Everyone I know who read this book raved about it, so I came in with high expectations that the book failed to meet. There is almost nothing new or interesting in his discussion of humanity and its history. Other than a couple of new archeological sites referenced, all the information in this book was in my freshman courses 30 years ago. But Harari weaved it all together well enough that it was still a good read. If you don't know much about human evolution or the evolution of social and political organization, then a lot of this would be new and interesting. His storytelling is great and in a couple of places he does an especially good job of taking the complex and boiling it down into a simple anecdote.It is a good read, just have the right expectations going in.

I really don't get why this book is getting so many good reviews. It starts excellently and I learned a lot about early human history and Homo Erectus, Neanderthals, Homo Sapiens, and why and how we became the dominant species. Once you get past that and into more recent human history the book goes off the rails. It's pretty obvious the author has an ax to grind against religion. I'm not religious myself but I found it extremely off putting. I'm not even sure I can finish this book. I ended up scanning pages and pages to get past the vitriol against Catholics, Buddhists, whatever. I have no problem with someones opinion on religion but I wanted a history lesson not chapters telling me how stupid our ancestors and us are for believing in religion or faith. Not to mention the complete lack of context for historical events and using randomness to explain everything. I'm sorry but not every historical even is random and we can predict things based on current events. But the scientific revolution is here to save us all and is going to provide all the answers we will ever need. All of this coming from an uber nerd who loves science and all things related to it.TL;DRStarts good, ends up a diatribe against religion

"Sapiens" ought to be on every college (or even high school) curriculum. The subtitle, "A Brief History of Humankind," does NOT mean that it isn't very deep and very, very intense. Anyone interested in learning how the world works, and why it works the way it does, needs to read this. Giving it an honest read -- put aside all your cognitive biases about everything -- will open your eyes, and free your mind so that you can think critically. Since "Sapiens" is a book of actual "facts," some readers in this "post-truth" world might have a hard time swallowing it. Anyone finding this book difficult to read probably doesn't understand what "facts" and "evidence" are. These days, the line between facts and opinions very nearly doesn't exist. This book draws a hard and desperately needed line between the two.

This is one of the best-written "history" books I've ever read. I concur with the bulk of the reviews provided elsewhere. it really explores the macro trends of human history and human evolution and provides a setting for a better understanding of the world both in the past and today. It's not just all about dates, inventions, technologies, and who conquered whom, but more about what developments occurred to make us contemporary "humans". Haran takes a rather interesting turn in the last chapters when he decides to look at what he seems to feel is the most important question in human history: "But are we happy?" He seems to feel that it is just possible that we would have been better off (or at least happier) if we had not evolved past the hunter/gatherer stage. In the last chapter he lays out the outline and questions he raises in more detail in his sequel book, "Home Deus".

An entertaining read and good source for summer cocktail party chat, hence my two-star rating.Harari’s broad brush – or rather, paint roller – approach inevitably skips over much potentially relevant detail. This is understandable, but distorting facts to support his arguments or seemingly merely to be cute is unacceptable. It also undercuts his credibility.For example, Harari’s discussion of the dissolution of the Soviet Union includes the following.“When its members [the Soviet and Eastern European Communist elite] realized that Communism was bankrupt, they renounced force, admitted their failure, packed their suitcases and went home.”The Soviet elite hardly went home with their tails between their legs. In Russia, Boris Yeltsin was a former Politburo member and his hand-picked successor Putin came from the KGB. In Kazakhstan, the Soviet era ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev became President. Similarly, Kyrgyzstan’s first President Askar Akayev had been a deputy in the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. These are just a few of the obvious examples.This book is a good beach read but as substantive as cotton candy.