Yuval Noah Harari has written a series of books on human history, dating back from the days when there were no humans on earth. Some of the books have won awards, and together, nearly 50 million copies of these books have been sold so far.
The books - supposed to be historical and philosophical works on the progress of humans over time, from a professor - do not crave for a review. Not after more than a decade from the time the first book was published, and having been reviewed thousands of times.
However, to a new reader, all reviews matter; the more sincere a review, the more he/ she is forewarned about the book. More so, because the books are each a huge volume of hundreds of pages, and one would need to invest a lot of time and attention to read even one of them. So, this review talks more about his writing style and veracity of content as much as the content.
The author(s) - some books are co-authored - sketch the history of humans in a prose that is more of story-telling nature rather than a historical account. Philosophy? It is rather a set of assumptions and notions. The story is served to a curious human mind wanting to know how it has evolved in stages from four-footed animals to becoming an intelligent species that dominates the planet. That explains why his books are international best-sellers.
In trying to tell the story of human evolution - both biological and intellectual - in an interesting way, the author has given archaeological, anthropological, financial and sociological hypotheses that arise more from the author's imagination more than archaeological and other evidence. But, his skill lies in introducing his own assumptions to explain things and fill the gaps in our knowledge about human evolution and growth. This makes the story fulsome, engaging and convincing.
He reveals the knowledge-gaps, contrasting theories, and unsettled assumptions, but the curious reader ignores them as footnotes and gets engrossed in the story. You would love the tale of a hunter-gatherer woman tending her kids while roasting meat on the new-found fire much more than a scientific explanation of a skeleton of a woman found in Siberia. No? That is what Harari does.
Just to illustrate how his imagination runs wild is a chapter taking us to the times when humans had not even learnt farming and settling in villages. Harari tells us convincingly that they engaged in gossip and that led to creation of myths. Yes, when intelligent 'animals' gather, they would interact not only in activities associated with food, shelter, security, sex, and childbearing, but also socialise. Once you agree with this assumption of the author, you would buy his inference, without fuss, that the human (Homo sapiens) became a gossipy animal believing in the supernatural. Then he stretches the myth-making and belief in non-physical objects to modern-day trade, money and limited liability companies.
When we examine how animal societies behave, the enormity in physical variations as well as actions leads to fuzzy outcomes. Picking one thread, unless it is very predominant or unique, and explaining everything else on that basis can lead to fallacies and dogmas. So, the author, cunningly, interpolates evidences to convince the reader that his line of arguments and inferences is the most plausible one. At places, he argues that mainline historians fail in evolving a full picture because of their insistence on material evidences. That should not mean that the picture that he creates is the real history.
In many places in his books, Harari makes sweeping statements, and they often make quotable quotes for effect- without a strong scientific basis. You can take them with a pinch of salt when they relate to the anthropology and human history, but his predictions about the future look too naive. Moreover, at places, he tries to apply biological evolution to today's human existence and use that to explain myriad human failures and successes in today's life.
Overall, the books by Harari are a good read, but deserve your time for just one of his many books. You must also take his content as a historical tell-tale and enjoy it. If you are not a die-hard historian or paleontologist or a researcher in related fields, many of his hypotheses and selective evidence might convince you that you have read the true history of humankind; don't fall into that trap. After reading the book as a common reader, feel that you now have a feel of how we might have evolved from apes and what factors might have led to what we are today, but there could be many more explanations. Moreover, since humans have not evolved like an endemic animal such as platypus or kangaroo, hundreds of varied, even conflicting, explanations might be true.
Lastly, don't make the mistake of quoting him in a serious discussion about human evolution.
The books by Harari & co include-
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
- Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
- Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
- Sapiens: A Graphic History (graphic novel series)
gr : Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari | Goodreads
Comments
Post a Comment