Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

by Yuval Noah Harari

Imagine how things might have turned out had the Neanderthals or Denisovans survived alongside Homo sapiens.

unique feature of our language is not its ability to transmit information about men and lions. Rather, it’s the ability to transmit information about things that do not exist at all.

maximum ‘natural’ size of a group bonded by gossip is about 150 individuals.

The dog was the first animal domesticated by Homo sapiens, and this occurred before the Agricultural Revolution.

ancient foragers were the most knowledgeable and skilful people in history.

The foragers’ secret of success, which protected them from starvation and malnutrition, was their varied diet.

Most of the infectious diseases that have plagued agricultural and industrial societies

originated in domesticated animals and were transferred to humans only after the Agricultural

The wholesome and varied diet, the relatively short working week, and the rarity of infectious diseases have led many experts to define pre-agricultural forager societies as ‘the original affluent societies’.

eucalyptuses are particularly resistant to fire,

The currency of evolution is neither hunger nor pain, but rather copies of DNA helixes.

If no more DNA copies remain, the species is extinct, just as a company without money is bankrupt. If a species boasts many DNA copies, it is a success, and the species flourishes.

Evolution is based on difference, not on equality.

‘Created equal’ should therefore be translated into ‘evolved differently’.

Romanticism tells us that in order to make the most of our human potential we must have as many different experiences as we can.

Women are generally more resistant to hunger, disease and fatigue than men. There are also many women who can run faster and lift heavier weights than many men.

In forager societies, political dominance generally resides with the person possessing the best social skills rather than the most developed musculature.

The first universal order to appear was economic: the monetary order. The second universal order was political: the imperial order. The third universal order was religious: the order of universal religions such as Buddhism, Christianity and Islam.

money is the most universal and most efficient system of mutual trust ever devised.

Money is the only trust system created by humans that can bridge almost any cultural gap, and that does not discriminate on the basis of religion, gender, race, age or sexual orientation.

Gautama’s insight was that no matter what the mind experiences, it usually reacts with craving, and craving always involves dissatisfaction.

suffering arises from craving; the only way to be fully liberated from suffering is to be fully liberated from craving; and the only way to be liberated from craving is to train the mind to experience reality as it is.

Easy to understand, hard to apply in real life

If the mind of a person is free of all craving, no god can make him miserable.

MONEY HAS BEEN essential both for building empires and for promoting science. But is money the ultimate goal of these undertakings, or perhaps just a dangerous necessity?

Credit enables us to build the present at the expense of the future.

You could cut the pie in many different ways, but it never got any bigger.

selfish human urge to increase private profits is the basis for collective wealth is one of the most revolutionary ideas in human history

Not even the most conservative of political parties vows merely to keep things as they are.