Book Review (Rucksack): Sapiens

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Written by Yuval Noah Harari in 2011

The Raccoon: As the title promises, Harari traces the history of homo sapiens from our earliest days alongside Neanderthals to developments in the next few decades that may change the definition of “human” again, all in under 500 pages.  Organized conceptually rather than chronologically, the book vastly increases one’s understanding of society as a whole. As long as you are willing to work through its dense pages, Sapiens is a must-read and undoubtedly the most useful and informative book of our time.

UNMASKED: The following quote is annoyingly long despite my removal of several internal sentences.  For better or worse, Harari cannot be quoted out of context; he deals in strong passages rather than stand-out phrases.  Moreover, I want to illustrate here how the author builds ideas, which he typically does over the course of several pages.

“...the human brain has been adapted to store and process only particular types of information. In order to survive, ancient hunter-gatherers had to remember the shapes, qualities and behaviour patterns of thousands of plant and animal species. …[they] also had to bear in mind the opinions and relations of several dozen band members…

“But when particularly complex societies began to appear… a completely new type of information became vital--numbers. Foragers were never obliged to handle large amounts of mathematical data… So human brains did not adapt to storing and processing numbers. Yet in order to maintain a large kingdom, mathematical data was vital. It was never enough to legislate laws and tell stories about guardian gods. One also had to collect taxes…

“This mental limitation severely constrained the size and complexity of human collectives. …For thousands of years after the Agricultural Revolution, human social networks remained relatively small and simple.

“The first to overcome the problem were the ancient Sumerians… some unknown Sumerian geniuses invented a system for storing and processing information outside their brains, one that was custom-built to handle large amounts of mathematical data…

“The data-processing system invented by the Sumerians is called ‘writing.’”

I remember learning in sixth grade that the early Sumerian civilization created the first writing system.  Yet, in all of the years following, I never thought to ask how or why this milestone was completed.  This, I believe, is what elevates Sapiens from a historical text to a mind-altering encyclopedia.  Harari truly begins from a blank slate, delineating every concept from the ground up. Even love and war are treated on par with the Internet; Harari outlines their evolution as emergent properties of human biology and practical necessity rather than assuming that they existed automatically.

To read Sapiens is to witness the rise of humanity in all its glory (and horror), to answer the questions you never knew to ask, and, finally, to see objectively where society is headed based on every cultural and demographic trend.  This is Us.

Strengths:

• Every claim is well-cited; the list of sources makes up the last eighth of the book.
• The author never suggests that Western, Eastern, or Native American civilization, nor any particular religion or ideology, is in any way better than its counterparts. Furthermore, he dives into the praises and criticisms of each one.
• It is impossible to quote or reference Sapiens and not sound smart.

While Harari occasionally appears biased against humans, for acts of cruelty to other humans, other animals, and the planet, I cannot find anything wrong with this book.

Rating: 20/20 self-made gods

Ideal Setting: Drop everything and read this right now.  Kickstart a new Cognitive Revolution in your mind. And a new Agricultural Revolution, just for fun.