Yuval Noah Harari

This book is about the complexity of humanity, or rather, Homo Sapiens. Harari poses more questions than answers as there is no definitive explanation for many aspects of the species. Expressing different views regarding the species but also explaining their limitations. Even though history is in the past, it is difficult to extrapolate what was done throughout many millennia because the tools and other artifacts did not survive the journey through time. The how of history can explain a sequence of events, but causal connection provided by explaining the why creates a deterministic account of history. Each event and juncture can have a myriad of possible outcomes constrained by factors such as geography, biology, and economics. History cannot provide predictions about the future, but is able to express the possibilities that we cannot even imagine. That no situation is inevitable.

Humankind does not posses’ physical endowments that make them flourish compared to other animals and in particular to other sapiens. What humankind has are social abilities derived from biological problems. Social relations were needed for survival as lone mothers could not provide enough food. Rather than infants being fully developed when born, infants need to grow and understand how to survive. Being underdeveloped allows the community to teach and train the infants into the needed members of the community. Homo Sapiens leap into a dominant species created a problem with the ecosystem. Other species did not have enough time to adept to the new threat posed by Homo Sapiens who made certain species extinct by over hunting.

Social cooperation is the biggest advantage that Homo Sapiens possess. Small societies needed trust in each other to meet their goals, but it is not enough for large societies. It is abstract fictions and myths which enable cooperation of large numbers of people. Collective fiction gives credence to strangers which thereby facilitates needed flexible arrangements. Socially constructed products such as money and government do not exist outside common imagination of human beings. Even trade requires the trust provided by imagined realities.

Agriculture may have been beneficial from the recent past, but most of the history of farming is abysmal. While foragers ate a varied diet to protect from malnutrition, farmers ate a limited and unbalanced diet. Only a few species of flora and fauna were able to be domesticated for farming and herding. The benefit of agriculture is the production of more food given the same amount of space which enabled a greater population. The consequences of agriculture was the change in conditions which made everyday life harder for the workers, created a worse diet, and an increase in diseases. Limited types of food increased the chance of starvation as they would not be able to find alternative substance quickly should the dominant ones not grow. Hunter-gathering societies also spent time in more stimulating and varied ways.

Sapiens deliberately created grasslands by burning away the thickets and forests which made it easier to hunt game. Agriculture demanded a lot of the works which forced people to settle down next their crop. This makes Harari claim that it was wheat that domesticated humans rather than the common idea of humans domesticating wheat. Agriculture created a vicious cycle as increased food supply and permanent settlement created a demand for more workers who then needed a bigger supply so more fields were planted which required more workers. Society changed very gradually so that life before farming was forgotten which meant there were no conscious comparison between life as it was and their present. Inventions which made farming easier also increased the obligations of the farmer. Another consequence of farming is the creation of a class structure.


The combination of Increased food supplies and transportations facilitated the gathering of more people within the same space eventually creating cities and commercial networks. Without a large group, each individual needed to obtain different skills to provide for needs as no skill alone was able to fund the needs. Specialization became more prominent with larger number of people living together as the specialist would be able to provide for needs with just the specialized skill. With the rise of specialization came the need to create a common currency in order to easily and effectively value every other commodity. Money provides the trust, flexibility, convertibility, and ease of transport that enables complex commercial networks and dynamic markets as strangers are willing to accept money over many other constructed realities. The cost of making money ubiquitous it that it corroded local traditions and intimate values.

Empires contain cultural diversity and have flexible borders but they are also the reason for a reduction in human diversity. As diverse small cultures were amalgamated into an empire, it became easier to spread ideas and institutions. Standardization reduced the difficulty in governing groups as the groups became more like each other. History shows that empires did a lot of damage to various societies but they also created infrastructure and institutions which enabled many communities to be more economically integral. Constructed realities needed to change to support the rulers who governed the various groups. Religion provided credence for particular norms and values based on a superhuman order. Religion gave stability to many fragile values thereby ensuring social stability. People subjected in an empire which was polytheistic were usually not convert to the polytheistic value but were expected to respect the empires gods and rituals.

