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vedikas_06's review against another edition
5.0
Great book, really love it
It is very interesting, though l skimmed through the last few chapters.
The book explains our human race in details starting from how the race began to current situation and gives a glimpse of what's next.
It not only talks about evolution but also about history of the human race, industrial and agricultural revolution etc.
Definitely will recommend this book to all who are interested in knowing about human existence.
It is very interesting, though l skimmed through the last few chapters.
The book explains our human race in details starting from how the race began to current situation and gives a glimpse of what's next.
It not only talks about evolution but also about history of the human race, industrial and agricultural revolution etc.
Definitely will recommend this book to all who are interested in knowing about human existence.
andreanourse's review against another edition
4.0
This book was thought provoking and challenged several of my preconceived beliefs and opinions. Definitely worth taking the time to read and learn.
shivani_maurya's review against another edition
4.0
As infuriating as it is to come across a book much later than everybody else, it does have an upside to it. And that would be getting all of its sequels/prequels in one fell swoop. No more waiting for years for the next installment to come out. It's like making several choices at once. And now that I am done with this one I will most definitely read his next [b:Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow|31138556|Homo Deus A Brief History of Tomorrow|Yuval Noah Harari|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1468760805s/31138556.jpg|45087110]. But for now let's stick to this one.
First of all, what's with all the history books trying to shove words like "brief" and "short" in their titles? I had a real hard time digesting the history textbooks at school. From dynasties and kingdoms to the struggle for India's independence, even the most concise descriptions were wrought with bulk loads of information. Couple that with the world history of slavery, revolutions, tea parties (No, not the one in the foyer. The one in Boston), World Wars and whatnot, it is anything but brief. Titles like "A short history.." or "A brief history.." are undoubtedly an oxymoron to fool everyone. This brings me to the book in question. And it is NOT brief.
[b:Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind|23692271|Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind|Yuval Noah Harari|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1420585954s/23692271.jpg|18962767] deals with the origins of several human species. It builds upon the surviving evidence to set the stage for the one and only surviving branch, The Sapiens. It goes on to show how several revolutions empowered them and turned them out from the simian brotherhoods, essentially making them the bane of every other life form. See? All that cannot be brief. But, most importantly, it is not a toneless drivel of encyclopedic facts that we need to cram for an exam. THAT and Harari bringing his unique imagination to the much disputed discipline of all makes it an intriguing read. And the result has much to recommend itself to the readers.
Harari sets a humble tone with the emergence of human species, the brawny ones. We see their life-like displays in the museums. But Harari brings them to life in the only way possible. By giving them the common purpose of all life forms. To survive. No different from the other extant flora and fauna, these humans lived in thrall of predators and vagaries of nature. Their footprints on the much bountiful yet empty Earth were hardly worthy of a second glance. Tougher than us yet fragile than most, they lived precariously. Harari doesn't dismiss them. He doesn't have much evidence to go on and taps his imagination. But his expostulations if not the entire truth have the credibility of being a possible scenario. He delves deeper into their lives, beliefs and their die-hard resilience which enabled them to surface again and again after every planetary upheaval. His esteem for the then primitive human imagination gives a humane touch to an otherwise far-removed and objectively dealt subject of our predecessors. Evolution, the harsh mistress, no doubt played favorites with abandon. Many of our sibling species floundered while some survived the worst. And we are the ones that outlasted them all. But Harari doesn't crown us as the paragons.
Harari attributes much of our advantage over other species to the cognitive evolution. Brains over brawns, the old adage is personified in the fratricide between different human species. But it is this evolution we have to thank for our survival with all its baggage of culture, religion and rich diversity. Harari transitions us from nomadic gatherers to settled farmers with the advent of agricultural revolution. His bold thoughts on domestication of humans, birth of religions as collective delusions, the onset of languages for record-keeping and the emergence of imagined social orders and hierarchies deserve serious consideration. With scientific revolution backing the colonizing powers, Harari talks about the rise of world economy, establishment of empires and power of religion. All three are cited as the globally trusted orders unifying the world. Harari extols the ability of humans to cooperate effectively in relatively large numbers since pre-historic times. He brings to attention the trust we place in "imagined realities". I don't think I will ever tell my mom that all her jewelry's worth is decided by the collective belief of humanity in the imagined value of gold. But Harari makes a credible case for such fictional realities holding our society together. Needless to say that I was awed by his outlook at the workings of the present day humans.
