Sapiens – Yuval Noah Harari

If the curtain is about to drop on Sapien history,we the members of its final generation should ask “What do we want to become?”

Sapiens is the first non-fiction that I have ever loved, in my entire history of reading non-fiction. It promises to be a “brief history of humankind”, but it is freaking terrifying more nuanced than that.

Dr. Harari has built out a world from the start of the Homo Sapiens’ birth to our plausible end. He gives us evidence that anything – birds, animals, lands, fauna – that has come in contact with our species, has ultimate been led to destruction or extinction. To make my point more clear, I would like to take a simple example from the book – we had three other species that were similar to our genus, but as soon as the first homo sapiens landed in their areas, their numbers dwindled, until there wasn’t a single one left behind.

Harari gives a beautiful blend of all sorts of perspectives – he himself follows the more rational and biochemical one – where our biological factors play a heavy role on our well being, but nonetheless he explains all points of the argument. As you go on reading Sapiens, each page brings dread. You’re dreading how this book will end, but more so, you’re dreading this accurate historian’s prediction about out future.

The book spans across three main revolutions – Cognitive (thinking), Agriculture (settling) and finally, Scientific (death “progress”). He gives his reader a series of events that led to each of these – religion, culture, capitalism, money, community, state and market and so on.

The ability to speak about fiction is the most unique feature of Sapien language.

He reminds us, in a fantasy shattering way, that we are “living in a dual reality”. This book was a turn in my life, after which I don’t think I would be the same. It made me question things that I wasn’t even aware about. I gained opinions and lost them , and for a staunch nihilist like me this came as a surprise.

It wasn’t however without its faults. He, I thought, was a little subjective in religion. While he talked and demeaned mass killings under the name of Christianity, he didn’t so much as look at the Ottoman Empire for the same. This was troublesome as Islam is the second largest religion.

However, this book was a life-changer and I would not rate or give a synopsis for this, because it would be best to read it as is. I would recommend this to anyone and everyone on this planet, every single one of you Homo Sapiens.

Is there anything more dangerous than dissatisfied and irresponsible Gods, who don’t know what they want?

– Samidha ❤