This book (also on Audible) is not inherently political. Hopefully it's okay to put it here. I didn't see a general thread for book recommendations that might spur debate. I wanted to share and think these topics would be fun for discussion and learning and might facilitate some interesting analysis or even points of agreement or disagreement about how we view human nature, our place in the world, and where we are - or should be - headed. It addresses the early competing hominid species; the evolution of the sapiens; their nature and dominance; the development of our early civilizations and language; morality and law; our subsequent adoption of various myths or constructs to include religion, currency; and many fascinating topics and examples. The official Amazon Review below (which i shortened) also describes the book as landing somewhere in the middle of a Venn diagram of genetics, sociology, and history. I don't have any background in anthropology but not sure why that word is not used in the description. In any event, this is a unique book from my perspective. Really enjoying it. An Amazon Best Book of the Month for February 2015: Yuval Noah Harari has some questions. Among the biggest: How did Homo sapiens (or Homo sapiens sapiens , if you’re feeling especially wise today) evolve from an unexceptional savannah-dwelling primate to become the dominant force on the planet, emerging as the lone survivor out of six distinct, competing hominid species? He also has some answers, and they’re not what you’d expect. Tackling evolutionary concepts from a historian’s perspective, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, describes human development through a framework of three not-necessarily-orthodox “Revolutions”: the Cognitive, the Agricultural, and the Scientific . . . (shortened by me). -Amazon Review --Jon Foro “Yuval Noah Harari’s celebrated Sapiens does for human evolution what Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time did for physics.… He does a superb job of outlining our slow emergence and eventual domination of the planet.” --Forbes
I own this e-book, among many that I need to get to. I will certainly die before I get to even half of them. But I really need to make time to get to this one. I have heard for so long that it is one of the all-time classics
Thanks for the recommendation. Just finished a book last night and need another. This sounds like it is right up my alley. Advances in genetics has provided So much recent information on us hominids lately. It has rendered obsolete so much that I learned as a young biology major all those years ago.
What do you like? I read many books a year and never need a new one because I have enough unread to last for years. If you like biology, I can't recommend "Behave" by Robert Sapolsky enough.
I've been curious for a while. But honestly I wasn't impressed with the Author when I heard him in interviews. A lot of the ideas seem to be just his personal opinions, with a lot of the material covered better elsewhere.
I read a lot of biology books, but I couldn’t get through Behave. Read the first quarter maybe, but it just seemed so dry. Does it get more interesting later on?
Thanks, This summer I went history and current events: Bloodlands :Europe between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder - really engrossing; Dark Money by Jane Mayer - exceptionally illuminating treatment of what big money has done to our governance and Democracy in chains - same subject matter as Mayer’s. And a novel: Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead - telling the story of brutality in a FL boys reformatory - good but I would have preferred a nonfiction on same subject.
Probably not honestly. I found it very interesting and enjoyable for what it was. A little dense in parts, but that is necessary. But if you are already familiar with the material within, it might not be as mind blowing for you. I consider it one of the best science books I ever read, and worth the effort.
What is great about it is it’s a clear-eyed view of us as a species. It’s worth remembering, as we destroy our planet, that over 99% of the species which have ever inhabited the planet are extinct. None has ever endangered the entire planet.
A few months ago I read Neanderthals Rediscovered by 2 authors (Thames &) that traced a few lineages of Homo based on fossils and cultural artifacts mostly that I thought very good.
For those asking, Sapiens isn't a heavy scholarly book. The author takes liberties and interjects over historical facts. For example, he goes into how societies can only exist if its members agree to acknowledging the imagination of things. Things such as currency, constitutions, corporations, etc. Only an agreement of imagination actually gives these things power and makes them exist. Because, what is a corporation? An address? A building? People? I thought it was a really interesting read, only because it makes you think about things in a different way. But like I said, it isn't a historical textbook.
Which is why I haven't read it. I've heard the author in interviews and doesn't strike me as particularly intelligent or interesting. I'm not saying he isn't. Only I didn't feel that way listening to him. For example, if I'm interested in social ontology, the ontological status of money, social institutions, ect. I would rather read John Searle. He approaches it from a philosophical perspective rather than historical. But still, if I'm just getting a bunch of opinions anyway, I would rather read a professional philosopher.
For those interested, Sapiens is also a graphic novel (basically a thick comic book). I remember seeing this on my Amazon feed. I'm more fascinated by the graphic novel honestly as I miss reading comics.
Brad DeLong's "Slouching towards Utopia" dropped yesterday to rave reviews. I had pre-purchased it months ago and it's in my Kindle feed now. It's supposed to be great about the economic history of the world since approximately 1870 and how much it's improved living conditions. Obviously there are negative externalities as well. Not sure how much he deals with those. He certainly is not unaware of them but it was not his thesis. But I'm looking forward to the read. Something for those who are looking for an interesting read
