I have recently started studying a PhD, so the time I usually invest into researching blog content has had to be focused elsewhere. However, I have recently finished reading Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, and as someone who is studying a biology degree with a focus on evolution I had some thoughts. I hope you enjoy this brief book review!
Essentially, Sapiens attempts to describe, in just 20 chapters, what made us human. Three major revolutions in human history shaped our culture – the Scientific revolution (500 years ago), the Agricultural revolution (10,000 years ago) and the Cognitive Revolution (70,000 years ago). Since humans first evolved in Africa 2.5 million years ago, a broad range of factors enabled Homo sapiens (‘wise man’) to dominate the world, including tool use, larger brains, increasing complexity in social structure and the telling of myths and imagined realities.
I found that the key strength of this book was the way it was written. Sentences were well-expressed and guided the reader on a story that was easy to follow, which helped to link rather complex concepts fluidly. For example, Harari successfully establishes that the depiction of man evolving in a linear fashion from a hunched ape to an upright man is false and that up to six different human species lived together simultaneously. Reading this as a scientist was extremely thought-provoking. I was impressed that Harari drew insights from a range of sources, including palaeontology, anthropology and genetic research.
However, I was not impressed by the scarcity of references. For a book describing the entire history of humankind, it appeared severely under-sourced. This gives the impression of casual connections without support, or the making of judgements and exaggerations. Although it starts off strong, the book quickly dives into mostly the authors own thoughts and criticisms of current humans from ‘Part Two: The Agricultural Revolution’ onwards. For instance, the author makes his disapproval on industrial farming quite apparent when he states that it is “one of the worst crimes in history” (pp. 102-109). Similarly, his scepticism of religion is very one-sided. To effectively explain history, one should tell the whole story objectively.
In addition, although Harari states that “It would be a mistake to idealise the lives of these ancients”, he continues to romanticise ancestral hunting and gathering. He described their lives as more rewarding; lacking in household chores with a lower risk of malnutrition and more free time for gossiping than subsequent agricultural societies, which were dependent on single crops. It is also here where Harari begins to become careless with metaphors. For example, he gives a detailed, but rather random account of how wheat manipulated humans for the first-person perspective of the wheat (p. 90). Whilst it is necessary to capture the attention of a non-scientific audience with a bit of David Attenborough-style language at the beginning, later sections are overly sensationalist.
Ultimately, although this book has lots of useful insights and information, I feel like such an international best-seller should be more careful with referencing and use of opinion. People cannot reliably use this book as a source for information if they take every word literally – the reader would need to be aware of what is simply exaggerated and what is fact. Many of his personal views were virtually attacking you through the pages. Overall, a good read, but caution should be taken.
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