Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
von Yuval Harari
Official U.S. edition with full color illustrations throughout.#1 New York Times BestsellerThe Summer Reading Pick for President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg, now available as a beautifully packaged paperbackFrom a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.”One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us?Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas.Dr. Harari also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades humans have begun to bend laws of natural selection that have governed life for the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the world around us, but also ourselves. Where is this leading us, and what do we want to become?Featuring 27 photographs, 6 maps, and 25 illustrations/diagrams, this provocative and insightful work is sure to spark debate and is essential reading for aficionados of Jared Diamond, James Gleick, Matt Ridley, Robert Wright, and Sharon Moalem.
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Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
von Yuval Harari
Official U.S. edition with full color illustrations throughout.#1 New York Times BestsellerThe Summer Reading Pick for President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg, now available as a beautifully packaged paperbackFrom a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.”One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us?Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas.Dr. Harari also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades humans have begun to bend laws of natural selection that have governed life for the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the world around us, but also ourselves. Where is this leading us, and what do we want to become?Featuring 27 photographs, 6 maps, and 25 illustrations/diagrams, this provocative and insightful work is sure to spark debate and is essential reading for aficionados of Jared Diamond, James Gleick, Matt Ridley, Robert Wright, and Sharon Moalem.
Aktuelle Rezensionen(1)
Rezension von EsaWhat's marketed as "a history of humankind" turns out to be a narrow, westerncentric narrative that focuses largely on european civilization, capitalism and western philosophy while giving the rest of the world's histories the kind of cursory mentions usually reserved for the appendix. If the title would be "Sapiens: A Brief History of White Civilisation and Capitalist Thought" at least we'd be starting from a place of honesty. But calling this a "history of humankind" is misleading at best and intellectually dishonest at worst. There are moments where Harari lands on a potentially fascinating idea (the cognitive revolution, the role of imagined realities in social cohesion, even the mechanics of capitalism) but he rarely stays with them long enough to do the intellectual heavy lifting. Instead he pivots quickly, stringing together loosely connected claims, offering no depth or nuance before moving on to the next sweeping generalization. It reads less like a careful work of history and more like a TED-talk transcript that is confidently delivered and polished for accessibility but overall very hollow. Harari's personal views bleed through constantly. Especially in his dismissive stance on religion and his awkward generalizations about Arab societies. These are not presented as interpretations to be debated but as established facts, which they are not... His treatment of the agricultural revolution is particularly binary. Likewise his understanding of genetics is shallow and occasionally even misleading. And then there is his bizarre take on evolution... boiled down to a chimpanzee supposedly giving birth to two daughters; one a chimpanzee, the other “our grandmother.” Not only is this biologically inaccurate, it also undermines the gradual, population-level nature of evolutionary change in favor of a tidy (and quite frankly absurd) narrative shortcut. Yes, it is impossible to cover the entire history of our species in 400 pages, but the solution is not to fill those pages with sweeping generalizations, selective narratives and speculative takes packaged as fact. The omissions and framing choices are not incidental, they reflect a worldview that treats western cultures as the center and everyone else as peripheral. I understand the appeal of this book: it's confidently written, easy to read and gives the illusion of learning something profound. But once you look past the polish, the limitations and biases are glaring. For a book about all of us, it is remarkably uninterested in most of us.