"Sapiens: A brief history of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari - Reviewed by TM Rajat Ray

This is a book I wanted to read for some time and I was not disappointed. Large in scope, full of insights and examples, it left me quite enriched. Even if some of the concepts sound novel, they are beievable. I read it like a thriller.

About the author:

Yuval Noah Harari is an Israeli public intellectual, historian and a professor in the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Apart from Sapiens, he is the author of some more bestsellers: "Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow"  and "21 Lessons for the 21st Century". 

About the book:

This book of around 500 pages cuts a swathe across human history, focussing however on Homo Sapiens, who we are descended from, and their social development over the last 70,000 years. Why did Homo Sapiens suddenly become the king of the earth? What were the turning points? The writer combines facts with theories in a gripping tale that often turns on its head our ideas about our own dominance of the planet.

1. The Cognitive revolution
2. The Agricultural revolution
3. Scientific revolution
4. Industrial revolution
5. Information revolution
6. Bionic revolution

The first two revolutions are the most revolutionary propositions by Harari, so let me share those in more detail.

But first some background.

Humans appeared 2.5 million years ago as Australopitecus. They developed into the species of Homo Erectus (East Asia), Homo Neanderthalis (Europe and west asia), Homo Soliensis (Java and several others…and of course Homo Sapiens (East Africa).

From 2.0M years to 10,000 years, all the species existed in different parts of the world. All were hunter-gatherers. 

How did humans top the food chain? 2M-400,000, they mostly foraged. From 400,000-100,000, they hunted large game, and after 100,000 they could hunt anything. A very fast progression, much faster than usual animal evolution. However, all the species of humans benefitted from this development equally.

Then something miraculous happened to Homo Sapiens.

Suddenly, 70,000 years ago, Homo Sapiens spread to Arabia and Eurasia. They replaced (killed off) the Neanderthals and Erectus there between 50-30,000 y.ears ago. They reached Australia around 45,000 years ago and replaced the homo version there as well.

How did Homo Sapiens dominate this way? Harari puts forth an interesting idea.

The Cognitive revolution 70,000-30,000 years ago 

Was there a genetic mutation that changed some brain wiring? Because suddenly Homo Sapiens started sharing information about each other – viz gossipping, as per Harari. A lot of social information started being shared. People started knowing each other personally, although the power of such co-operation was limited to around 150 individuals. Tribes developed. Co-operative hunting started.

As the next stage, gossiping also helped develop common belief systems – nation, religion, (even Companies, currently). Mythical identities could be developed, which could be used to co-operate in large numbers (>150) on the basis of these MYTHS.  

Even nowadays we are mostly driven by myths. Toastmasters is also a myth, for that matter.

Thus, cultural evolution overtook genetic evolution. History became the movement of myths.

Agricultural revolution 10,000 years ago:

This happened mainly at modern-day Turkey and Iran. Humans started planting crops and domesticating animals.

As per Harari - and here he goes again popular belief - this was a big fraud or imposition! Sum total of food available improved but there were longer working hours, congested living and high dependence on nature. Body was still adapted to hunting/gathering and health suffered. There were also more fights to protect their land.

Even if humans regretted starting the agricultural revolution, they could not revert to hunting/gathering again, since too much hard work had been invested.

After that, the Scientific revolution took place 500 years ago, the Industrial revolution 250 years ago and the Information revolution just 50 years ago. In the perspective of 2.5 million years, these were like the blink of an eye.

The future, says Harari, is moving towards a Bionic revolution, where any of three things can happen:

• Biologically, we will live for ever.
• Robots will develop consciousness.
• Bionic man who is a mix of man and machine will be developed..

Harari spends a major portion of his book, talking about his premonitions in this regard.

The book also covers the rise of religions, evolution of money and credit, as well as spread of empires, trade and capitalism. The pages are littered with novel insights into their interrelations.

What I liked about the book is Harari's great writing style - half-historian, half-novelist - that conveys ideas in an interesting manner. Examples that he gives in support of his arguments are plentiful, unusual and varied. Those really enabled me to relate to the concepts.

What did not work for me was that the future prospects of the Bionic revolution were very sci-fi flavoured. Such ideas have already been done to death by Asimov and Clarke. I personally feel we are very far away from any of that.

Recommendation: This book might be a bit heavy for a typical novel-reader and bit theoretical for a serious history buff. But it is perfect for someone who wants to get a wide view of human evolution with some engaging insights into what made us into what we are today. It is written in an easy-going, humorous and story-oriented manner and is a real page-turner. Worth investing the time.