“Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari

This book is a veritable powerhouse of history, sociology, psychology, science, and anthropology. There’s even basic economics included in here. And of course it’s all very accessible even if you’re like me and have had little experience with most of these subjects before. Many concepts are illustrated with a diagram, and Harari’s writing is simultaneously informative and a joy to read.

Harari takes us through the history of Earth starting with physics, and how the world began. Then there’s chemistry, the different atoms composing matter, and finally biology and the world of cells. From there he switches and starts to talk about how mankind evolved through the ages, and the different theories of how it happened. Each proposal is annotated with the various evidence for and against, so all sides are presented (the book was published in 2014 I believe, all information is up to date until then as far as I know). The results of changes are also expounded upon, the reader learns that agriculture is really an elaborate hoax that in the end harmed much more than it helped.

The history then continues through ancient times, all the way up to the present and beyond. What makes this history interesting is that Harari deconstructs several systems that we tend to take for granted. The power of myths is especially discussed, and the various forms that they can take. There’s money, for instance. He explains money as an elaborate trust system between peoples, and dives into how money originated and why it was practical. In this manner, many innovations are explained through why they were implemented, how they came into widespread use, and what the results were.

Probably the most fascinating part is the end though. Here Harari takes a look at violence and happiness throughout history, to see if they have increased or decreased. Unsurprisingly, we end up more uncertain than when we started. While it is likely that violence has declined, Harari also notes that looking at violence as a whole does not take into account individual experiences. The same is true for happiness, which as a biological has not changed much, but various social factors around that have changed.

This book was fascinating to read and the writing style made it entertaining, rather than dry like most textbooks that tackle history. There is so much information within the pages, and much of it seems surprising, but makes intuitive sense. It is as though we have been looking at the tapestry of humans this whole time, but Harari is plucking out individual threads that make us who we are. I’m excited to read other works by him.