Harari talks of history as a series of chance accidents that somehow worked in favour of our species. Once the Sapiens gained the attention on a global scale, they brought the planet to its heels. With the ongoing industrial revolution, Harari talks of present day concerns. He questions our discrimination not only against other life forms but also against ethnicity. Him talking about the capitalist rat race, increasing dissatisfaction with life and limited but pervasive use of genetic engineering puts in perspective the time we have covered from our humble beginnings to this despotic exploitation. The havoc that we as a species have wrought on this planet is indeed of grave concern.
History is unforgiving, controversial and a mine of potential time bombs. How one deals with it can make it exhilarating or downright bogus. Harari is a historian, subject to the fallacies of drawing conclusions from limited evidence and existing records. By no means is his account a comprehensive study of origins taking into account all the factors. But that can be excused as far as I am concerened, because finally I understand what the "brief" in the title means. It is brief in its outlook. It tries to be as close to the truth as possible but it most definitely is not the entire truth. Harari aims to open our minds to think more about the things we take for granted, be it cooperating on a day to day basis, going to temples/mosques/churches for prayer rituals, trading on a global scale, human rights, eating genetically modified food, working for companies or compiling lists of things we want from life. All of these are put in perspective against the backdrop of his take on our past and present reality. I recommend it as one of the best history books I have come across.
First of all, what's with all the history books trying to shove words like "brief" and "short" in their titles? I had a real hard time digesting the history textbooks at school. From dynasties and kingdoms to the struggle for India's independence, even the most concise descriptions were wrought with bulk loads of information. Couple that with the world history of slavery, revolutions, tea parties (No, not the one in the foyer. The one in Boston), World Wars and whatnot, it is anything but brief. Titles like "A short history.." or "A brief history.." are undoubtedly an oxymoron to fool everyone. This brings me to the book in question. And it is NOT brief.
[b:Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind|23692271|Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind|Yuval Noah Harari|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1420585954s/23692271.jpg|18962767] deals with the origins of several human species. It builds upon the surviving evidence to set the stage for the one and only surviving branch, The Sapiens. It goes on to show how several revolutions empowered them and turned them out from the simian brotherhoods, essentially making them the bane of every other life form. See? All that cannot be brief. But, most importantly, it is not a toneless drivel of encyclopedic facts that we need to cram for an exam. THAT and Harari bringing his unique imagination to the much disputed discipline of all makes it an intriguing read. And the result has much to recommend itself to the readers.
Harari sets a humble tone with the emergence of human species, the brawny ones. We see their life-like displays in the museums. But Harari brings them to life in the only way possible. By giving them the common purpose of all life forms. To survive. No different from the other extant flora and fauna, these humans lived in thrall of predators and vagaries of nature. Their footprints on the much bountiful yet empty Earth were hardly worthy of a second glance. Tougher than us yet fragile than most, they lived precariously. Harari doesn't dismiss them. He doesn't have much evidence to go on and taps his imagination. But his expostulations if not the entire truth have the credibility of being a possible scenario. He delves deeper into their lives, beliefs and their die-hard resilience which enabled them to surface again and again after every planetary upheaval. His esteem for the then primitive human imagination gives a humane touch to an otherwise far-removed and objectively dealt subject of our predecessors. Evolution, the harsh mistress, no doubt played favorites with abandon. Many of our sibling species floundered while some survived the worst. And we are the ones that outlasted them all. But Harari doesn't crown us as the paragons.
