What happened to the others? And what may happen to us?ĭr. Yet today there is only one-homo sapiens. One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. #1 international bestseller-that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.” From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas.įrom a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. I like the book’s verve and pop but wish it didn’t have all those fleas.Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. This book is what these Reddit threads would be like if they were written not by adolescent autodidacts but by learned academics with impish senses of humor. Or perhaps I should use a more contemporary simile: Sapiens reminded me occasionally of a discussions on Reddit, where users sound off about supposed iron laws of history. There’s a whiff of dorm-room bull sessions about the author’s stimulating but often unsourced assertions.
Sapiens is learned, thought-provoking and crisply written. The question is whether there is a lion under the fleas. Harari’s sweeping summations are studded with errors-there are always fleas on the lion, as a teacher of mine once told me. Nobody can be an expert about everything, and it’s not exactly surprising that Mr. Sapiens is the antimatter version of this kind of history, all sparkling conceptual schemas and ironic apothegms, with hardly a Henry or Louis or Philip in view.
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Read Full Review >Ĭhildren often still learn history as a tedious parade of names and dates. But such blips should not deter readers from treating themselves to this mind-stirring book. He argues that history is a 'chaos' while treating it as a system of cause and effect. He makes predictions while declaring that prediction is impossible. Humans, Harari observes, are the only animals that believe in vastly powerful entities that they have never seen, touched or smelt, and that is language’s fault. His central argument is that language has not just made us top animal, it has also enmeshed us in fictions. Mostly, though, Harari’s writing radiates power and clarity, making the world strange and new. That said, the joy of reading him is not matched by any uplift in his message, which is relentlessly accusatory and dismaying. Its author, Yuval Noah Harari, is a young Israeli academic and an intellectual acrobat whose logical leaps have you gasping with admiration.
Sapiens is the sort of book that sweeps the cobwebs out of your brain.