The mathematicians

In a playful future conversation, a father recounts the astonishing history of Earth’s conquest by the An-vils, winged, purple-tailed beings from Sirius. Immune to human weapons and vastly more intelligent than their victims, these alien mathematicians quickly overwhelm the planet, enslaving some humans and treating others as food. Their language may be simple, but their superiority seems impossible to challenge.

Resistance survives in the most unlikely place: Greenland, where the brilliant psychiatrist Knowall studies the invaders and searches for a weakness. Unable to defeat their bodies, he develops a daring method for giving the emotionless An-vils distinctly human feelings—love, fear, envy, ambition, and despair. As their newfound passions begin to reshape the balance of power, this offbeat science-fiction tale mixes cosmic invasion with sharp humor, imaginative social satire, and questions about whether intelligence without emotion is truly superior.