I was impressed by Sapiens. I have read some books that cover some of the same material. For example, books by Jared Diamond, Nicholas Wade, and Jacob Bronowski. Of those three authors it is the closest in ambition to Bronowski's Ascent of Man back from the 1970's, except it is significantly better. I thought the book almost merged into moral and political philosophy because it was subtly giving you analytical tools to judge culture. For example the book states all large societies use great myths (religion, countries, moral codes, money, financial institutions, family institutions) to generate the social cohesion to make large societies function. But can we judge one more or less moral than another? I think the answer implies the answer is yes and implies some criteria.It not only merges into moral philosophy but it also merges into the realms of religion replacing religion with science. That is not uncommon, but when you get a sharp thinker and writer like Harari it is much more convincing.Maybe my biggest fault with the book is that it reaffirmed by own biases too much so it is hard for me to tell if the reasoning is as good as I think it is or whether the reasoning only seems really good because its reaffirming my own biases. For example I became a vegetarian in my early 20's for moral reasons (I didn't like the way animals were treated). I felt like the author agreed with me. In the end I felt like the author just a slightly smarter version of myself who gave me better arguments to substantiate the beliefs I already have so I have a natural bias for this book.Also how did this book get over 3000 reviews? Seriously! It is well argued and interesting, but its not a polemic designed to enflame one side and laud another side so I have no idea how 3000 people were motivated enough to write a review.

One of the best books i have ever read. It has more suspense than a suspense thriller, more dramatic than a drama, more truth than ancient wisdom, simple and very frank narration, insightful, scientific and imaginative than fiction. Yet, it is all about truth. A mundane subject as 'history' has been made into such an enjoyable reading with humour, suspense and drama and explained philosophies like no other religious scriptures. And the best part is that it is free from bias and only as matter of fact, without the author imposing any kind of opinion or view of his own on the reader. I will strongly recommend it to all and, if given an option, will make it a compulsory study in junior colleges all over the world. To a very great extent the facts presented demolish the myth of racism, casteism, and other man made discriminations and expose many beliefs. I am just itching to read the next book on Sapiens by Mr. Yuval Noah Harari. Thank you Mr. Harari for your contribution to humanity.

"Most history books focus on the ideas of great thinkers, the bravery of warriors, the charity of saints and the creativity of artists. They have much to tell about the weaving and unraveling of social structures, about the rise and fall of empires, about the discovery and spread of technologies. Yet they say nothing about how all this influenced the happiness and suffering of individuals."Although not focused on the issue of happiness, Sapiens is definitely a different kind of history book. It deals not with events, weapons, specific military conquests, politicians, great thinkers or prophets. Mr Harari brings in a new kind of history book, a book which sees history from a millennial perspective.For me, Sapiens is probably the book that influenced the most my view of reality. Probably the biggest revelation for me was when it compared ideologies, such as capitalism, socialism or feminism to religions. The book actually made me consider the fact that there is no general good or evil, morality, ethics or purpose of someone's life. Each ideology/religion make people live in a common imagined reality: people having equal rights is only a way to establish order in society, the same as individuals having to respect their parents. Whether these imagined orders are good or bad depends on the circumstances and the criteria, but in most cases it's up to each person and society to establish what is good and what is bad.Of course, the book analyzes much more topics, such as the agricultural revolution hoax, why did the Scientific Revolution started in Europe, the lack of justice in history and even the contrast between the success of domestic animals at a species level and their tragedy at individual level.I recommend this book to anyone who feels ready to question their own beliefs, it will definitely give you something to think about. I do not recommend it to very religious persons, nationalists, feminists or ardent democrats, because it's unlikely they will enjoy a book that attacks their fundamental creeds.

I don't know what Bill Gates and Barack Obama saw in this book, but what I encountered is neither history, nor evolutionary psychology, nor really anything worthwhile. What I encountered was a very long progressive political screed.The Kindle sample is misleading, and makes it appear as if the book might be interesting. It's not.I really should have known better when Harari asserted that humans were probably happier as hunter-gatherers. I thought, "would I want to be a hunter-gatherer?" Uh, no, not so much.Harari then goes on to attempt to tear down just about every human institution of the last few thousand years as being fictional or "imaginary". Well, sure, they were all invented by humans. But that doesn't make them prima facie "bad" ideas. In Harari's world, though, they're all suspect.If you're unlucky enough to have already bought this book, call Amazon for a refund. I did.

Rather than being the interesting syhthesis Id hoped for, this turned out to be a series of disjointed bits touching on nearly every aspect of society. Eight paragraphs about political philosophy followed by a dozen about animal husbandry, and so on. Quit halfway through without encountering a single new and interesting theory or fact.