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rebeccasian274's review against another edition
I got to 100+ pages before calling it a day. Very scientific and slow pace, plus not a huge interest for me.
Graphic: Animal cruelty
Minor: Violence
xavierdm's review against another edition
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.5
Graphic: Genocide and Violence
_mechita's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
2.25
in one word: traumatic 😀
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, and War
keishac13's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Genocide, Violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racism, Slavery, and War
kinddog2073's review against another edition
1.0
1 star because it's not entirely terribly written. But only 1 because the book is quite literally barely anything more than:
1. Wild ans unsubstantiated sociological-anthropological conjectures
2. Unapologetically but still annoyingly coy in its defense of imperialism
3. Imperialist and capitalist propaganda, sum and substance
It is a frustrating read written mostly (though not entirely) in a self-righteous and snivelling tone. Harari at once appears to either trust the reader to make their own critical conclusions about say, the validity of American justifiation for atomic war crimes, but not enough to stop himself from arguing in favour of (or at least against substantive criticisms of) inexusable genocidal empires that to this day continue to reap the benefits of and never pay the price or reparations for their centuries of crimes against humanity.
The wild conjectures at least are darkly funny, but the uncritical defense and optimism applied to "Western values" betrays a lot about the writers view of the world.
No wonder Obama, Bill Gates, and Jared Diamond praised this book.
1. Wild ans unsubstantiated sociological-anthropological conjectures
2. Unapologetically but still annoyingly coy in its defense of imperialism
3. Imperialist and capitalist propaganda, sum and substance
It is a frustrating read written mostly (though not entirely) in a self-righteous and snivelling tone. Harari at once appears to either trust the reader to make their own critical conclusions about say, the validity of American justifiation for atomic war crimes, but not enough to stop himself from arguing in favour of (or at least against substantive criticisms of) inexusable genocidal empires that to this day continue to reap the benefits of and never pay the price or reparations for their centuries of crimes against humanity.
The wild conjectures at least are darkly funny, but the uncritical defense and optimism applied to "Western values" betrays a lot about the writers view of the world.
No wonder Obama, Bill Gates, and Jared Diamond praised this book.
Graphic: Genocide, Racism, Violence, and Xenophobia
scifipunk's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This book was a very informative and yet surprisingly entertaining recap of literally, the history of humankind as modern scientists understand it.
There is a lot of information in there, but the lively style makes it easy to read regardless.
I enjoyed that Harari manages to approach complicated issues from multiple perspectives and explains controversies among scientists very well. All opinions given are explained, and the author interestingly does not leave out issues he does not have a satisfying answer or explanation for (yet), but rather admits to that and moves on.
I also noticed that the translator localized all examples or comparisons, and did so very well.
This is one of the books that I see myself re-reading over and over in the future, and I truly wish it had been around when I was a child.
There is a lot of information in there, but the lively style makes it easy to read regardless.
I enjoyed that Harari manages to approach complicated issues from multiple perspectives and explains controversies among scientists very well. All opinions given are explained, and the author interestingly does not leave out issues he does not have a satisfying answer or explanation for (yet), but rather admits to that and moves on.
I also noticed that the translator localized all examples or comparisons, and did so very well.
This is one of the books that I see myself re-reading over and over in the future, and I truly wish it had been around when I was a child.
Graphic: Colonisation
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Genocide
Minor: Child death, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, and War
backatthelibrary's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Moderate: Child death, Death, Genocide, Mental illness, Suicide, and Violence
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