From the Bookshelf of Science and Inquiry…

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Yuval Noah Harari

Start date: March 1, 2016

Finish date: March 31, 2016

Discussion: Book Club 2016

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Book Club 2016

* December 2016 - Wizards, Aliens
By Betsy , co-mod · 5 posts · 69 views

last updated Jan 25, 2017 01:23AM

* November 2016 - Neurotribes
By Betsy , co-mod · 9 posts · 107 views

last updated Nov 27, 2016 08:47PM

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What Members Thought

Apr 23, 2019 Kathleen (itpdx) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I like books that look at something differently from the commonly accepted point of view. Harari does this with human history. He claims that what has made homo sapiens “successful” is our ability to imagine, tell stories, collectively believe in things that don’t objectively exist. He argues that three of these things are money, nations and ideologies. He says that because Sapiens can function with these constructs we are able to cooperate in very large groups (essentially world-wide, at this p ...more

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Jun 16, 2019 Mitchell Friedman rated it it was ok

Shelves: history, library, popular, nonfiction, two-star

Huh. Well I'm glad I read that, but I'm even more glad that I'm done reading it. Interesting but mostly not enjoyable. And I find joy in being pedantic, but this book brings that practice to a level I couldn't even have imagined. There are clever ideas here, and clever turns of phrases. And it would definitely be something I would reach for as a reference for an answer to subjects and ideas. But it was boring and annoying to read. ...more

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