Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

A Brief History of Humankind

by Yuval Noah Harari

Hardcover, 443 pages

English language

Published Feb. 10, 2015 by Harper.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-231609-7
ASIN:: 0062316095

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 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 …

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?

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.The book has gathered mixed reviews. While it was positively received by the general public, scholars with relevant subject matter expertise have been very critical of its scientific claims.

29 editions

dwhatson reviewed Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

Another History Primer

3 stars

I have to admit that I have a liking for what I call history primers, and this is one such book. While this is a book that discusses history, Harari does not seem concerned with walking over old historical sites to recover facts that others had missed. Rather, the author shows how various events have affected the development of human culture: in some cases for the worst. Throughout the book, Harari's observations and commentary raise some issues that are worth further contemplation. If you enjoyed books like "Guns, Germs and Steel" or "A Short History of Nearly Everything" then you would most likely enjoy Harari's ideas on why humans have collectively agreed to make the world the way it is.

Sabrina Bonfert reviewed Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

The path towards superhumanity?

No rating

While reading through the last chapter, I recognize that Harari is himself a victim to the myths he so often talks about in the course of the book. The final pages of the book read like an advertisement for a venture-capital funded artificial intelligence startup that promises the future, while only caring about its owner's short-term wealth accumulation.

The core thesis that you are able to take away from this book, should you choose to do so, is that human societies and connections that go beyond the simple rural village or family clan require shared myths.

Harari calls everything a "myth" that doesn't exist in nature but is man-made. Be that religious beliefs, societal roles, money, the rule of law, a belief in individuality and human rights, capitalism, communism, and everything in between.

He manages to hold a position that calls religious beliefs an arbitrary invention, while …

He manages to hold a position that calls religious beliefs an arbitrary invention, while simultaneously slamming militant atheists for rejecting religious beliefs wholesale because the atheist, too, shares beliefs (individualism, secularism, human rights, whatever you wish) that are ultimately cultural and made up by humans.

He attributes the fact that modern ideologies like capitalism, communism, imperialism, national socialism or feminism are not religions in a literal sense to medical progress and the reduction in child mortality in the modern era. If death is no longer a constant surrounding factor in your life, the capitalist, communist or feminist does not need to worry about promises of the afterlife, he says.

Another core observation he makes is that belief and hope in a better future did not necessarily exist in the Middle Ages and before in the way it does now. He says that pre-modern ideologies share the belief that the world is getting worse all the time, and the only way to make it better is to return to the golden age of the mythical past. Whereas a modern company manager cares to disrupt markets, the ancient priest thus saw heresy, the deliberate change of a prior-held belief, as sinful.

And he is not suggesting that this "progress" is a good thing, necessarily. He highlights at lengths how scientific progress in the age of "discovery" came hand-in-hand with the imperialist conquest of the world. You could say that the scientific progress of the past 500 years and our positive or optimistic views of the future are an unintentional side-effect of imperial conquest. At least, with the concepts Harari describes, this is a possible conclusion.

I really don't know what I think about this book and Harari's ideas in the end. I wonder how this book's conclusion would have looked like if it was written in the spring of 2025. Would he still postulate that soon humanity will create general artificial intelligence, androids, and genetically engineered superhumans?

foxrain reviewed Summary: Sapiens: A brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari by Yuval Noah Harari

None

4 stars

An interesting book about an important topic: humans' place in the grand scheme of things. It does what it sets out to do: it gives perspective, also considering ecosystems and nonhuman animals.

The book questions how humans tend to place themselves above all other forms of life. It also discusses, among other viewpoints, how humans have influenced the ecosystems around them even before historical times. Many of the discussed events and phenomena were somewhat familiar to me, but there was some completely new information as well. For example, I knew that money is just a social construct, but this book helped me situate this piece of information in a wider context of humans' imaginary orders. I also learned about empires I had never heard of, such as the Safavid Empire.

"One of history's few iron laws is that luxuries tend to become necessities and to spawn new obligations." (p. 87) I found this idea very compelling because it is very true in our current industrialised, affluent societies. You see it constantly in consumerist, capitalist systems.

Despite the broad and complex topic, this book is written in a very plain way. For me, this was also one of the major weaknesses of the book. Probably making the book as approachable as possible, the style is very light – at times, annoyingly so. More importantly, since the topic is so massive and complex, to produce this quite clear picture, Harari has had to simplify things A LOT. Often, they also remind the reader that this is just a theory or there are other, differing views within the scientific community about a certain topic, but still the outcome is smoothed out to be presented as a unified narrative.