Recent history shows that the search for knowledge and a way to finance it has been prominent in raising human capabilities. This required a presumption of ignorance that there is more to learn and that ideas can be proven to be wrong. Harari claims that in ancient societies, people thought they knew it all and that all they had to do was ask the person who knew what they needed to know. Science may search for knowledge, but the research usually has an alternative agenda, one that suits the financier’s interest. The discovery of a particular knowledge does not dictate how it will be used as the same idea can have antipodal conclusion. The discovery of ignorance facilitated the growth of credit as people started to think that the future can be better while before lending money was seen as a lose-lose situation. As more discoveries were found, the more funds became available for further studies. It was also the protection of property rights which enable more funds to be exploited as government had a diminished ability to claim the wealth of their subjects.

The problem with this book is that when generalizations are presented, the examples that should provide credence to the generalization actually pose different conclusions. The examples used are not given much depth and are explained in terms that fit the generalization, but if more details of the examples would be presented, they would not fit the generalizations so easily or even may pose an antipode to the generalization. Certain generalizations appear true from the standpoint of present tense, while they have been wrong for most of the time and may be wrong given a few more years.

Cooperation is needed for our species to survive. With ever more diverse ideas, it becomes even more important on how we go about cooperating between those diverse ideas. This book has many passages which humble the reader in search of answers while at other times providing stark generalization with contrary reasoning.… (more)

This is the second book by this author which I have read. I like how he puts problems we face on a global basis rather than an individual or national basis. In order to survive in the future, we need to have a plan that will work for future generations. He talks about many subjects which will affect our lives in the future. For me, his most profound thoughts arise out of his belief that our lives consist of myths and stories which encompass such things as nationhood, religion, and other categories with which each of us self-identifies. What surprised me the most was at the end of the book where the author finds meaning and solace in meditation.

One thing I especially love about Harari’s writing is that he writes about each subject clearly and objectively. Whether I agree or disagree with what he writes, I understand perfectly what says. I also delight in the ways he expresses himself (i.e. “What my people lack in numbers and real influence, they more than compensate for in chutzpah.”). This author’s truths are so factual they oftentimes make me laugh in their simplicity.

Books like this one are exceptional in forcing readers to think about how objectively they see the world in terms of such things as religion, politics, and truth. I am eager to continue reading the brilliant writing of this author.… (more)

An excellent thought-provoking book that is engaging on every page, that I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone that enjoyed any of Jared Diamond's works, Will Durant, or Jacob Bronowski. It is wide-ranging and multidisciplinary in its approach at looking at Homo Sapiens - who we are and where we are going.

I did find the work marred by a single paragraph (which the (unnamed) editor should have struck from the book). It appears in chapter 19 "And They Lived Happily Ever After" in the subchapter "Know Thyself", after he describes Buddhist non-attachment:

"This idea is so alien to modern liberal culture that when Western New Age movements encountered Buddhist insights, they translated them into liberal terms, thereby turning them on their head. New Age cults frequently argue: 'Happiness does not depend on external conditions. It depends only on what we feel inside. People should stop pursuing external achievements such as wealth and status, and connect instead with their inner feelings.' Or more succinctly, 'Happiness Begins Within.' This is exactly what biologists argue, but more or less the opposite of what Buddha said."

The argument that New Age movements (or cults as he also calls them) based their philosophies upon misreadings of Buddhist teachings is not supported in the book or any online resources that I can find, nor is there any attribution of the adage "Happiness Begins Within" to any particular person or group. The adage is liberally spread across a multitude of sites, ranging from Buddhist and Hindu groups to, yes, New Age groups and authors promoting this or that. Telling in his paragraph is that he uses the word cult interchangeably with movement, suggesting a personal but distasteful experience that he may have had with some New Age group at some point. He gives neither foot- or endnotes in this paragraph supporting his argument.

Suggesting that Western New Age Movements couldn't understand, and thereby misrepresented Buddhist thought is also demeaning to the massive amount of high quality Buddhist academic work and studies in the West, which dates back to around 1844 with perhaps the first Western translation of Buddhist history in France, not to mention a number of other scholars such as D.T. Suzuki who was lecturing in universities across the U.S. in the early 1950's, well before the rise of what are described as the New Age movements which sprung up in the 1970's. [Although I do consider early movements such as Spiritualism and Theosophy as harbingers of the New Age movements.]

Lastly, Buddhist teaching is often tailored to its lay audience - like an onion the outer layers may seem thin until they are peeled away to find the essence of the teaching.

“True happiness comes from having a sense of inner peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved by cultivating altruism, love and compassion, and by eliminating anger, selfishness and greed.” - Dalai Lama… (more)