Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Book Summary

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Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
by Yuval Noah Harari

There is a question that follows us throughout our existence. “Who are we and what does it mean to be human?” The mechanism that pushes human knowledge forward is fuelled by curiosity. Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari brings insights from science and the humanities together to answer the curiosity of what means to be human with his book: “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind”.

As the book portrays, human history has been shaped by three major revolutions. Firstly, there was the Cognitive Revolution, which happened more than 70,000 years ago. The cognitive revolution allowed humans to maintain free will while creating common systems, such as money, that required only belief in order to be realized. When the Cognitive Revolution occurred, sapiens were able to imagine and describe things which do not exist in the real world.

Ultimately, the Scientific Revolution brought forward the period when humans made the transition to a scientific and factual approach towards life. According to the book, this period started 500 years ago and it is constantly improving. These revolutions serve as proof that humans were able to form ideas that no other life form was able to do, such as politics, religion and capitalism.

In contemporaneous times, ‘Sapiens’ represents the only remaining species of human. A very long time ago, 100,000 years ago to be more precise, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one – us, the Homo Sapiens. According to the book, Homo Sapiens rules the world because it is the only animal that can believe in things that exist purely in its own imagination, such as gods, states, money and human rights.

Most humans assume that we were always the ones in charge. Naturally, we feel entitled to everything given our superior knowledge and intelligence when compared to animals. However, Yuval Noah Harari and his book serve as a reminder to us that long before we built the pyramids, wrote symphonies, or walked on the moon, there was nothing special about us.

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It is important to note that other species also have big brains and certain intellectual capabilities, but the Homo Sapiens were successful due to their ability to cooperate on a large-scale. Humans have learnt how to organize as nations, companies and religions.

Apart from science and intellectual capabilities, capitalism is undoubtedly another force to which humans identify with. The author argues that capitalism is different from wealth. Capitalism is when you take earnings from a venture and re-invest into production by opening more factories, hiring more labourers, investing, etc.

The author also goes into discussing the notorious relation between money and happiness. Harari brings forward well-documented research that shows that a person’s happiness has little to do with material circumstances. But there is a catch: Money can certainly make a difference on a person’s happiness, but only when it lifts us out of poverty. Any more than that, it is proved that money has little to no influence on someone’s happiness and having more money after a certain point doesn’t mean anything. Money doesn’t bring happiness, but it can make the problems that make you unhappy to go away.
Happiness is a persistent theme in the book ‘Sapiens’. And that is only natural considering that it’s a book about humans and humans are obsessed with the idea of happiness. Harari is suggesting in the book that the lives lived by sapiens today may be worse than the lives humans lived 15,000 years ago. However, this argument seems absurd considering the comfort, technological capabilities, medical discoveries (only to name a few) that we can enjoy in our present times and which are facilitating an easier and happier life.

Towards the end of the book, the author starts asking some pertinent questions that are relevant to the destiny of our species. One of the main questions is: what is next chapter for sapiens, for us humans? This question is difficult to answer because no one can foresee the future, but a certain trajectory for humans can be anticipated, taking into consideration our journey so far. Humans are destined for great things and nothing less. Our complexities are what makes us special and we should be proud of that. Certainly, there are things that we can improve upon, but life is a process and a beautiful one that is. So, sit back and enjoy the ride.

‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind’ provides a wonderful framework and perspective for guiding and interpreting what we do and how we act as humans. Bold, wide-ranging and provocative, Sapiens challenges everything we thought we knew about being human: our thoughts, our actions, our challenges and our achievements, our past and most importantly our future.