New York Times BestsellerA Summer Reading Pick for President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #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.”One hundred thousand years ago, at … it means to be “human.”
One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us?
Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. 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.
Dr. Harari also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades humans have begun to bend laws of natural selection that have governed life for the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the world around us, but also ourselves. Where is this leading us, and what do we want to become?
Featuring 27 photographs, 6 maps, and 25 illustrations/diagrams, this provocative and insightful work is sure to spark debate and is essential reading for aficionados of Jared Diamond, James Gleick, Matt Ridley, Robert Wright, and Sharon Moalem.
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Sapiens provides a secular overview of the history of Homo sapiens and its progenitors. While based on accepted facts it is really a speculative work. It does not pretend to provide definitive answers as to why things happened or are happening the way they are. It often undermines accepted or popular theories of human development.
Ultimately, it is not a very flattering view of humanity, particularly our penchant to eliminate other living species and our brutal treatment of the domesticated species we use to feed us. He does not attempt to identify any ‘golden’ period of human existence, and his vision of the future is fraught with various perils. He goes so far as to suggest that the human ‘experiment’ may come to naught in any event, most likely as a results of our own devices.
What redeems the book is that it doesn’t accept anything as the final word. Humanity is praised for its never ending search for knowledge and meaning – but to what end?
Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens is an astounding book packed with fresh, persuasive ideas.
When I started it, I assumed Sapiens was just a history book. By the time I got to the end, I realized that while it is a history of mankind, it is also an elegantly constructed argument about our future — that while we may see ourselves as a fixed species, we’ve been evolving for thousands of years, and we will continue to evolve (now at a much faster pace).
As he writes near the end, “The next stage of history will include not only technological and organizational transformations, but also fundamental transformations in human consciousness and identity.”
In other words, get used to change.
If you’re seeking to delve into the complicated story of man’s journey from the beginning of creation, then this book offers excellent insights that are rare, unique and clearly stated. As a writer who deals in motivation and character, Harari’s penetrating historical and psychological observations offers a broad perspective that I find very useful in helping to untangle the mysteries of the human species, our origins, our present, and our potential future.
This book helped me better understand how humans came to dominate the planet. It also opened my eyes to see the utility in religions and how they have served us up to this point.
Incredible history of the origins of humankind and discussion of the constructs we created that led to the how and why our society developed the way it has.
This book blew my mind. It’s so much more than a history book. Harari evidences incredible insight into the human condition, giving not just an account of humanity’s journey to the present, but WHY we took so many of the turns we did. I will definitely be reading the other books in his series. BTW for anyone reading this, if you haven’t already, check out some of Harari’s podcast appearances, namely on Sam Harris’s Making Sense podcast as well as Armchair Expert with Dax Shepherd. Harari is just as eloquent a speaker as he is a writer. He’ll make you smarter.
I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction lately, because sometimes, with all the political nonsense flying around us, a person needs grounding. I recommend Sapiens as a place to start in making sense of all the craziness that is the human condition right now. It’s a slow book to read, not because it is long or dense (it’s neither) but because there is so much inside the pages that cause you to stop and reflect.
The follow-up book, Homo Deus, is equally entertaining and just to show how much of a Yuval Noah Harari fan I am, the latest hardback, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, is sitting right on top of my Christmas reading pile on my nightstand, calling for attention.
But start with Sapiens. It will change you as a person.
This is an excellent title for those interested in history or science. A sweeping tale of the evolution of man, it is well written and an enjoyable read for a topic of this magnitude.
Self-awareness at the highest level.
This title has been on my tbr list for quite a while. After hearing quite a few people talk about it I moved it to the front. I wish hadn’t waited so long. This is a fascinating history of human evolution that’s posits lucid explanations of why Homo sapiens ended up the only human species to survive. And dominate. Neanderthals were bigger and stronger with larger brains. But sapiens had an ability no other species had.
Imagination.
I couldn’t help but wonder what role psychedelics had in this trait (which is why I’m now reading Food of the Gods by Terence McKenna). While the book goes through all the details of politics, money, and government I still found it intriguing. And the author’s description of Buddhism was succinctly fantastic.
It ends with a question that I’ve carried ever since. Being the dominant species on earth we should ask what do we want to become? And more importantly what do we want to want? This I keep asking myself long after reading.
A sign of a good book.
Very original ideas on the development of humankind, with eye-opening data and sophisticated reasoning. I took 10 pages of notes. Highly recommended.
One of the great reads in accessible science. This ranks with Sagan, Hawking, Diamond for the science and Krakauer, Larsen, Crichton for readability.
Harari explains not only how we became human, but why. One may not agree with his analysis of Social Constructs and perhaps other mileposts along our evolutionary path and that’s part and parcel with the Scientific Method, yes?
