Review of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari Rating *** 1/2
Sapiens is a highly touted book. A New York Times #1 best seller. I found it to be a bit of a slog. The book attempts to tell the story of humankind using a past, present, and future structure. While it does stick with this format for most of the book, the author often strays from a linear retelling. He could be talking about Neil Armstrong walking on the moon in one paragraph and then switch to a story about slavery in the next with no discernable connection between the two.
That is not to say the book has nothing of interest to offer. It certainly does. However, readers may find themselves sifting through disjointed anecdotes and seemingly out-of-context references to uncover its most compelling insights.
One aspect I found particularly problematic was the author’s predictions about the future. For example, in a lengthy discussion of war, he argues that it is becoming increasingly unlikely that one nation would attempt to expand its territory through military conquest. Yet the book was published in 2014, the same year Russia annexed Crimea, and only eight years later Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In hindsight, that prediction has not aged well.
Then there is the author’s description of attempts to make a computer as intelligent as the human brain. He gets this partially right but completely whiffs when it comes to AI. Rather than attempting to duplicate the functions of the human brain, today’s AI systems derive much of their power from processing and synthesizing enormous amounts of information to generate useful responses and insights.
As you might expect, there are references to the agriculture revolution and the industrial revolution, but scant reference to the Renaissance period or the technological revolution. Both of these periods were equally important to the growth of humankind. Yet, despite the version of the book I listened to having been published as a special ten-year anniversary edition, there was no mention of the current artificial intelligence revolution.
The author touches on the debate between creation and intelligent design. He uses examples of animal breeding as an example of intelligent design. But he also rightly disparages the industrialization of our food supply and the cruelty which we treat livestock. However, he makes no mention of a potential solution to this problem, which is the production of cell-based meat.
I mostly listened to this book. At just over 15 hours long, I’m sure my mind may have wondered a bit.