My full review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shEKaEsk9_c

This fucking book! I picked this book up because I saw it recommended by a booktuber, and I wasn't expecting that much going into it. But I can honestly say this is a new favorite book of all time. This story follows an alien who gets put into the body of this man named Andrew Martin. The reason he gets put in his body is because Andrew Martin has a made a mathematical breakthrough and the aliens have determined humans are not ready for the way this discovery would change the world. His mission is to delete all evidence that this mathmateical theory was solved, and kill anyone who knows it was solved. This book started off fucking hilarious. The way this alien views humanity cracks me up because he doesn't understand anything about our people or our world, and seeing him experience humanity for the first time was so entertaining. He is able to communicate with his alien masters back at home, and some of the things they have to say about humanity are brutally honest and pessimistic but nonetheless true, like this:

"The humans are an arrogant species, defined by violence and greed. They have taken their home planet, the only one they have access to, and placed it on the road to destruction. They have created a world of divisions and categories and have continually failed to see the similarities between themselves. They have developed technology at a rate too fast for human psychology to keep up with, and yet they still pursue advancement for advancement's sake, and for the pursuit of money and fame they all crave so much."

This book is full of thought-provoking statements about what it means to be human, and what love is, and human life and death. One of my favorites is this one: "A human life is on average 80 Earth years or around 30,000 Earth days. Which means they are born, they make some friends, eat a few meals, they get married, or they don’t get married, have a child or two, or not, drink a few thousand glasses of wine, have sexual intercourse a few times, discover a lump somewhere, feel a bit of regret, wonder where all the time went, know they should have done it differently, realise they would have done it the same, and then they die. Into the great black nothing. Out of space. Out of time. The most trivial of trivial zeroes. And that’s it, the full caboodle. All confined to the same mediocre planet.” It's kind of depressing to think about.

"Dark matter is needed to hold galaxies together. Your mind is a Galaxy. More dark than light. But the light makes it worthwhile."

This book kind of reminds me of [b:We Are the Ants|23677341|We Are the Ants|Shaun David Hutchinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425574151s/23677341.jpg|43285034] in that way. It's a coming of age story that involves aliens... and it has an extremely negative and pessimistic view of the world and humanity, until the main character slowly reaches an arc when they realize how beautiful and wonderful and meaningful life on Earth can be. It has the same overall message, which is probably why I loved this book so much.

“You shouldn’t have been born. Your existence is as close to impossible as can be. To dismiss the impossible is to dismiss yourself.”

This book had me laughing and crying, and I just fucking loved it so much. This book had quotes that inspired me and made me question my own beliefs and gave me a new perspective on things.

That part was so beautiful when the alien actually saved Gulliver from killing himself. Their relationship was so cute, and so important. I also loved watching the way he fell in love with Isobel, and he got to watch her fall in love with him again too. It was just so beautifully written. That quote about how humans couldn't possibly exist, but we do, and so it makes sense for humans to believe in God too actually made me stop and think for a minute. I'm not a religious person, but seeing that quote actually made me think for a minute, and see things in a new perspective. I just love how in the beginning, he questioned everything and thought humans were the dumbest species to ever exist, and then he grew so fond of humans - it was such a beautiful thing to see him fall in love with humanity. I think, like the main character, I tend to have a pessimistic view on everything, and it was so beautiful to watch his pessimism turn into admiration.

I loved it, 10/10 would recommend. If you haven't read this book, please read this fucking book. Definitely a new all time favorite of mine.