How did Human species succeed in the battle of dominance? How were the cities and kingdoms created? How are we instinct with the belief of Gods, nations, and human rights? Most importantly, what will be our future?
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind is a book by Yuval Noah Harari, first published in Hebrew in Israel in 2011. Later it was translated into 26 other languages including English. The book is his one of the best international bestsellers. Top of Form
Yuval Noah Harari lectures at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is specialized in world history. The book surveys the history of humankind from the stone age to the 21st century. The author has answered various questions related to the arguments about the dominance of homo sapiens over other species. His arguments are well constructed and will surely leave the reader to rethink. The author has also backed his arguments with the evidence which make it an easy and simple read.
The author divides the aspiring journey of the humankind into three significant events: the Cognitive Revolution, the Agricultural Revolution, and the Scientific Revolution. The Cognitive revolution tells us about the way homo sapiens became smart. The idea of narrating and creating myths makes us the unique species out of many. One of my favorite sections of this part is where the author states about the melange of flexibility and cooperation. He contemplates the ability of homo sapiens to cooperate in large number. We cannot convince a chimpanzee to do something for you promising a better life after death. But we do believe in such stories. He argues that this ability of homo sapiens attributes to believe in “myths” that exist in our collective imagination. He also calls us the deadliest animals who are in charge of the extinction of various animal species. According to the author, religion, nationalism, law and justices, human rights, corporations and money are all “myths.” And he succeeds in persuading the reader to acknowledge these myths. The greatest inventions that took place during the cognitive revolutions were the money, writing, numbers, and languages. It was due to trade that these inventions came into existence. The author has explained these inventions evidently which makes a good read.
It is interesting to read how the foragers turned into farmers. The evolution from hunting and gathering to growing crops and cooking food arouses curiosity to read, which he has covered under the agricultural revolution. The author claims that wheat has domesticated us and not we have domesticated wheat. He calls the agricultural revolution as history’s biggest fraud. Perhaps it depends upon the reader to judge this argument. The author creates a nexus between the evolutionary success and the individual sufferings due to this evolution. The author mentions the three potentially universal orders that brought the entire human race under a single unit. The difference between ’us’ and ’them’ has been demolished by these orders, claims the author. The first order to appear was economic: the monetary order. The second being political: the imperial order. The third order was religious: the order of universal religions. Money is a great unifier of the humankind as it is the universal medium of exchange that enables people to convert anything into any other thing as desired. The way the author puts this in the book is commendable.
The author has tried to connect the science to the religion. The author argues that the difference between religion and science is that science supposes humankind is ignorant to answers to life’s biggest questions. In contrast, religion, however, assumes that whatever is to be known by us is already known. It is revealed in the Holy Scriptures or books. The author calls the religion as the pre-modern tradition of knowledge. But the author claims that the modern culture has embraced the ignorance much better than any previous culture. The reader will encounter the nexus between science, money, and progress while reading the scientific revolution section. According to the author we have admitted our ignorance that there were still many things we did not know about. He also says that this ignorance has resulted in poverty, sickness, wars, health hazards and even death. It was no sooner when science started resolving the unresolved and many were then convinced that humankind could overcome any every problem by acquiring new knowledge.
One of the very interesting parts of the scientific revolution is the author’s view on the destruction of nature. He argues that nature cannot be destructed; in fact, it is the change we are going through. The wiping out of dinosaurs paved a way forward for the mammals. Humankind is also driving many species into extinction and maybe millions of years down the line the other species like rats and cockroaches creep out and we, the humankind becomes extinct. Genetic engineering is allowing humans to break the laws of natural selection. The author also provides the evidence by throwing example like that of mice and men. The scientists have tried to grow an ear on the back of mice. Thirty thousand years ago, the foragers sculpted a lion man, which shows their fantasy to combine different species and now scientists are actually able to do this.
Humans are on the verge of becoming Gods. We went from hunter-gatherers to space exploration, but are we happier and satisfied? This is the basic question that a reader will ask himself after reading the book. The author possesses a quality of persuading a reader as he wants. The book takes us on a tour of the history of the species. The author has narrated so well that the curiosity rising after every part makes you read the next one.
Digger 