Sapiens By Yuval Noah Harari

Bravo, you made me want to die and be incarnated as a plant.

What I thought about it

Sapiens was a real test to me.

While I always encourage skepticism and open-mindedness, it was hard for me to be skeptic in the way the author pushes his readers to be. But I think I managed.

History is one of the most fascinating subjects for me to read about. But you’d be hard pressed to find a history book that doesn’t sound like a lecture, it isn’t an easy subject to write about. This book, I admit, was extremely interesting. Sometimes it goaded me too much to put it down…that could be what he was aiming for, actually.

My feelings while reading it were a mix of shock, deep interest, indignation, curiosity and wonder. It was a roller coaster of a history book.

Before we delve deeper into this: I know I don’t have the literary skills to criticize best-selling books, but I want to talk about this book. I really need to.

About Sapiens

now regarding the actual content; this is a book that tells the story about humans, from their very beginning to this day and possibly, the future.

It scared me how subjective history is. It changes drastically as you hear humanity’s story told by different people…people that have various backgrounds, political views, races, religions and every other thing that makes us different from those around us.

But putting that aside I could find some really informative parts and interesting points to think about. For example, the parts that discuss the change in human’s habits with the passage of time was extremely fascinating for someone like me who tries to anticipate user needs for a living.

I split my notes/impressions int two categories: OMG!, and What?

OMG🔅🤯🤘🏻

• Making life easier has bad ramifications on humans. With time, our brains become less sharp and we lose our ability to think critically.
• The descent into the agricultural revolution trap was the onset of the mentality that preaches hard work to gather more possessions. This same lifestyle ruins physical and mental health which beats the purpose of creating better life conditions.
• Humans never had one pattern of behavior..meaning you can use past patterns to predict future human behavior but the odds your prediction will be wrong are way higher than you may think.
• I never appreciated how many theories and schools of thought were built on our supposed evolution from apes! Some were both funny and terrifying like the theory that finds it strange that Alpha males of all races are not trying to father as many sons as possible…I mean think about it, it sounds funny but this is how racism is born. Making copies of the “perfect human” because they’re superior to all other existing humans.

What?😕🧐

• It’s absolutely mystifying to me why supporters of Evolution theory insist that humans evolved from apes when all evidence found negates that. I mean, do you want to be a monkey’s descendant?? why?!
• The way he calls faith of any kind a “figment of our collective imaginations” rubbed me the wrong way. And I’m not just talking about religions… Let’s say that you don’t believe in money’s value and you’ve been in a car accident. Can you tell me which hospital would accept your debate on imaginary value of ordinary things instead of taking your money? I think the amount of people who believe in nothing is the reason suicide rates are sky-rocketing these days. Because when someone who has no family, no friends, and no support network hits rock bottom only faith can keep them going. Of this I am 100% sure.
• There is an undeniable sneakiness in the way the author intentionally left out/openly denies some awful deeds in history and the way he stated some lies as facts…reminds you that history will forever be subjective.
• You will not believe how haunting is the “Marriage of Science and Empire” part is. It made me want to die and be incarnated as a flower instead. Humans are fascinating creatures but truly disgusting at times🤢

Lessons & takeaways

If I learned anything from Sapiens it’s this: history does not serve in predicting the future, rather in widening one’s horizons. This means I will spend less time on studying past habits when trying to predict the future from now on.

Second lesson is just as important: Think. Think. Think. Be skeptic…and use that method to prove why things you believe in are true. Skepticism is a way to find the truth, not deny all truths.

Third and most important to me: being an adult means having the patience and level-headedness to be quiet, listen to things that make your anger spike, and try to understand before lashing out. You can prove it wrong in a second if only you learn how to arrange your thoughts and ideas.

Would I recommend this book?

It’s a decent history book. It has all the makings of a great non-fiction read. But if you are going through a phase where you feel sorta hopeless don’t read it! It will drive you to the murky unknown depth of depression because humans can be awful. And this book is about humans. You can imagine.

Thinkers will love it. It’s great discussion stuff for bookclubs and debates. Keyword here is open-minded. I’d love to discuss it with a thinker. That should be interesting 😏

Have you read Sapiens? what did you think about it?