Description
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?
Details
Custom Field 1: |
Yes |
Wine vintage: |
1988 |
Product Reviews
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A nice start but weak end...
One of my readers recommended this book, and I enjoyed it a lot. Given its massive success, I am not going to write very much about its content (here's an overview) but give some comments and impressions on Hariri's thinking. Warning: I made over 300 notes, as Hariri is an elegant and perceptive thinker and writer. Below, I group my comments or quote Hariri by the book's parts.
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A simply wonderful book. Six stars.
High level, thought-provoking ideas, lucid exposition, engaging language, and interesting examples. I would recommend this book to ANYONE. In addition to reading, I also listened to the audiobook narrated by Derek Perkins - also highly recommended.
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A brief speculation about the history of humankind
Harari has a knack of weaving complex and interesting concepts into stories, which allows the reader to feel smarter for having understood him. The book is very interesting and despite its length, can be zipped through due to its easy reading style. Unfortunately, I also have to agree with many of the one star reviewers, that the books downfall is the almost constant speculation he engages in, without providing further evidence.