The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Harari. Yuval Noah. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. HarperCollins, 2015.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari describes the development of the human species, who refers to as Sapiens. It begins in the earliest stages of evolution and ends at the present day with some broad predictions for humanity’s future. Harari states that our history is divided by four major revolutions. The first of these Cognitive Revolution, at which point the species developed cognitive abilities that far exceeded those of other humans. The Agricultural Revolution, which occurred 10,000 years ago, was the point at which humans domesticated plants and animals for cultivation. 500 years ago, the Scientific Revolution ushered in modern science, the age of exploration, and capitalism, thus creating many of the foundations on which today’s society relies. Finally, the Industrial Revolution, which started 200 years ago, transformed humanity into the species we recognize today. A major theme throughout this book is that human lifestyles have not consistently improved throughout history. We generally believe that each advancement in technology led to better lives, but the author states definitively that hunter-gatherers enjoyed many advantages over their agricultural descendants. Though industrial humans have access to modern medicine and other important advances, our lifestyle remains far from perfect.

One hundred thousand years ago, Homo sapiens was just one of a number of different human species, all competing for supremacy. Just as today we see different species of bears or pigs, there were different species of humans. Summary This book begins by giving a broad overview of the history of the universe. 13.5 billion years ago, matter and energy came into being with the Big Bang. This was the beginning of physics. 300,000 years later, more complex substances, whose properties and interactions are described by chemistry, emerged. 3.8 billion years ago, life appeared, heralding the beginning of biology.

Harari’s goal in writing this book is to determine why Sapiens are the sole surviving human species and why they, as unremarkable apes, came to dominate the planet. Sapiens’ advantage, he argues, rests in our unique ability to communicate ideas that do not actually exist. Though many species have well-developed linguistic abilities, Sapiens appear to be the only species that creates and communicates total fictions. This ability is extremely important because it allows to create shared myths, facilitating cooperation between massive groups of strangers. Throughout history, Sapiens developed money, empires, and religions, all of which are examples of shared myths. These institutions ordered human behavior, allowing us to develop the complex and advanced societies that we have today. Harari concludes that our species’s advancements have but on the brink of another major transition, as we transcend the boundaries of biology and natural selection and are able to engage in intelligent design.

Rating

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Sapiens Chapters

The rating – what does it mean?

• Aug 07, 2018 Sapiens Summary About The Author: Yuval Noah Harari is an Israeli professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is mots famous for the popular book “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind”.
• Cro-Magnon 1 is a middle-aged, male skeleton of one of the first modern human fossils ever found, at Cro-Magnon, France in 1868. Scientists estimate his age at death at less than 50 years old. Except for the teeth, his skull is complete, though the bones in his face are noticeably pitted from a fungal infection.
• Chapter 5, the beginning of Part Two, describes the Agricultural Revolution. Approximately 10,000 years ago, sapiens began manipulating plants and animals on a large scale. Through the process of domestication, they gradually selected species that were ideal for cultivation and further refined them through selective breeding.

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Sapiens Study Guide

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5 –Solid. A helpful and/or enlightening book, inspite of its obvious shortcomings. For instance, it may be offer decent advice in some areas but be repetitive or unremarkable in others. 6 – Notable. A helpful and/or enlightening book that stands out by at least one aspect, e.g. is particularly well structured. 7 – Good. A helpful and/or enlightening book that combines two or more noteworthy strengths, e.g. contains uncommonly novel ideas and presents them in an engaging manner. 8 – Very good. A helpful and/or enlightening book that has a substantial number of outstanding qualities without excelling across the board, e.g. presents the latest findings in a topical field and is written by a renowned expert but lacks a bit in style. 9 – Superb. A helpful and/or enlightening book that is extremely well rounded, has many strengths and no shortcomings worth mentioning. 10 – Brilliant. A helpful and/or enlightening book that, in addition to meeting the highest standards in all pertinent aspects, stands out even among the best. Often an instant classic and must-read for everyone. While the rating tells you how good a book is according to our two core criteria, it says nothing about its particular defining features. Therefore, we use a set of 20 qualities to characterize each book by its strengths:

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