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Sapiens by Yuri Harari The book is simple mind blowing. It seems as if the entire history of homo sapiens which we learned in school was wrong. There was no sl

Sapiens by Yuri Harari The book is simple mind blowing. It seems as if the entire history of homo sapiens which we learned in school was wrong. There was no slow progression, homo Sapiens and Neanderthals existed in the same time as did many ither species like homo erectus, but the perished before Sapiens. It seems that our ability to form fictional entities (like money, state, society, country, religion etc) made us superior to other species. It seems that the basic ability to gossip helped us beat other species! Completely mind blowing.

canes123456 10y ago
I am a big fan of it but do not take the book uncritically. Everything in the book is somewhere between simplified and incorrect. It is still very useful challenging of conventional wisdom for all of history. It ties everything together too neatly but neatness has some benefits. It makes your own think more solid and makes you question everything.
- thewhitetulip 10y ago
  True, we should never take anything uncritically but the book is so well written and does make a few points. We say our ancestors were technologically weak, so how are there edificies like machu pichu, pyramids of Egypt etc
canes123456 10y ago
I am a big fan of it but do not take the book uncritically. Everything in the book is somewhere between simplified and incorrect. It is still very useful challenging of conventional wisdom for all of history. It ties everything together too neatly but neatness has some benefits. It makes your own think more solid and makes you question everything.
aa5a 10y ago
Completely agree. The book is full of ideas and questions the fundamental assumptions we live with. I just started reading it and am through the first 100 pages. Was reading it last night when I hit upon : US Declaration of Independence document is an imagined reality - a myth. It talks about equality of all men ( was hoping to read word human there but anyway ). And then he goes onto blow away the fact how all men are not equal - biologically - evolutionary and so on. I do not necessarily agree with a lot of things he says but the book is a riveting read and does questions some of fundamental assumptions we have made. I can't wait to discover what the book has to offer next. It is very thought provoking.
- thewhitetulip 10y ago
  I always thought of it as irony that US declaration of Independence says all men are born equal (Except slaves and women). Coming to a serious note: yes, the book opened my eyes, all this concept of nationality, money, everything is imaginary. Just a few days ago, I was writing something on HN and it was downvoted for some reason, I thought to myself, "so what if my imaginary internet points reduced by one". The other day, I read this. Woha, money, countries, everything is imaginary!! The ability to gossip and form bonds on imaginary things saved up from other human species.

canes123456 10y ago

I am a big fan of it but do not take the book uncritically. Everything in the book is somewhere between simplified and incorrect. It is still very useful challenging of conventional wisdom for all of history. It ties everything together too neatly but neatness has some benefits. It makes your own think more solid and makes you question everything.

thewhitetulip 10y ago
True, we should never take anything uncritically but the book is so well written and does make a few points. We say our ancestors were technologically weak, so how are there edificies like machu pichu, pyramids of Egypt etc

canes123456 10y ago

aa5a 10y ago

Completely agree. The book is full of ideas and questions the fundamental assumptions we live with. I just started reading it and am through the first 100 pages. Was reading it last night when I hit upon : US Declaration of Independence document is an imagined reality - a myth. It talks about equality of all men ( was hoping to read word human there but anyway ). And then he goes onto blow away the fact how all men are not equal - biologically - evolutionary and so on. I do not necessarily agree with a lot of things he says but the book is a riveting read and does questions some of fundamental assumptions we have made. I can't wait to discover what the book has to offer next. It is very thought provoking.

thewhitetulip 10y ago
I always thought of it as irony that US declaration of Independence says all men are born equal (Except slaves and women). Coming to a serious note: yes, the book opened my eyes, all this concept of nationality, money, everything is imaginary. Just a few days ago, I was writing something on HN and it was downvoted for some reason, I thought to myself, "so what if my imaginary internet points reduced by one". The other day, I read this. Woha, money, countries, everything is imaginary!! The ability to gossip and form bonds on imaginary things saved up from other human species.