SAPIENS

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3 stars = I liked it.
What I liked?
Firstly, it was an audiobook from Audible and I liked the narrator - Derek Perkins.
Secondly, I liked author's sense of humour.
As for contents, I have mixed feelings.
I have to admit that as long as the author presented his interpretation of events the knowledge of which is very limited - An Animal of No Significance - I liked it.
As the events were getting closer to our times and knowledge about them grew and grew, I got serious doubts regarding authors selection of facts and their interpretation.
So, I liked chapter - The Agricultural Revolution although it is also classified as History's Biggest Fraud.
Agricultural revolution meant bonding people to one place, limiting variety of activities (and variety of food) and a need for protection of goods.
It led to all the others benefits and failures of civilisation and to the final chapter - The End of Homo Sapiens.
I agree that with progress of knowledge and entrance of AI there comes the END, on the other hand I have to admit that I cherished the fruits of art and culture and consider that they justified the price.
As for my reservations regarding interpretation of facts I mention just one -
Author mentions that till year 1500 there were many civilisations and empires which were equal to each other. And then - Discovery of Ignorance - and out of sudden Europe takes an unimaginable lead and absolutely dominates the civilisation of whole World.
Author shows absolutely no interest in explaining this phenomenon although it decided about everything we know.
For me it is impossible not to relate it to the fact that Europe was dominated by Christianity.
I read somewhere an explanation that Christianity promoted idea of individual responsible for his fate while other religions put more emphasis on Destiny or meditation.
Interestingly, following the path of Christianity, we can see a clear economic difference between countries which grew under Catholic influence (Spain, Italy, South America) and Protestant ones (Germany, Netherlands, England, USA).
Author did not notice it.


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