Hello! Here I am, back with another post. And probably relatively soon with yet another. The beginning of my summer has been filled with work so I've had very little energy to even think about other activities. However, as August rolls in I will have more free time (hopefully) and thus perhaps more to post about. We shall see. This is a little review of a book I read a while ago, photographed above alongside a hot cup of almond chocolate milk.
Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind has been very hot lately, you can find it translated to almost any language, sold at any airport, any bookstore, any city. I was so intrigued by it, after I forgot it at a cafe at Oslo Airport, I went to purchase a new one almost immediately. After finishing the book, I completely understand its popularity. It covers topics I believe all of us need to know about our own history as a species. These topics help understand where we come from, and opens our eyes to the good and the bad and something in between when it comes to our own history, present day and future.
It is astounding how each chapter is an enlightening experience, an opportunity to review a new perspective into the history of sapiens. When starting the book, it is important to let Harari lead you with his words instead of taking a stubborn stance sticking to your own point of view on things. This way the book allows you to embark on a journey through not only time, but yourself.
Harari's writing style is compelling and anything but dry narration of history. He draws you in from the very first chapter with intriguing examples and story-like narrative, which does not lack in the facts department. He presents you the statistics, reviews both sides of each argument, and leaves you to construct your own conclusions on the topic at hand. Particularly this style of writing was refreshing when presented with the topic of animal agriculture. He embeds the facts within the text very naturally. More often than not when people are being presented with facts that collide with their own opinions, they tend to read them with a certain close-mindedness. Harari presents all issues within the book, even the most controversial ones, with such ease and intelligence, there is no need for exclamation points or slogans for him to get his point across.
The book presents multiple different viewpoints to today's society and explains why it is the way it is. From a psychological point of view, the entire book is very interesting. However, I did find the chapter on the pursuit of happiness marginally more interesting than a few previous topics presented. Are we supposed to pursue/have we even pursued happiness as a species? Is the average human now happier than the average human in a hunter-gatherer society? If not, has our evolution succeeded or failed? How do you define a successful or a failed society/species?
I will definitely come back to this book later on I am sure. And I do strongly recommend it to anyone who is interested in discovering possible new ways to think about the world and society we live in. It is also filled chapter after chapter of interesting conversation topics. I could possibly talk about it for hours on end. I will however read his second book next, which from what I've understood, attempts to map the future of the humankind.