While it was interesting to read, I constantly had a nagging feeling that many shades of grey, attenuating circumstances, etc. were left undiscussed for the sake of clarity. But since I am not an expert in the topics the book discusses, it's very hard for me to assess the contents. For example, in the beginning of the book, Harari mentions in passing that while other animals have languages as well, the Homo Sapiens language is by far the furthest evolved. While the latter (and the more important) part of the statement is true, as a linguist, I know that the truthfulness of the first part is very much contented and depends on the definition of language, which Harari doesn't give. But I get why, it's just a sidetrack. However, I kept thinking how many other details like this I missed because I'm not a biologist or historian or whatever.

Another problem I had with the book at times was it's outlook on certain matters. For example, Christopher Columbus is named as a genius on page 272. This irked me. Science was constantly discussed as natural sciences – even though the author is a historian. There were many parts were it would have been obvious to at least mention qualitative approaches (such as the research on happiness), but they weren't. However, I think that this problem was partially due to my idealistic and subjective thinking clashing with the central/neutral-seeking tone of the book – and the fact that many of the trajectories and phenomena were painful to read.

I was also mildly annoyed that Harari uses BC and AD instead of BCE and CE when otherwise the book takes a very... well, scientific stance on religion. There were other similar, small discrepancies in the book as well. As another example, the word archipelago was explained but the word dogma wasn't.

All in all, this book was entertaining and thought-provoking. If I had read it about 10 years ago, it probably would have blown my mind.

AlexaReadMeABook reviewed Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

Macro View of Human History

4 stars

I liked it overall. Gave a macro view of how humanity evolved over hundreds of years and were my thoughts exactly on the creation of society, civilizations, etc. Its the more serious version of "Kraptopolis". The ending wasn't that great and I think I will opt out of reading his other book where I believe he predicts where we may be heading as a species.

Maia reviewed Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

Sapiens

4 stars

Lots to think about... I loved some of it, and many of the ideas presented made me question my outlook of the world! He also, however, threw a few curved balls, and let myth sit as fact in places. One of my favourite stories from the book, the one about Buzz Aldrin and the Native American, looks to be a myth for example. Other sections just didn't come to much (the chapter on gender for example, although it was written 2011 and these debates develop quickly). It is interesting to see how the book has aged... sometimes well, sometimes not so much. Overall worth the read, and helpful for reflecting on these things.

salieri reviewed Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

Un bon punt de partida

5 stars

Primer de tot, li poso 5 estrelles perquè rarament aconsegueixo acabar un llibre tant llarg havent-lo llegit d'una manera tan fragmentada, cosa que diu molt de l'estil de redacció.

Dit això, he passat per sentiments molt contrariats durant la lectura del llibre, moltes tenen a veure amb la meva ideologia, mes vermella que no pas altra cosa, però no descarto que moltes d'aquestes queixes vinguin mes del meu desconeixement. Per altra banda si que puc coincidir que en moltes coses el autor peca de reduccionista i si ve entenc que per explicar tota la historia de la humanitat no et pots anar entretenint gaire, com a mínim si vols ser atractiu per el públic general, que es el que intenta el llibre, si que he trobat que en algunes seccions, com per exemple quan parla de la discriminació de la dona o d'altres temes que ara no puc posar …

Primer de tot, li poso 5 estrelles perquè rarament aconsegueixo acabar un llibre tant llarg havent-lo llegit d'una manera tan fragmentada, cosa que diu molt de l'estil de redacció.

Tot i aquests comentaris crítics sobre el llibre, m'ha semblat molt entretingut, m'ha donat una visió general sobre molts temes d'història que ni sabia i em sento agraït per això. Se m'ha fet molt fàcil de llegir i no he tingut cap problema amb passar-m'hi una o casi dues hores casi seguides llegint-lo, cosa que en el moment de la vida en el que estic es tot un repte amb els inputs del mòbil que rebo tot i havent deixat tik tok. A mes a mes el llibre acaba amb un epíleg excel·lent amb uns tons foscos sobre si realment tot i que pensem que l'humà ha avançat potser tots aquests avencos no han sigut cap progres vis a vi bombes nuclears i armament en general, genocidis, maltracte animal a una escala brutal, pobresa extrema etc... I m'encanta que les histories no acabin be (si be aquesta historia no es de ficció).

També en els últims capítols intenta treure'n el sentit de la felicitat, que es, com la percebem i si realment, tot el que em fet i el que ha requerit ha servit de quelcom i la felicitat general de la població ha augmentat respecte als cacadors recol·lectors originals. Òbviament això no es resol al llibre, però fa uns plantejaments molt bons ( tot i que segur que algun neoliberal / capitalista els farà servir per justificar que la pobresa no està tan malament i que la desigualtat global no es rellevant perquè la felicitat de les persones no està tan relacionada amb el mon extern sinó amb el intern).

Segur que amb el temps trobo mes coses a dir però de moment ho deixo aquí. Un bon llibre i molt recomanat.

