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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Author does a fantastic job making a dense topic covering huge range time periods so enjoyable and easy to read!
I’ve become a huge Harari fan since reading this book and want to read everything he’s written. His look at history to explain why things are in the present is fascinating. He truly shows how every short term choice made by humans has long term implications that may not be felt for centuries. The only people who won’t learn something from this book are Christian zealots who think the earth is only 6000 years old.
A fascinating blend of big history and anthropology.
Harari has the ability to see the big, big picture; distill it into manageable terms; and write about it eloquently. (I also loved his book, Homo Deus, for the same reasons). Sapiens takes us from the days of the Neanderthals to our current condition. Loved the chapter on happiness: “So perhaps happiness is synchronizing one’s personal delusions of meaning with the prevailing collective delusions.” Ha ha. The afterward summed it up nicely: “Moreover, despite the astonishing things that humans are capable of doing, we remain unsure of our goals and we seem to be as discontented as ever. We have advanced from canoes to galleys to steamships to space shuttles – but nobody knows where we’re going. We are more powerful than ever before, but have very little idea what to do with all that power. Worse still, humans seem to be more irresponsible than ever. Self-made gods with only the laws of physics to keep us company, we are accountable to no one. We are consequently wreaking havoc on our fellow animals and on the surrounding ecosystem, seeking little more than our own comfort and amusement, yet never finding satisfaction. Is there anything more dangerous than dissatisfied and irresponsible gods who don’t know what they want?”
Harari is a genius
Love it!
Written by one the deepest thinkers of our generation. His thoughts on how we use fiction to organize our societies deeply affected my worldview. Must read.
If you are interested to understand how mankind became what it is now, then this book is a must-read!
This is a non-fiction work on humans. Perhaps one of the most thought-provoking interesting books I have read in quite a while. It will challenge your belief on how things got to be the way they are and point to the way things are going that most of us have never thought about. The book is well written and the many “heavy” topics do not weigh the work down. If only all philosophy – history – sociology books were this well written we would all be a lot wiser.
Absolutely thought provoking, informative and worthy of conversation anywhere. I hope anyone who is interested in our world condition will consider this book.
Until now I hadn’t read anything by Harari but was aware of his other works. I enjoyed the book a lot – BUT was unprepared for his very unforgiving view of us homo sapiens. Not saying he’s wrong simply that it is not pretty picture he paints of us. Much of what he says about how we humans create our own reality through myths, etc ring true but it is really hard to have someone smart tell you that you are really just a prefrontal cortex away from still grunting answers and dragging your spouse by the hair. Nonetheless It is well worth the read.
Extremely informative regarding the formation of the human race and how we have and continue to evolve.
A great read that both informs the mind and creates a high regard in the reader for the incredible journey homo sapiens has been on. It invites a second reading just to digest all that Harari offers.
Very interesting perspective on the history of humans.
One of the best books I’ve read to provide perspective and new thinking.
I learned much about the origins history, and influences made by Homo sapiens that affected the earth and how they are to affect the earth’s future. The information is written in a style that is very clear and not difficult to comprehend. It was a most enjoyable read and presented many new ideas and evidence about we human beings that I was unaware of.
It is Science for dummies–presented in an understandable way
While there are areas where I disagree, I found this to be a very informative, through provoking and great read.
If you want to really know where you come from and even where Homo Sapiens is headed you must read this book!
The author’s biases became enrirely too distracting after about a third of the way through the book. It started off being interesting and the viewpoints shared were generally bacjed by research documented in the book itself. Then that all changed. Polytheism is good, monotheism is bad. This is just one example of unsupported and unfounded biases that distracts from what could have been a great book.