Book Review: Sapiens-A Brief History of Humankind

Sapiens- A Brief History of Humankind by Dr Yuval Noah Harari

If I am to ask how was the history of humankind written in this book, i'll conclude in words of Charles Dickens "It was the best of times, It was the worst of times; It was the age of wisdom, It was the age of foolishness"

One of the last few chapters of the book states "....Humans cut down forests, drained swamps, dammed rivers, flooded plains, laid down tens of thousands of kilometres of railroad tracks and built skyscraping metropolises. As the world was moulded to fit the needs of Homo Sapiens, habitats were destroyed and species were extinct. Our once green and blue planet is becoming a concrete and plastic shopping centre" Where as the book begins with the Cognitive Revolution of Humankind:

The screenshot was sent by a beloved friend Capt. Tahir Khattak. We both started reading together and all along the way i had to send a pirated print image of a page to get to see the beautiful color e-copy he was reading from, and of course persuasion all along to shift from hardcopy (NEVER HAPPENING).

I am an amateur reader of this genre, however, this book came as a surprise observation that it was picked by even those who generally don't even have time to read. It's too soon for me to say this book is one of the masterpiece of anthropology. It talks about humankind (home sapiens) revolution in the context of Cognitions, Agriculture, Science with in the framework of Genes, geography, psychology, religion, ideas, philosophy, economics, culture, community, conflicts and on and on. 

The book on many incidences challenges our thinking, provokes a new train of thought where as at some pages i felt that the argument being done is totally futile. (I believe, that's the case with every book-you don't agree 100%, do you?) But the book comes under the category of must-read, without a doubt. 

Personally, i absolutely loved Harari's intake on our ability to communicate (part of cognitive revolution) and capitalism. We learn better through gossips and spin fictions along the way (concept of shared myths) precisely on money, religion and power: forces which unites and divides the humankind. His explanations of the shared favors, barter failure and economies are a wonderful read. Empires which started off as communities were fruitful for sapiens lodging but turns out to be horrific in their existence, making earth's habitat a living hell. He also brilliantly defines how politics and economics are simply two sides of a same coin, and how world in it's macro view affects EVERY individual's survival and wellbeing in large.

There's also a chapter of happiness. In this chapter, just like many, Harari gave no conclusion but posed such powerful questions that you stare and ponder. Questions like why are we here? what does our happiness mean? As a reader, considering which event in history had a significant impact on mankind: war, famine, conquests, advent of religion and ideologies, industrialization, communication revolution, technology, science..? As soon as you end the book you might not come with the answer but you will realise from where we started to where we are heading towards.

My most favorite parts of the book were Part 3 (The Unification of Mankind) and Part 4 (The scientific revolution), then came Part 1 (the cognitive Revolution). I honestly found The agricultural revolution a drag. You may disagree (because you have a right to do so). Since i promised, there will be no spoilers, there aren't because while reading you'll realize you know everything what's being written here YET YOU DON'T KNOW. 

My rating: 4/5. Next to-read: Home Deus-A brief history of tomorrow.