#1 New York Times Bestseller - New York Times Readers' Pick: Top 100 Books of the 21st Century - The Summer Reading Pick for President Barack Obama and Bill Gates
Official U.S. edition with full color illustrations throughout.
From renowned historian Yuval Noah Harari comes a landmark work of big history, 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 Cognitive Revolution and the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the story of human evolution 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 in the wake of the Scientific Revolution, 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.
This ambitious account of our species answers the most fundamental questions of our history:
- A Brief History of Humankind: How did an insignificant ape become the ruler of the planet, capable of splitting the atom, walking on the Moon, and engineering the code of life?
- The Power of Myth: Discover the secret of our success--the unique ability to believe in collective fictions like gods, nations, money, and human rights that allow for large-scale cooperation.
- Integrating History and Science: Journey through the Cognitive, Agricultural, and Scientific Revolutions and explore how they shaped not just our societies, but our very identities.
- The Question of Happiness: With all our power and knowledge, are we any happier than our ancient ancestors? Harari challenges everything we think we know about what it means to be human.
About the Author :
Yuval Noah Harari, bestselling historian and philosopher, is considered one of the world's most influential intellectuals today. His popular books--including Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, and the series Sapiens: A Graphic History and Unstoppable Us--have sold more than fifty million copies in sixty-five languages. Harari, with his husband, Itzik Yahav, cofounded Sapienship, a social impact company with projects in the fields of education and storytelling, whose main goal is to tell and retell our shared human story. Harari has a PhD in history from the University of Oxford. He has been a lecturer at the Department of History in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Distinguished Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge's Centre for the Study of Existential Risk.
Review :
"Sapiens tackles the biggest questions of history and of the modern world, and it is written in unforgettably vivid language." - Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Collapse, and The World until Yesterday
"In Sapiens, Harari delves deep into our history as a species to help us understand who we are and what made us this way. An engrossing read." - Dan Ariely, New York Times Bestselling author of Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality, and The Honest Truth About Dishonesty
"The sort of book that sweeps the cobwebs out of your brain.... Harari...is an intellectual acrobat whose logical leaps will have you gasping with admiration." - John Carey, Sunday Times (London)
"Harari's account of how we conquered the Earth astonishes with its scope and imagination.... One of those rare books that lives up to the publisher's blurb...brilliantly clear, witty and erudite." - Ben Shepard, the Observer (London)
"Engaging and informative.... Extremely interesting." - Guardian (London)
"Not only is Harari eloquent and humane, he is often wonderfully, mordantly funny" - The Independent (London)
"I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a fun, engaging look at early human history...you'll have a hard time putting it down." - Bill Gates
"Thank God someone finally wrote [this] exact book." - Sebastian Junger
"The most idea-packed work of non-fiction I've read in years." - Dick Meyer, www.abcactionnews.com
"Yuval Noah Harari's full-throated review of our species may have been blurbed by Jared Diamond, but Harari's conclusions are at once balder and less tendentious than that of his famous colleague." - New York magazine
"Yuval Noah Harari is an emerging rock-star lecturer at the nexus of history and science. . . . Sapiens takes readers on a sweeping tour of the history of our species. . . . Harari's formidable intellect sheds light on the biggest breakthroughs in the human story...important reading for serious-minded, self-reflective sapiens." - Washington Post
"This was the most surprising and thought-provoking book I read this year." - Atlantic.com
"In this sweeping look at the history of humans, Harari offers readers the chance to reconsider, well, everything, from a look at why Homo sapiens endured to a compelling discussion of how society organizes itself through fictions." - Booklist Best Books of the Year
"[I]nteresting and provocative...It gives you a sense of perspective on how briefly we've been on this earth, how short things like agriculture and science have been around, and why it makes sense for us to not take them for granted." - President Barack Obama
"Writing with wit and verve, Harari...attempts to explain how Homo sapiens came to be the dominant species on Earth as well as the sole representative of the human genus.... Provocative and entertaining." - Publishers Weekly
"This title is one of the exceptional works of nonfiction that is both highly intellectual and compulsively readable... a fascinating, hearty read." - Library Journal (starred review)
"Sapiens is learned, thought-provoking and crisply written.... Fascinating." - Wall Street Journal
"Ambitious and illuminating ...the wonderful and terrifying saga of the human species on earth." - Christian Science Monitor
"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
"It is one of the best accounts by a Homo sapiens of the unlikely story of our violent, accomplished species....It is one hell of a story. And it has seldom been told better.... Compulsively readable and impossibly learned." - Michael Gerson, Washington Post
"An absorbing, provocative history of civilization...packed with heretical thinking and surprising facts. This riveting, myth-busting book cannot be summarised...you will simply have to read it." - John Gray, Financial Times (London)
"Full of...high-perspective, shocking and wondrous stories, as well as strange theories and startling insights." - Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times
"Harari can write...really, really write, with wit, clarity, elegance, and a wonderful eye for metaphor." - The Times (Ireland)
"It's not often that a book offers readers the possibility to reconsider, well, everything. But that's what Harari does in this sweeping look at the history of humans.... Readers of every stripe should put this at the top of their reading lists. Thinking has never been so enjoyable." - Booklist (starred review)
"An encyclopedic approach from a well-versed scholar who is concise but eloquent, both skeptical and opinionated, and open enough to entertain competing points of view....The great debates of history aired out with satisfying vigor." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