A beautifully rendered compilation of the ‘human’ timeline that does for Sapiens what /Cosmos/ did for the Universe, /A Brief History../ did for Time and /Guns, Germs, Steel/ did for Society.
A must for every book shelf.
Just finished reading Sapiens and it was fantastic. Its a wonderful combination of history, anthropology, sociology, and futurism that is very thought-provoking. I did not necessarily agree with all the author’s conclusions about the meaning (or lack of meaning) of life and how humans have arrived at our current state, but he is clearly brilliant and I would recommend this to anyone.
Do you ever wonder why we think what we think, do what we do? This is a meaty book about the fictions we invent for ourselves…politics, civilization, humanity. Core stuff. Essential and terrific.
As a reader, I love when non-fiction can take me to interesting new places and make me feel like I’ve learned a lot along the way. Sapiens is a fascinating look back at what makes us tick and how we got to where we are today and sets us up for what may lie in our future.
This book was an excellent scientific dive into our past as a species, spanning from the time we shared this planet with other homonid species through the agricultural and religious revolutions that have swept our planet. It is an easy, but intellectual, read.
Impressive to see how humanity has evolved. Time for our economic system to do the same.
The Israeli scholar Yuval Harari takes on the most basic, yet difficult subjects in his fascinating history Sapiens. An attempt to describe the evolution of homo sapiens before recorded history? Check. An accounting of the evolution of the world’s great religions? Double check. A look at mankind’s cognitive, agricultural, and industrial revolutions? Triple check. Harari then goes on to tackle the issues of science and capitalism. And yes, he even touches on communism. Harari concludes with a look at the future of mankind, and whether we have already begun engineering our successor beings. He leaves almost no stone unturned. Sapiens is an ambitious work, but Harari succeeds in posing the right questions, even if you disagree with his conclusions.
Sapiens looks at the evolution of homo sapiens from Africa onto the Eurasian landmass and eventually the Americas. Part and parcel of its rise to dominance over other homo species (such as the Neanderthal) was man’s development of the ability to hold two opposing thoughts at once (what we now call cognitive dissonance) and the ability to create myths that people could believe in. This was the so-called cognitive revolution, enabling man to develop higher thoughts, and hence the ability to organize better than other species. Eventually religion followed. Harari then takes us through the agricultural revolution, which came about because of our superior organizational skills and our ability to keep and track data (leading to a writing system). As opposed to the works of evolutionary biologists (who may or may not claim of the inevitability of man’s rise) or the excellent work by Jared Diamond (Guns, Germs, and Steel), Harari writes that our rise to dominance over the globe was done by the seat of our pants, and that any number of competing variations of a way forward on this planet may have come about, had it not been for various serendipitous events and moments.
Another important topic that Harari addresses is the question that people studying history or political science in college often come to. Why Europe? How was is that small states on the fringe of the Eurasian landmass were able to overcome larger, better organized empires to the east, such as the Ottoman Empire or the Chi’ing Dynasty (or the Aztecs and Inca)? In the year 1500, the technology and wealth of these Oriental empires outstripped any one European nation. Harari explains that “the Mentality of Conquest” of the Europeans (beginning with the Spanish and the Portuguese, and continuing with the Dutch and the English) was unlike anything that drove previous empires. In history, most empires conquered to accumulate wealth. But the Europeans, Harari writes, conquered to acquire knowledge (with this came wealth). A stunningly simple explanation, but Harari frames his argument convincingly. Harari goes on to describe the importance of science and capitalism in Europe, as well as the vital role of the rule of just and equitable law. Today, European (or Western) cultures and institutions remain dominant globally.
In the last section of the book, Harari takes on various philosophical questions such as the issue of man’s happiness. He also describes the turning point we may have reached in the 21st Century, wherein mankind moves from natural selection (the laws of physics, chemistry, and biology) to intelligent design. Will we engineer ourselves into obscurity and cede the dominant position we have acquired through 70,000 years of evolution to new forms of life that we develop through bio-engineering and the creation of new forms of life?
Harari has a fascinating take on homo sapiens that leaves the reader wondering about existential questions of happiness, well-being, and even the viability of further life on this planet as we have known it since the beginning. Sapiens is a must-read for anyone pondering the reason for our existence and the future fate of our planet.
Good, informative about humankind, easy to understand
I loved the exploration of thought this inspired. My understanding of points in history was enriched and I appreciated the humor and humility of the writing. The author makes no claims, but presents ideas and questions. I felt discomfort at times and listened to it, realizing I was out of my comfort zone and growing. I love that. It fostered love for all. I got this from the library, but would love to but it and read it multiple times as exercise. The writing was high quality. I set the book down the first time because I found it requiring full attention, but later checked it out and took it on with intention. I found that I enjoyed sharing insights and questions with friends on Marco Polo. It was great discussion fodder.