Book review - Sapiens

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

The story of our planet Earth and Man told succinctly and in simple layman terms by Yuval Noah Harari.
He talks of our evolution and how our civilizations and cultures have evolved over the years, where we are and speculates on which way we will go, and in the process busting certain myths that we have created.
One popular myth that he busts is – all humans are equal. This myth is based on the famous line in the American Declaration of Independence which states that all men are created equal. According to the science of biology people were not ‘created’. They have evolved. He further goes on to state that ‘the idea of equality is inextricably intertwined with the idea of creation. The Americans got the idea of equality from Christianity… Evolution is based on difference, not on equality.’
His concluding view is ‘Seventy thousand years ago, homo sapiens was still an insignificant animal minding its own business in a corner of Africa. In the following millennia it transformed itself into the master of the entire planet and the terror of the ecosystem. Today it stands on the verge of becoming a God, poised to acquire not only eternal youth, but also the divine abilities of creation and destruction.’
All through the book he guides you holding your hand along the path of our evolution and gives you a deep insight into where we come from and where we could be going.
A must read!

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