I picked up the book - Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari in mid last year. Being a fiction fan, it was after a long time that I started with a non-fiction book by borrowing it from the office library. I kept on renewing it until December when I had to return it due to the holiday season. Determined to complete it, I then borrowed it from a colleague who had this book in his collection. After almost a year of starting the book, I have finally finished reading it yesterday, thanks to the lockdown that we are all in.
The reasons for taking so much time to read are different and none of them is because the book is drab. Firstly, Sapiens is a non-fiction book, of almost 500 pages, with each page, each paragraph and each line giving so much information that you actually need some time to comprehend and digest the details. After around 10 pages or so, I used to get mentally consumed and took time to recollect everything that I had read within the last half an hour. Secondly, I usually did not feel like picking this book up when I was tired or bored, lest I couldn't give the information justice. Thirdly, I got distracted with other smaller books in between which I was able to complete much faster.
However, keeping all of my personal inefficiencies in completing this book aside, Sapiens as a read is fantastic. It is a must-read and I would say that this book can and should be prescribed as a textbook in schools or colleges. The information provided in this book is mind-boggling and makes you stop, think and introspect at multiple junctures during the read. Sapiens starts off with the advent of humankind, takes us through the important milestones in history like the cognitive, agriculture and scientific revolution and ends up speculating about the future and giving us food for thought.
The pace and flow of the different topics are extremely smooth and effortless. You are reading about the Gilgamesh project in one chapter and before you realize it, the author is talking about how science was funded and how it progressed. The author also explores various theories and possibilities about why history has developed as it has, why did the society become patriarchal, why European nations were able to invade and rule over half the globe whereas other countries did not even try, how different religions come into being, what lead to Christianity and Islam being the most popular religions; topics that are varied across human history. Though he might not have a definitive answer to these questions, the author has explored various possibilities and you can't help but admire the research that must have gone in to get so much information.
There are various facts strewn across the chapters and they are much more interesting than the casual way in which they are mentioned. A very interesting story from the book is as follows - "During the Second World War, BBC News was broadcast to Nazi-occupied Europe. Each news program opened with a live broadcast of Big Ben tolling the hour - the magical sound of freedom. Ingenious German physicists found a way to determine the weather conditions in London based on tiny differences in the tone of the broadcast ding-dongs. This information offered invaluable help to the Luftwaffe. When the British Secret Service discovered this, they replaced the live broadcast with a set recording of the famous clock".
The parts I loved to read were his take on how agriculture has more disadvantages than advantages, how Homo Sapiens came into being by annihilating Neanderthals, how and why Europe ruled over half the world, how capitalism is almost one of the religions these days. He has explained all of these theories very interestingly. The author ends the book with the below line which is very symbolic these days - 'We are more powerful than ever before, but have very little idea what to do with all that power. Worse still, humans seem to be more irresponsible than ever. Self-made gods with only the laws of physics to keep us company, we are accountable to no one. We are consequently wreaking havoc on our fellow animals and on the surrounding ecosystem, seeking little more than our own comfort and amusement, yet never finding satisfaction'. Isn't this a very profound statement in the COVID-19 times?
The only point I found surprising was the fact that though he has written a lot about Christianity, Islam and Buddhism along with details about their origins and spread, he has not mentioned these details about Hinduism, which is the 4th religion by population*. I would have loved to read his interpretation of Hinduism and understand how it fitted into the general scheme of things at the time.
The book has almost 40 pages of references and notes. In the current world of WhatsApp unverified or unresearched information, it is refreshing to read something which we can understand and digest as a well-researched truth.
Sapiens is a book that should be in your personal book collection to be read whenever you feel like.
*References -
List of Religious Populations
The reasons for taking so much time to read are different and none of them is because the book is drab. Firstly, Sapiens is a non-fiction book, of almost 500 pages, with each page, each paragraph and each line giving so much information that you actually need some time to comprehend and digest the details. After around 10 pages or so, I used to get mentally consumed and took time to recollect everything that I had read within the last half an hour. Secondly, I usually did not feel like picking this book up when I was tired or bored, lest I couldn't give the information justice. Thirdly, I got distracted with other smaller books in between which I was able to complete much faster.
However, keeping all of my personal inefficiencies in completing this book aside, Sapiens as a read is fantastic. It is a must-read and I would say that this book can and should be prescribed as a textbook in schools or colleges. The information provided in this book is mind-boggling and makes you stop, think and introspect at multiple junctures during the read. Sapiens starts off with the advent of humankind, takes us through the important milestones in history like the cognitive, agriculture and scientific revolution and ends up speculating about the future and giving us food for thought.
The pace and flow of the different topics are extremely smooth and effortless. You are reading about the Gilgamesh project in one chapter and before you realize it, the author is talking about how science was funded and how it progressed. The author also explores various theories and possibilities about why history has developed as it has, why did the society become patriarchal, why European nations were able to invade and rule over half the globe whereas other countries did not even try, how different religions come into being, what lead to Christianity and Islam being the most popular religions; topics that are varied across human history. Though he might not have a definitive answer to these questions, the author has explored various possibilities and you can't help but admire the research that must have gone in to get so much information.
There are various facts strewn across the chapters and they are much more interesting than the casual way in which they are mentioned. A very interesting story from the book is as follows - "During the Second World War, BBC News was broadcast to Nazi-occupied Europe. Each news program opened with a live broadcast of Big Ben tolling the hour - the magical sound of freedom. Ingenious German physicists found a way to determine the weather conditions in London based on tiny differences in the tone of the broadcast ding-dongs. This information offered invaluable help to the Luftwaffe. When the British Secret Service discovered this, they replaced the live broadcast with a set recording of the famous clock".
The parts I loved to read were his take on how agriculture has more disadvantages than advantages, how Homo Sapiens came into being by annihilating Neanderthals, how and why Europe ruled over half the world, how capitalism is almost one of the religions these days. He has explained all of these theories very interestingly. The author ends the book with the below line which is very symbolic these days - 'We are more powerful than ever before, but have very little idea what to do with all that power. Worse still, humans seem to be more irresponsible than ever. Self-made gods with only the laws of physics to keep us company, we are accountable to no one. We are consequently wreaking havoc on our fellow animals and on the surrounding ecosystem, seeking little more than our own comfort and amusement, yet never finding satisfaction'. Isn't this a very profound statement in the COVID-19 times?
The only point I found surprising was the fact that though he has written a lot about Christianity, Islam and Buddhism along with details about their origins and spread, he has not mentioned these details about Hinduism, which is the 4th religion by population*. I would have loved to read his interpretation of Hinduism and understand how it fitted into the general scheme of things at the time.
The book has almost 40 pages of references and notes. In the current world of WhatsApp unverified or unresearched information, it is refreshing to read something which we can understand and digest as a well-researched truth.
Sapiens is a book that should be in your personal book collection to be read whenever you feel like.
I can't wait to get my hands on the next two books in this series by the same author - 'Homo Deus - A Brief History of Tomorrow' and '21 Lessons for the 21st Century'.
*References -
List of Religious Populations
