Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

by Yuval Noah Harari

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History & Foreign AffairsPsychology & Mind

What put Homo sapiens in charge of the planet? The ability to cooperate flexibly in huge numbers, in Yuval Noah Harari's account, because strangers believe the same fictions, from gods and nations to money. First published in Hebrew in 2011, it follows that capacity from the Cognitive Revolution on.

Core ideas
  • A bad trade for individuals: The Agricultural Revolution let populations grow while making individual lives worse, and money, empires and universal religions later unified humankind.
  • Admitting ignorance: The Scientific Revolution began with a willingness to admit what people didn't know, and Harari asks whether you're any happier for it.
  • Contested details: Anthropologist Christopher Robert Hallpike called its accurate facts not new and its original claims often wrong, and neuroscientist Darshana Narayanan documented errors.
Published2011
Pages512
ISBN9780062316097
ReadNov 2020

Connected to 5 other books

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The History of Money: A Story of Humanity by David McWilliams The History of Money David McWilliams Read Aug 2026 Money is a relationship as much as it's a tool. Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari Nexus Yuval Noah Harari Read Oct 2024 Information isn't the same thing as truth. Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber Debt David Graeber Read Jul 2023 The barter story sounds sensible, and economists have told it since Adam Smith. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari 21 Lessons for the 21st Century Yuval Noah Harari Read Jul 2022 After Sapiens on the past and Homo Deus on the future, Yuval Noah Harari turns to the present you're living in. Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari Homo Deus Yuval Noah Harari Read Jul 2022 Obesity now kills more people than starvation, old age more than disease, and suicide more than murder.