This book was first published in 2015 and has received rave reviews ever since, from Bill Gates and others. The author, Yuval Hoah Harari, has a PhD in history from the University of Oxford and is a lecturer in history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
What first struck me about this book was the stunning scope of the subject matter. The subtitle is a Brief History of Humankind. Brief is relative I suppose and given the topic, I guess the 416-page length should be considered short.
Let me say upfront that this is quite a book. It is well written and easy to understand. The author explains, well, pretty much everything. For you readers out there, this is one to seriously consider. Perhaps my highest compliment is this: There is so much here, and it is such a pleasant book to read, I will probably read it again, something I rarely do.
The book starts at the beginning: the Big Bang, generally thought to have occurred 13.5 billion years ago. Animals much like modern humans first appeared about 2.5 million years ago, but these creatures did not distinguish themselves from all the other creatures on Earth. Humans are members of the genus Homo, a part of the family of Great Apes.
Until not so long ago in evolutionary terms, there were multiple species of humans living on Earth, including Homo neanderthalensis in Europe and western Asia, Homo erectus in east Asian, Homo solensis on the island of Java in Indonesia, Homo floresiensis on the island of Flores in Indonesia, and Homo Denisova in east Asia. In Africa, the cradle of humanity, new species continued to evolve, such as Homo rudolfensis, Homo ergaster, and eventually Homo sapiens, our species.
By 150,000 years ago, East Africa was full of Homo Sapiens that look identical to us. About 70,000 years ago, our species spread out of Africa and relatively quickly overran all of Eurasia. When Sapiens arrived in these areas, they were already populated by other members of the genus Homo.
It was long thought that Sapiens replaced the existing Homo populations. But the mapping of the genomes of other Homo species has shown that there was significant interbreeding. Europeans have one-to-four percent of Neanderthal DNA. Denisovan DNA makes up to six percent of Melanesian and Aboriginal Australian DNA.
Generally, whenever Homo Sapiens arrived in a new area, the existing humans were gone within 50,000 years. The pattern is clear, but the reasons are not and make up part of the early chapters. But it sure looks like Homo sapiens have had a very long history of serial genocide.
Once our species has conquered the world, the real changes started to happen. The author does a masterful job of explaining how and who. First came the Cognitive Revolution which allowed Sapiens to organize themselves and create the technology to begin exploring the world. With no other humans as competitors, Sapiens tended to hunt whatever megafauna they found to extinction. This happened in one place after another.
About 10,000 years ago came the Agricultural Revolution, which the author calls history’s biggest fraud. He not only underplays the importance of agriculture but points out that agriculture did not start in one place and spread. In fact, agriculture began in many places around the world in a relatively short period of time.
However it happened, agriculture and the growth of Sapien populations meant the worldwide unification of humankind. Human brains are large and the development of languages meant that mental constructs were used to provide a common purpose. Examples include large organizations, the use of money, and the rise of religions. One interesting concept is the author maintains that capitalism meets the tests of qualifying as a religion, and probably the most successful religion ever.
Next came the Scientific Revolution and its effect on empire building. With the whole world teaming with Sapiens, why were the Europeans the most successful in colonizing the rest of the world and imposing their belief systems on the natives? Certainly, China was just as advanced as western Europe before the age of exploration.
The author maintains it was the marriage of science and empire. The Europeans came to realize that they didn’t know everything, so they ventured forth to learn. The Chinese thought they knew everything, residing in the Heavenly Kingdom, thus no reason to explore. The European quest for knowledge was coupled with a desire for wealth. It was a potent combination.
The last chapter of the book deals with the end of Homo Sapiens and the potential of new species of humans who would succeed us. It’s highly speculative, of course, but interesting to read.
This is a good one and worth your time.
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