Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind

by Yuval Noah Harari

eBook, 466 pages

English language

Published Sept. 4, 2014 by Vintage.

ISBN:: 978-1-84655-824-5
ASIN:: B00K7ED54M

(6 reviews)

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 …

100,000 years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo sapiens.

Bold, wide-ranging and provocative, Sapiens challenges everything we thought we knew about being human: our thoughts, our actions, our power ... and our future.

22 editions

ormai@bookwyrm.social reviewed Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

Review of 'Sapiens' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

This books tries to talk about everything but ends up talking about nothing.

It takes the sweetest bits, the sensational bits, from the most popular disciplines, smash them together to make a very provocative and fascinating book. Going through chapter after chapter felt like brainlessly scrolling through TikTok style videos, the obnoxious particular kind that start with the phrase "Did you knogw that...".

I think that Harari wanted to be impersonal while expounding his favourite scientific facts, nonetheless I found him to be tendentious and biased, even if only in a small number of occasions, particularly when adding to the fact.

EricosEagle@bookwyrm.social reviewed Sapiens A brief Story of Human Kind by Yuval Noah Harari

Review of 'Sapiens A brief Story of Human Kind' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Was an excellent book except for the part about the agricultural revolution

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.

Matt Lehrer reviewed Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

Fascinating ideas, unfortunate lack of evidence

3 stars

It's very convincing and I really appreciate the ideas and perspective on religion especially. I learned long after reading it about the complete disregard for evidence and accuracy.

papapep reviewed Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

La història mundial condensada

4 stars

Bon llibre que fa un repàs, evidentment succint, a la història de la humanitat des de l'inici fins, més o menys, ara, des d'un punt de vista molt crític al capitalisme, al liberalisme i a la forma de gestionar-ho tot que tenim els humans en general. Una molt bona, a estones densa, lectura.

Nonya Bidniss reviewed Sapiens A brief Story of Human Kind by Yuval Noah Harari

Sapiens

3 stars

Sapiens (2011, Harper) 4 stars

(Audiobook) I already knew a lot of the content but I enjoy having it from a new perspective with a variety of new anecdotes. At some points I distinctly felt like the author's biases were coming through--in fact at some points I really questioned his ideas--but otherwise an enjoyable and informative book.