Skip to main content

Sapiens A brief history of humankind - Book Review

 

Sapiens

A Brief History of  

Humankind

By

  Yuvai Noah Harari

Reviewed by

 Geoffrey W. Sutton



Sapiens has been reviewed many times since its international debut. So, I’ll just provide a summary and some thoughts from my perspective as a psychologist.

Despite its long reach—all of human history—it’s a relatively quick read because Harari is an engaging writer with a sense of humor and a knack for telling stories that create vivid images of our species wandering about on various continental stages for some 200,000 years. He reviews world history from a global perspective beginning with evolution. There’s not a lot new here for those of us who read similar works. Nevertheless, there were things I did not know and so I am grateful for those tidbits, which may only amount to “wow” trivia if I can remember them.

_______________

His subtitle, A Brief History,” provides the clue for what to expect. Harari takes us through history from the speculative beginning to current events. He organizes history into four units having approximately an equal number of chapters—20 altogether.

We grow into creatures with powerful brains—The Cognitive Revolution. We settle down and build in the Agricultural Revolution. Various factors like money and religion help bring people together into megagroups—The Unification of Humankind. Finally, The Scientific Revolution thrusts humans forward with considerable energy that leaves us wondering, what is progress, happiness, and the meaning of life.

I cannot speak to all the disciplines Harari draws on to describe one era or another. There are two aspects of humanity that I have studied more than others—human nature and religion.

I’m wary about making claims about our current behavior patterns linked to supposed evolutionary adaptations to hunting and gathering life on the savannah tens of thousands of years ago. It’s not that I deny evolution its just that so much of human behavior varies greatly within our cultures. Also, in the trek from one revolution to another I’m not always sure about the causes for change despite the evidence that significant changes occurred. I don’t mind reading about ideas but I would prefer they be tempered by a humble stance.

“There are no gods in the universe, no nations, no money, no human rights, no laws, and no justice outside the common imagination of human beings.”

(p. 28)  Harari

One critical aspect of the drama of human nature that’s missing is a consideration of the role of human emotions in motivating human behavior related to major historical events. Harari emphasizes cognition in the beginning and refers to happiness near the end of this work. But there is no entry in the index for such life-changing expressions of anger or rage (e.g., Potegal & Novaco, 2010), jealousy (e.g., Hart & Legerstree, 2010) , or revenge (e.g., Price, 2009).

The second area that strikes me as shallow is his assumptions about religion. Others have noticed this too. How people formed religions and how religions function has been of considerable interest to psychologists for about a century ever since William James’ seminal work. Of course, there are considerable contributions from related disciplines like sociology, anthropology, history, and religious studies. I don’t deny the importance of religion to culture and the regulation of society but Harari’s definition doesn’t fit the view I share with psychologists that religion has a lot to do with a meaningful life and offers positive and negative coping strategies when confronting life’s conundrums (e.g., see Paloutzian & Parks, 2013. I realize Harari is an atheist but that does not mean he is exempt thinking more deeply about the role of religion in human experience. 

_________________________

Sapiens offers a quick and well-written introduction to world history for those who haven’t had a course in a long time or have more than a passing interest in the major activities that occupied our species for thousands of years. It likely won’t satisfy those wanting a more in-depth analysis of historic trends. 

Harari will also stimulate some thinking about the importance of such matters as scientific discoveries, economics, religion, and other major factors affecting our lives. I suggest approaching Sapiens as a scientist looking for interesting ideas that can be tested by gathering more evidence elsewhere.


 Harari, Y.N. (2018). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind. New York: HarperCollins.

 Sapiens is available on     Google

Amazon

and elsewhere

Related books

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow  by Yuval Noah Harari

The Ultimate Visual History of the World - National Geographic



Please check out my website   www.suttong.com

   and see my books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Also, consider connecting with me on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    

You can read many published articles at no charge:

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton     ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

JESUS AND JOHN WAYNE - A book review

  JESUS AND JOHN WAYNE How White Evangelicals        Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation By    Kristin Kobes Du Mez Reviewed by    Geoffrey W. Sutton   Kristin Kobes Du Mez begins and ends her assault on militaristic white American evangelical men with their contemporary sociopolitical leader, former president, Donald Trump. In the Introduction we learn the short doctrinal list of what it means to be a Bible-believing evangelical, but the author posits that American evangelicals are more than a set of theological statements. Instead, since the early 1900s they have embraced a John Wayne view of what it means to be a Christian man—a powerful warrior for country and God—a man who leads his troops into battle to uphold the values of God’s chosen people, the Americans. It was the title, Jesus and John Wayne , that was off-putting. I didn’t grow up with John Wayne films or a love of American westerns. I was after...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why I am not a Christian - Bertrand Russell - A book Review

 Why I Am Not A         Christian By   Bertrand Russell Reviewed by   Geoffrey W. Sutton   I am still surprised by the memory of a professor at a highly conservative college who included Russell’s book, Why I am not a Christian as assigned reading in a Philosophy of Christianity class. I don’t recall what the professor said about the collection of essays so many years ago. However, it is a classic work and deserves at least a look by those like me interested in the psychology of religion and related fields like philosophy. The lead essay answers the author’s question in the title. It was presented as a lecture at the Battersea Town Hall (London, England) in 1927. His logical thinking is evident early on as he attempts to define the concept, Christian . He considers a few options and concludes first, that a Christian must believe in God and immortality, and second, a Christian must at least think of Christ as the “best and wis...
Post a Comment
Read more

Progressive Christianity - Book List Reviews or Summaries

  The Way Understanding Progressive Christianity Book Reviews One way to understand a movement is to read what the leaders have written. The progressive Christian movement, like any Christian movement, can be difficult to describe in detail because there is no one authoritative body or voice. Instead, there are many voices. I hesitate to offer too many descriptive statements because there are surely some who will disagree. Nevertheless, I will list a few trends then list some of the books by writers with progressive perspectives. See the book reviews by clicking the highlighted titles below. Progressive Christians emphasize: A focus on the life and teachings of Jesus when interpreting scripture and thinking morally about current social issues. An appreciation of what it means to truly love God and one’s neighbour as oneself when it comes to compassionate behaviour and promoting justice for all. A commitment to following Jesus' example of meeting the immediate needs of peo...
Post a Comment
Read more