I
don’t normally start my reviews with post-reading discussion. I
try to find an interesting point and lead into the book-at-hand’s
premise or idea. But with Yuvel Noah Harari’s 2014 Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,
I think it’s possible to start with the end, particularly one point
of discussion I ended up having with my wife. It’s now almost two
decades into the 21st century, and scientific research has reached
the point where what was a variety of speculation the past couple
centuries has slowly coalesced into surety in a lot of areas. There
are things we no longer speak about as possible and likely, rather as
understood and accepted facts. Certain details of evolution are
still being investigated or may not be understood perfectly, but as a
general theory it is now the de facto explanation for much of what
has brought life on Earth to how it stands today. Only the
irrational who don’t want it to be true, dismiss it as entirely
false. This blanket of affirmed research is what has allowed Harari
to write the grandest overview of humanity’s history to date.
Beginning
with pre-historic humanity, and working its way through
hunter-gatherer, agricultural, industrial, and scientifically
revolutionized humanity, Sapiens describes our transition through
known time from a bird’s eye view. A fascinating read, Harari
sugar coats nothing. Finding the sweet spot between infotainment and
formal research paper, Harari conveys information in a clear, direct
manner and adds relevant examples and supporting material to color
the proceedings. I daresay one of the reasons the books is so
popular is the lucidity and sustained focus of Harari’s writing.
I
did not read the afterword, but I would strongly assume that Sapiens
does not bring anything novel to the table, rather it aggregates,
filters, and summarizes research in the areas of archeology,
anthropology, sociology, etc. to create a rolling picture of humanity
through the ages for the reader. It feels a consolidation and
contextualization of accepted knowledge more than a new, fresh
perspective. And these types of books are important. Like John
Gray’s Straw Dogs, stepping back and taking account of where
we stand based on the fruit of years of research and investigation is
an important aspect of quantifying the state of humanity.
But
for as academic as the book’s foundations may be, there are still a
few points to contest. Perhaps it’s only tone of voice, but there
are a few portions that seem to assign humanity a sheep mentality—of
blindly following the herd, particularly in the areas of consumerism,
employment, etc. And while this is undoubtedly true at the macro
level, there still appears space for ego to have its influence at the
micro—a space that doesn’t feel fully explored or recognized in
the book. Looking at social media, for example, it’s easy to ask:
do people participate because others do, or is it a desire for
self-expression, to stick out from the herd? For me, the answer is
clearly both, yet Harari, it seems, would have it as the former. The
example Harari gives is that affluent Westerners travel to exotic
locations as media has told them their lives will be better. I
travel a fair amount and have to say that thought never crossed my
mind. The fact I only live once and want to see this world I live in
has, however, crossed my mind several times. Beyond this, there is
humanity’s nomadic roots, an idea Harari doesn’t mention.
Perhaps the quibble is semantic and Harari is speaking the same
language, nevertheless the question remains: does the book assume too
much of an en masse mentality when in fact there may be other
individual, motivating factors?
For
people not well versed in the sciences of anthropology and sociology
(like myself), Sapiens contains a number of intriguing ideas.
For example, Harari, undoubtedly drawing on a number of viewpoints,
posits that the thing separating humanity from the other animals is
our ability to create fictional realities. From money to religion,
country to culture, lies to novels, none of these things have
tangible foundations yet they permeate and drive humanity in its
multitude of directions. Seeing the ways which this facet permeates
our existence is fascinating.
In
the end, Sapiens is a captivating read that contextualizes
most of how we live and have lived in a logical, interesting,
science-based exposition. As titled, it is a book-length
encyclopedia entry, with relevant examples, defining the history and
current state of humanity from an external viewpoint based on what we
know today, written in highly accessible language. A lot of the
material tough to swallow (nobody likes to read that humanity is the
worst virus Earth has ever seen), and some contentious (e.g. that
humanity had an easier work day as hunter-gatherers than as farmers
or businessmen), but perhaps it’s only by facing these ideas head
on that humanity can begin to contextualize its existence with the
broader universe and start to question its behavior? (No, I don’t
expect it either, but it feels good to ask.)
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