basis but don’t really take much notice of. It’s also hilarious when the alien starts to pick up on humour and starts using it himself, especially all of the unorthodox swearing! There were also some really lovely relationships which start to develop as the story progresses. I particularly enjoyed the alien’s relationship with Gulliver (his “son”), and with Newton, their family dog. Mark Meadows as narrator was also very good, he was able to do a lot of different voices and accents for the different characters, as well as just sounding clueless for most of it! All of this makes for a very entertaining and heartwarming read, or listen!
I really don’t think that there was anything that I didn’t love about this, and I think I will definitely read it or listen to it again at some point in the future.
For all of the above reasons, I give this book 5 out of 5 stars! I would actually give it more if it were possible.
I highly recommend this to anyone who loves sci-fi and fantasy, contemporary fiction, stories about body-snatching aliens, familial relationships, heartwarming stories, and a lot of humour.
4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Susan Ibi Preus
- 06-10-21
Enjoyable
A scewed and funny perspective on humans giving stuff for afterthought, laughter and a great deal of smiling. I enjoyed it, and will definitely listen to more from Matt Haig.
Mark Meadows is a pleasure to listen to, and just nailed it. Greatly narrated.
3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- B-rocks
- 25-08-21
Makes you think.
Loved it. My first book with Matt Haig. so different. simple plot with wonderful thought provoking events, charactets, ideas. The human experience viewed by an Alien on Earth ...and a dog. What's not to love. I can only assume the mathematical references are accurate. I will be buying more Matt Haig.
3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 21-05-23
Amazing
One of favourite books in the last years! I relistened to many chapter over and over as it inspires me a lot!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Emjay
- 03-02-23
Enjoyable listen
This is the first Matt Haig book I have read. It was not too heavy, at times thought provoking, and an interesting perspective on the human species. I rather enjoyed it
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 11-08-22
Heartwarming
It was a perfect simple story that gives a perspective on humanity... And it's wonderful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Kindle Customer
- 19-07-22
Interesting
Very interesting story that got me thinking about what it means to be a human. I especially liked the chapter where he gave advice to his son.