Sapiens
by Yuval Noah Harari · Published 2011
A book that changes how you look at history more than it recounts it. Its greatest value is in tying together religion, the state, money and human cooperation into a single argument.
What works
- Exceptional ability to connect disparate historical developments.
- Makes macro-history accessible.
- Changes how you think about institutions.
- Extremely memorable concepts.
What doesn't
- Historical complexity is sometimes compressed too aggressively.
- Some claims are debated by historians and anthropologists.
- The narrative can be more persuasive than rigorous.
Human civilization became possible on a massive scale because humans could cooperate around shared imagined realities — such as money, nations, religions and laws.
A book that changes how you look at history more than it recounts it. Its greatest value is in tying together religion, the state, money and human cooperation into a single argument.
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