Author: Dr Yuval Noah Harari is a PhD in History from the University of Oxford who lectures at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specializing in World History. His books Sapiens, Homo Deus and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century have become international bestsellers.
Book: In this book, Yuval Noah Harari traces a brief history of humanity, from the first humans to walk the Earth to the radical and sometimes devastating advances of the three great revolutions our species has undergone: (i) the cognitive, (ii) the agricultural and (iii) the scientific. Drawing on findings from disciplines such as biology, anthropology, palaeontology and economics, Harari explores how the great currents of history have shaped our society, the animals, and plants around us and even our personalities.
Opinion: Even if I enjoyed Harari’s writing style, I don’t think this book deserves as much attention as it has received from the public/media. I see this book as a speculative reconstruction of human history with big mistakes. Some examples: (i) He falls into terrible naïve empiricism when trying to “predict the future” and comparing “peace levels” among countries. (ii) He “compares” and makes analogies about the happiness levels and other human conditions with thousands of years of difference using modern psychology research, no joke. (iii) He has the same understanding of economics as my 15 yrs old little brother – i.e., on p.388 he shows that he has no clue about the role of savings in economics & mixes capitalism with consumerism. I could go on for a while, but I have no space. Finally, even if I think he is too reductionist with his explanations of history and human behaviour, I think that his final reflections about technology disrupting traditional ethics and moral principles of our society are food for thought. To sum up, Harari is a “Marxist” anthropologist in method & naïve empiricist with no clue about economics who has written a (very) enjoyable history + science fiction book.
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