Jamin Bogi reviewed Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

Mixed bag

3 stars

Nice historical factoids, then a head-scratching over-simplification, followed by an assumption, etc. Sometimes felt like reading a puffed-up Wikipedia article.

Nano Book Review reviewed Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

Who are we?

5 stars

A gentle expansion of your world view, this book will help you see human history in a whole new light. Is Buddhism a religion or an ideology? Is money real, or a part of our collective imagination? Who are we? Who do we want to become?

Eva@books.theunseen.city reviewed Eine kurze Geschichte der Menschheit by Yuval Noah Harari

Absolut empfehlenswert

5 stars

Eine absolute Empfehlung für jeden, der sich einigermaßen für die Geschichte und Evolution der Menschheit interessiert. Das Buch liest sich wie ein Krimi und gibt ganz neue Einblicke in diesem spannenden Gebiet.

thom_reads_books reviewed Eine kurze Geschichte der Menschheit by Yuval Noah Harari

Wissenschaft, die Spaß macht.

5 stars

Bücher über wissenschaftliche Themen können ja verdammt zäh sein. Man fühlt sich manchmal eher wie in einer drögen Vorlesen und nur sehr bedingt unterhalten. Bei Harari ist das völlig anders.

Die Geschichte der Menschheit "kurz" (der Wälzer ist immer noch dick genug) und so lesbar zu beschreiben, dabei aber immer wissenschaftlich fundiert und nachvollziehbar, das ist schon eine Meisterleistung. Man versteht auch sofort, woher einige Entwicklungen der Menschheit kommen, ohne sich dabei belehrt zu fühlen.

Eine absolute Empfehlung. Vielleicht nichts für die ganz jungen und (die meisten) Teens, aber Jugendlich und alle Erwachsenen sollten das Buch ganz dringend lesen.

Bücher über wissenschaftliche Themen können ja verdammt zäh sein. Man fühlt sich manchmal eher wie in einer drögen Vorlesen und nur sehr bedingt unterhalten. Bei Harari ist das völlig anders.

Eine absolute Empfehlung. Vielleicht nichts für die ganz jungen und (die meisten) Teens, aber Jugendlich und alle Erwachsenen sollten das Buch ganz dringend lesen.

greeny reviewed Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

Review of 'Sapiens' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I highly want to recommend this novel. It enlightened me in regards of the human history and its culture by a wide margin. In addition to the storytelling, design and illustration it makes it to one of the graphic novels I enjoyed the most so far.

John G. reviewed Summary: Sapiens: A brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari by Yuval Noah Harari

None

5 stars

A catalog of thought-provoking ironies that concludes with a surprising (and somewhat chilling) forecast of humans' future.

Loeffle reviewed Eine kurze Geschichte der Menschheit by Yuval Noah Harari

Review of 'Eine kurze Geschichte der Menschheit' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Großartig. Natürlich kein Geschichtswerk, das jede Schlacht und Revolution abdeckt, sondern das eher das große Ganze abdeckt und zumindest meine Gehirnzellen sehr aktivierte.

outofrange reviewed Summary: Sapiens: A brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari by Yuval Noah Harari

Review of 'Summary: Sapiens: A brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Those of us prone to questioning humanity, our own and in general, are bound to find some clarity in this exceptionally clearly written history. It was especially helpful for me in my pandemic-induced reassessment of my place in the world.

Kirk Moodey reviewed Summary: Sapiens: A brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari by Yuval Noah Harari

Review of 'Summary: Sapiens: A brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I wanted to enjoy this book, hoping it would have something new about early man I didn't know but before, but really didn't. I ended up getting not very far at all before I couldn't stand any more. The way the author kept calling things like social hierarchies 'imagined fictions' grated on me.
If I'm a dumb dog, and I go to food, and observe another dog tries to bite me whenever I go near that food, and that dog is bigger than me and won't bite me if I wait my turn, then my lack of imagination doesn't stop that situation from being reality. Similarly, society doesn't need fictions from things like religion - it did serve a useful function and I don't mind a book that acknowledges that early society used it for things like banding together to attack a common 'enemy' (read: the guy with food/goods you want) or to justify laws (something that 'hey, we do not like it when our neighbors murder each other, maybe let us all agree to gang up on the murdery guy' would be sufficient to do, and doesn't require any fiction in the slightest, just a recognition of other people's mental states and plans, which, last I checked, are stored in neurons and thus entirely material nonfictional things) but I just really detest the particular word choices here. I wanted more scholarly established history, less personal philosophy.

Read Gun, Germs and Steel instead for genuinely interesting hypotheses in a book that at least tries to back up its ideas with actual history and evidence, such as zebra behavior making them undomesticateable (though since wild horses turned out to just be feral ones - or may be, it's been awhile since I've read that article, it may be debatable how much we can learn from comparing Pretzwalksi wild horse behavior in captivity to zebra).