Sapiens
by Yuval Noah Harari
Harari's history of humankind from the cognitive revolution through agriculture, the unification of the world by money, empire and religion, to the scientific revolution, with the central idea that humans cooperate at scale through shared fictions. Specialists quarrel with details; the sweep and clarity made it a global phenomenon.
Read it if…
you want the big picture of human history in one readable volume.
Skip it if…
you want academic rigor; it is synthesis with opinions.
Three things you will actually use
- Shared stories enable cooperation at scale.
- Agriculture was a trap for individuals and a win for the species.
- Happiness has not kept pace with power.
Do this first
Identify three shared fictions, money, nations, corporations, that structure your week.
Our verdict
Sweeping and provocative.
Compare with other Mindset books
Freakonomics
Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner · Mindset
Entertaining and habit-forming.
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