From the Bookshelf of Aspiring Authors Group…

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Yuval Noah Harari

Start date: December 2, 2016

Finish date: December 15, 2016

Discussion: Books to read

Discussion leader: Shashi

Why we're reading this: The beautiful book of Ancient Civilisation and the reasons why Homo Sapiens became the top species.
[close] The beautiful book of Ancient Civilisation and the reasons why Homo Sapiens became the top species.

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 3 topics — 3 comments total

Books to read

BOOK: The Art of the Novel - Milan Kundera
By Shashi · 1 post · 9 views

last updated Dec 02, 2016 06:24AM

BOOK: The Days of Abandonment - Elena Ferrante
By Shashi · 1 post · 9 views

last updated Dec 02, 2016 06:21AM

What Members Thought

Feb 03, 2017 Mary Feliciani rated it it was amazing

The book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, is an encapsulation all of human history in about 500 pages. Harari divides the history of humankind into three important revolutions: the Cognitive Revolution, the Agricultural Revolution, and the Scientific Revolution.

He begins by stating that humans first evolved in East Africa about 2.5 million years ago. Some of these humans left to settle in North Africa, Europe and Asia. "Humans" in Europe and Western Asia evolved into Neanderthals. Easter The book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, is an encapsulation all of human history in about 500 pages. Harari divides the history of humankind into three important revolutions: the Cognitive Revolution, the Agricultural Revolution, and the Scientific Revolution.

He begins by stating that humans first evolved in East Africa about 2.5 million years ago. Some of these humans left to settle in North Africa, Europe and Asia. "Humans" in Europe and Western Asia evolved into Neanderthals. Eastern regions were inhabited by Homo erectus. This accounts for the first exodus from Africa. The second exodus from Africa included Homo sapiens. Harari speculates that there were 6 different species of "humans" at one time. That linear model of evolution that we had in our high school science classes is incorrect. The book is full of such surprises.

The Cognitive Revolution involved the development of complex languages that allowed for myths, legends, gods and religion to appear. These concepts developed out of the need to control large groups of people. Sapiens were social animals that could talk about abstract ideas and work together.

The Agricultural Revolution is something we all know about. It meant that many humans didn't hunt or gather any longer, nor were nomadic. This was a good thing, right? No, not according to Harari. Humans became slaves to their land, suffered from malnutrition and entire tribes could be wiped out if there was a drought. The lives of some domesticated animals was quite cruel. However, agricultural societies led to civilization as we know it today.

As part of the Scientific Revolution, Harari mentions a number of scientific achievements and events. Man landing on the moon being one of the most notable ones. He follows this up with how intelligent design will replace natural selection.

I thought for some reason that this book was going to be about environmental determinism much like Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel, but was largely different post-Agricultural Revolution. The environment might have shaped our evolution at first, but through the three revolutions we became the only animal to change our environment, and that through scientific achievements we are the only animal that can determine our own physical evolution in the future. We don't have to be bound to natural selection anymore.

Kudos to Harari for not only challenging some of my steadfast beliefs about our evolution, but for providing his descriptive insights explaining the implication of each revolution and where we are headed in the future. ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Nov 29, 2016 Shashi rated it really liked it

If you are interested in knowing why we do what we do and how the three things that made Homo Sapiens occupy the top position of the food chain, this is a must read book. This book has detailed each and every nuance that evolution took to shape the planet as it is today. I loved most of the historical perspective but felt that it has gone beyond the Historical aspect and dabbled in discussing the scientific theories, which was not the forte of the author. But having said that, he did describe so ...more

Like · see review

Dec 27, 2018 Akash Ve rated it it was amazing

Talks about entire human history. Homo sapiens to super intelligent humans. Humans are the future gods. Future irresponsible god who don't know where he/she is headed. Brilliant book ...more

Like · see review