The Humans by Matt Haig

Any writer who can fuse maths and peanut butter in his opening paragraph is a certified genius in his own right. In his book, Matt Haig introduces us to a character whose magnificent mind has solved history’s greatest mathematical puzzle. Unfortunately for Cambridge professor Andrew Martin, the Vonnadoreans, an advanced civilisation from a distant planet, can’t let loose such dangerous knowledge on the primitive, violent and greedy earthlings.

Professor Martin is blitzed, and his body inhabited by an alien whose mission is to destroy the professor’s nearest and dearest. Prof. Martin 2.0 must infiltrate his adopted family without arousing suspicion. But his arrest for parading through Cambridge in the buff suggests he has a lot learn about life on earth. Things are further complicated when the phoney Prof. develops an all too human fondness for his family, Emily Dickinson and a dog called Newton.

Cleverly straddling the playful and the profound, the book’s observations on the things we take for granted can be startling. There’s great beauty in the protagonist’s consideration of love, while an outsider’s reflection on the pointlessness of the working week had this reviewer reaching for the diazepam. In short, a mathematics book that actually counts. [James Carson]