SAPIENS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND

BOOK REVIEW

1. SAPIENS:A BRIEF HISTROY OF HUMANKIND PUBLISHED AT HEBREW AT ISAREL IN 2011 Some books by the author are: 1.)HOMO DEUS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF TOMORROW 2.) 21 LESSONS FOR 21 ST CENTURY

2. CONTENT INTRODUCTION SUMMARY CRITIQUE CONCLUSION

3. INTRODUCTION Sapiens: a brief history of mankind is a book written by “YUVAL NOAH HARARI” first published In Hebrew in Israel in 2011. The book surveys about the mankind and its evolution form Stone Age to 21 st century. It is a guide to becoming an expert on the entire history of the human race as it reviews everything our species has been through from ancient ancestors to our dominating place in the world today. You’ll learn each element in our history, from language and money to science that made us who we are. The genre of this book is Non-fiction. Some books by the author are HOMO DEUS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF TOMORROW 21 LESSONS FOR 21 ST CENTURY The reception of the book has been mixed. Whereas the general public's reaction to the book has been positive, scholars with relevant subject matter expertise have been very critical of the book.

4. SUMMARY Harari surveys the history of humankind from the evolution of archaic human species in the Stone Age up to the twenty-first century, focusing on Homo Sapiens . He divides the history of Sapiens into four major parts: The  Cognitive Revolution  (c. 70,000 BCE, when Sapiens evolved imagination). The Agricultural Revolution (c. 10,000 BCE, the development of agriculture). The unification of humankind (the gradual consolidation of human political organizations towards one global empire). The Scientific Revolution (c. 1500 CE, the emergence of objective science).

5. SUMMARY Harari's main argument is that Sapiens came to dominate the world because it is the only animal that can  cooperate flexibly in large numbers. He argues that prehistoric Sapiens were a key cause of the extinction of other human species such as the Neanderthals, along with numerous other megafauna. He further argues that the ability of Sapiens to cooperate in large numbers arises from its unique capacity to believe in things existing purely in the imagination, such as gods, nations, money, and human rights. He argues that these beliefs give rise to discrimination – whether that be racial, sexual or political and it is potentially impossible to have a completely unbiased society. Harari claims that all large-scale human cooperation systems – including  religions,  political structures, trade networks, and legal institutions – owe their emergence to Sapiens' distinctive cognitive capacity for fiction

6. SUMMARY Accordingly, Harari regards money as a system of mutual trust and sees political and economic systems as more or less identical with religions. During the agricultural Revolution, humans transformed from foragers into farmers, which led to the exponetional population growth. In order to facilitate trade in large communities, humans invented money and writing The emergence of empire and religion pushed humankind in the direction of global unification. The scientific revolution modernized humanity, paving the way for new technologies, imperialism and economic growth. Humankind has never been more peaceful than in our global times. History is neither good nor bad, and its twists and turn are largely irrelevant to our subjective happiness In future, Homo sapiens will transcend biological limits, eventually replacing itself with an entire new species.

7. CRITIQUE REVIEW First published in Hebrew in 2011 and then in English in 2014, the book was translated into 45 languages (as of June 2017). It also made to  The New York Times  best-seller list and won the National Library of China's Wenjin Book Award for the best book published in 2014. Writing four years after its English-language publication, Alex Preston wrote in  The Guardian  that  Sapiens  had become a "publishing phenomenon" with "wild success" symptomatic of a broader trend toward "intelligent, challenging nonfiction, often books that are several years old". Concurrently,  The Guardian  listed the book as among the ten "best brainy books of the decade". The Royal Society of Biologists in the UK shortlisted the book in its 2015 Book Awards. Marcus Paul in bethinking.org wrote that 'It is a brilliant, thought-provoking odyssey through human history with its huge confident brush strokes painting enormous scenarios across time.' Bill Gates ranked  Sapiens  among his ten favorite books.

8. CONCLUSION This book has been reviewed many people including public and many anthropologist people gave their point of view on the book. The books concludes all the information related to mankind and its evolutions many anthropologist said their opinion on the book which were negative. Allover this books gives suitable information about mankind and Homo Sapiens. The reception of the book has been mixed. Whereas the general public's reaction to the book has been positive, scholars with relevant subject matter expertise have been very critical of the book.

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