Harari attributes much of our advantage over other species to the cognitive evolution. Brains over brawns, the old adage is personified in the fratricide between different human species. But it is this evolution we have to thank for our survival with all its baggage of culture, religion and rich diversity. Harari transitions us from nomadic gatherers to settled farmers with the advent of agricultural revolution. His bold thoughts on domestication of humans, birth of religions as collective delusions, the onset of languages for record-keeping and the emergence of imagined social orders and hierarchies deserve serious consideration. With scientific revolution backing the colonizing powers, Harari talks about the rise of world economy, establishment of empires and power of religion. All three are cited as the globally trusted orders unifying the world. Harari extols the ability of humans to cooperate effectively in relatively large numbers since pre-historic times. He brings to attention the trust we place in "imagined realities". I don't think I will ever tell my mom that all her jewelry's worth is decided by the collective belief of humanity in the imagined value of gold. But Harari makes a credible case for such fictional realities holding our society together. Needless to say that I was awed by his outlook at the workings of the present day humans.
Harari talks of history as a series of chance accidents that somehow worked in favour of our species. Once the Sapiens gained the attention on a global scale, they brought the planet to its heels. With the ongoing industrial revolution, Harari talks of present day concerns. He questions our discrimination not only against other life forms but also against ethnicity. Him talking about the capitalist rat race, increasing dissatisfaction with life and limited but pervasive use of genetic engineering puts in perspective the time we have covered from our humble beginnings to this despotic exploitation. The havoc that we as a species have wrought on this planet is indeed of grave concern.
History is unforgiving, controversial and a mine of potential time bombs. How one deals with it can make it exhilarating or downright bogus. Harari is a historian, subject to the fallacies of drawing conclusions from limited evidence and existing records. By no means is his account a comprehensive study of origins taking into account all the factors. But that can be excused as far as I am concerened, because finally I understand what the "brief" in the title means. It is brief in its outlook. It tries to be as close to the truth as possible but it most definitely is not the entire truth. Harari aims to open our minds to think more about the things we take for granted, be it cooperating on a day to day basis, going to temples/mosques/churches for prayer rituals, trading on a global scale, human rights, eating genetically modified food, working for companies or compiling lists of things we want from life. All of these are put in perspective against the backdrop of his take on our past and present reality. I recommend it as one of the best history books I have come across.
farmer_annie's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this but felt it didn't add much that was new after having read Jared Diamond's guns, germs and steel. Still interesting and an easy enough read though.
rebeccarennerfl's review against another edition
Sparse solid facts serve as jumping off points for wild conjecture. Harari was confidently wrong far too frequently about things I know for me to bother finishing this book. The more I read, the more my trust plummeted until reading the rest seemed worthless.
mariam7_'s review against another edition
5.0
Top 5 books I’ve read of all time!
An objectively and insightful informative piece about the subjects of:
The Cognitive Revolution.
The Agricultural Revolution.
The Unification of Humankind.
The Scientific Revolution.
The Future of Humanity.
This book should be a must read for everyone!
This book is now going to be the one book that i will from now on recommend indefinitely to everyone I know, and it’s also going to be the first book I ask if the person in front of me has read it or not.
If you haven’t read this book yet… what are you doing… go read it!
An objectively and insightful informative piece about the subjects of:
The Cognitive Revolution.
The Agricultural Revolution.
The Unification of Humankind.
The Scientific Revolution.
The Future of Humanity.
This book should be a must read for everyone!
This book is now going to be the one book that i will from now on recommend indefinitely to everyone I know, and it’s also going to be the first book I ask if the person in front of me has read it or not.
If you haven’t read this book yet… what are you doing… go read it!
mjlin2009's review against another edition
5.0
Great for helping me relearn reading for self-fulfillment and pleasure, instead of the more practical purpose of skimming and memorizing for academic classes. The analysis in this book is written very clearly: whether or not you agree with every statement, the author is extremely step-by-step with his writing, emphasizing transitions and examples as much as the content itself. Then he summarizes what he says several times during the book. So if you're reading this book, the message gets pounded into your head whether you pay attention or not. I find myself sometimes referencing Sapiens's ideas in conversations, which is the sign of an effective book.