[How it Works](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/how-it-works/) [Bookshop](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/books/bindery/) [Publishing](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/publishing/) [Team](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/team/) [Contact](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/contact/) Log in or Sign up Hum: A Novel Helen Phillips Save to Your Books [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/88231/9781668008836) [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1668008831) 100% of affiliate revenue supports Not So Well Read From the National Book Award–longlisted author of _The Need_ comes an extraordinary novel about a wife and mother who—after losing her job to AI—undergoes a procedure that renders her undetectable to surveillance…but at what cost? In a city addled by climate change and populated by intelligent robots called “hums,” May loses her job to artificial intelligence. In a desperate bid to resolve her family’s debt and secure their future for another few months, she becomes a guinea pig in an experiment that alters her face so it cannot be recognized by surveillance. Seeking some reprieve from her recent hardships and from her family’s addiction to their devices, she splurges on passes that allow them three nights’ respite inside the Botanical Garden: a rare green refuge where forests, streams, and animals flourish. But her insistence that her son, daughter, and husband leave their devices at home proves far more fraught than she anticipated, and the lush beauty of the Botanical Garden is not the balm she hoped it would be. When her children come under threat, May is forced to put her trust in a hum of uncertain motives as she works to restore the life of her family. Written in taut, urgent prose, _Hum_ is a work of speculative fiction that unflinchingly explores marriage, motherhood, and selfhood in a world compromised by global warming and dizzying technological advancement, a world of both dystopian and utopian possibilities. As New York Times bestselling author Jeff VanderMeer says, > “Helen Phillips, in typical bravura fashion, has found a way to make visible uncomfortable truths about our present by interrogating the near-future.” Show more Get the Bindery app * * * Posts about this title from Not So Well Read [Not So Well Read\\ \\ Courtney\\ \\ • Jan 2 2025](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/) [My Most Notable Reads of 2024](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/item/CoUx6DHCvxvNgkGs2gVz/) There is no easier way to stress me out than to ask me what my favorite book is. To me my "favorites" are a highly subjective and constantly rotating list based on my current mood and frame of mind... * * * 11 books 4 [Not So Well Read\\ \\ Courtney\\ \\ • Jul 1 2024](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/) [June Reading Wrap-Up](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/item/8F9pK4wuZIJmfGpIYQt8/) Here's all the books I read in June!! * * * 10 books 2 [2](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/item/8F9pK4wuZIJmfGpIYQt8/#comments) [Not So Well Read\\ \\ Courtney\\ \\ • Jun 13 2024](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/) [Hum by Helen Phillips](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/item/9sMeccpaxkw5PjFAf2Dj/) Okay but truly… this is a masterpiece. I was disgusted. I was upset. I was high key stressed the whole time. But, on top of all those visceral emotions, Helen Phillips is able to write characters and families in such a beautiful and endearing way. I loved them and I loved this book. Hum comes out August 6th from @marysueruccibooks ✨ #newreleasebooks #bookrecommendations #favoritebooks * * * 1 book [Not So Well Read\\ \\ Courtney\\ \\ • May 14 2024](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/) [Help me pack for California!](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/item/qpqPz1LeYkJDiLm7pCJn/) I'm headed to California tomorrow and I can't decide which books to take to read on the plane. Help me decide which ones I should prioritize, the longer one that I can read the whole way or shorter ones that I can read in on plane ride?? Or jut all of them?? * * * 10 books [Not So Well Read\\ \\ Courtney\\ \\ • May 9 2024](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/) [May TBR Overview](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/item/2vdOp6oI1bZ7CY4cbtGO/) Here are some books currently on the top of my TBR for this month... * * * 13 books 1 Posts about this book from across Bindery [Not So Well Read\\ \\ Courtney\\ \\ • Jan 2 2025](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/) [My Most Notable Reads of 2024](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/item/CoUx6DHCvxvNgkGs2gVz/) * * * 11 books 4 [Boundless Press\\ \\ Jananie\\ \\ • Aug 7 2024](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/) Join for free [UPCOMING BOOKS that you NEED to Preorder \| Anticipated Releases 2024](https://boundless.binderybooks.com/item/EM98EQ7Pj2QfmwSKriwh/) Let me know which of these books you're excited for! * * * 13 books [Not So Well Read\\ \\ Courtney\\ \\ • Jul 1 2024](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/) [June Reading Wrap-Up](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/item/8F9pK4wuZIJmfGpIYQt8/) Here's all the books I read in June!! * * * 10 books 2 [2](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/item/8F9pK4wuZIJmfGpIYQt8/#comments) [Not So Well Read\\ \\ Courtney\\ \\ • Jun 13 2024](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/) [Hum by Helen Phillips](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/item/9sMeccpaxkw5PjFAf2Dj/) Hum comes out August 6th from @marysueruccibooks ✨ #newreleasebooks #bookrecommendations #favoritebooks * * * 1 book [Not So Well Read\\ \\ Courtney\\ \\ • May 14 2024](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/) [Help me pack for California!](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/item/qpqPz1LeYkJDiLm7pCJn/) * * * 10 books [Not So Well Read\\ \\ Courtney\\ \\ • May 9 2024](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/) [May TBR Overview](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/item/2vdOp6oI1bZ7CY4cbtGO/) Here are some books currently on the top of my TBR for this month... * * * 13 books 1