100,000 years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo sapiens.
How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations and human rights; to trust money, books and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables and consumerism? And what will our world be like in the millennia to come?
In Sapiens, Dr Yuval Noah Harari spans the whole of human history, from the very first humans to walk the earth to the radical – and sometimes devastating – breakthroughs of the Cognitive, Agricultural and Scientific Revolutions. Drawing on insights from biology, anthropology, paleontology and economics, he explores how the currents of history have shaped our human societies, the animals and plants around us, and even our personalities. Have we become happier as history has unfolded? Can we ever free our behaviour from the heritage of our ancestors? And what, if anything, can we do to influence the course of the centuries to come?
Bold, wide-ranging and provocative, Sapiens challenges everything we thought we knew about being human: our thoughts, our actions, our power … and our future.
Rating: ★★★★★ (5 stars)
How did we come to believe in gods, nations and human rights; to trust money, books and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, consumerism and the pursuit of happiness?
To do this stellar masterpiece due justice in a review is an intimidating feat—yet, it is one I must undertake circumspectly. For a book that has captivated my thoughts and feelings such as this to go callously unmentioned on my blog is a grave insult. Thus, I have set forth on an attempt to condense four torrid months of reading and highlighting (118 counts, to be precise) in a few pithy words, which shall, hopefully, achieve some coherence as well.
Much of history revolves around this question: how does one convince millions of people to believe particular stories about gods, or nations, or limited liability companies? Yet when it succeeds, it gives Sapiens immense power, because it enables millions of strangers to cooperate and work towards common goals.
As a scientist myself, the most pertinent theme throughout this book was the co-mingling of science and philosophy. Now, the finer points relating to the overarching discussion on how these two seemingly diverse schools of thought complement each other is beyond the scope of this review. Rest assured, Harari tackled it with aplomb. The writing style is richly detailed, yet succinct, and the profoundness of it all is elegantly conveyed. Beginning with the origin of human species and the subsequent evolution of Homo sapiens, the reader is taken on a fascinating journey through the course of humankind’s history. Why did humans shift from nomadic hunter-gatherers to expansive agricultural civilisations? What impact did these arbitrary evolutionary choices have on our physical as well as socio-psychological configurations? How did the inextricably-linked ideologies of capitalism and imperialism funnel our society into the advent of scientific thought and globalisation? And—perhaps, most significantly—are we, the Homo sapiens of the 21st century, truly any happier than our long-forgotten ancestors from the dawning of our species? The author does not merely state personal prejudices with regard to these complex subjects, he ensures that they are well-corroborated with scientific facts and data. Conflicting ideas are comprehensively presented to achieve a suitably holistic inference, which only served to enrich the reading experience.
Most history books focus on the ideas of great thinkers, the bravery of warriors, the charity of saints and the creativity of artists. They have much to tell about the weaving and unravelling of social structures, about the rise and fall of empires, about the discovery and spread of technologies. Yet they say nothing about how all this influenced the happiness and suffering of individuals.
While this was certainly an engrossing read, it was not a particularly easy one. Perhaps this is my own inexperience with non-fiction speaking, but it took me quadruple my usual time to finish this book. If books, by design, should provoke thought, then this one sent my brain into veritable overdrive. There was a considerable amount of information to digest, some of them particularly mind-boggling to the average reader. Add to that the steady stream of ethical and philosophical implications being raised by the author in every chapter dealing with otherwise commonplace “human” occurrences, and it was quite a heady mix indeed. Nonetheless, it proved to be quite a rewarding read that afforded me several riveting discussions with my peers on everything ranging from the hypothetical origins of sexism (highlighted to be factually unsubstantiated to date) to the ultimate ramifications of our inter-imagined realities (TLDR; almost everything that comprises the backbone of human society as we know it today is essentially an intricately-woven by-product of our infinite imaginations). If this last statement made you see stars, it is but the briefest glimpse of what awaits you within the pages of this book. This work is more than just a retelling of our histories past. It covers such an enticing array of the anthropological, sociopolitical, and even metaphysical influences that have shaped our species as a whole. I, for one, would entreat anyone with so much as a passing interest in our cumulative existence on this planet to give Sapiens a try. May it bring you as much delight as it brought this thoroughly enthralled reviewer.
Eloquent Potato Reads 
Beautifully written review that provokes one’s interest towards a direction of thinking which could bring about the realisation of the immensity of human thought process, and the futility of struggles in our current social scene which concerns only ‘here and now’.
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