Yet today there is only one - Homo sapiens. Of Yuval Noah Hararis Sapiens: A Brief History of HumankindEureka Books.From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity's creation and evolution - a number one international best seller - that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be "human".Yuval Noah Harari, New York Times bestselling author, has twice won the Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality, as well as the Society for Military History’s Moncado Award for outstanding articles in military history.He received his PhD from the University of Oxford in 2002 and is a lecturer in the department of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yuval Noah Harari Sapiens Audiobook Free Online.Browse the collection of eBooks, audiobooks and more. Harari focusses on the three awesome transformations of mankind’s history: Cognitive, Agricultural, and Scientific. The outcome is a captivating book which will challenge pre-originations and once in a while pester or even outrage the peruser, yet will dependably interest.To be fair, Harari really discusses synchronisation, not accuracy, but the gist of the argument makes it seem like the need for train time tables gave rise to the industry of accurate time pieces. Harari suggests accurate time keeping came about in the newly railroaded Great Britain, where accurate scheduling suddenly became important. In a course I followed as part of my PhD in physics, we touched upon how the need for accurate time keeping came about, where my professor suggested the need arose not too long after the black death when scarcity of labour made it more important for skilled craftsmen to keep tabs on how long they actually worked on a given project. As such, perhaps it is good not to take Sapiens as gospel as far as details go. I am not learned in the field, and cannot immediately say anything about the accuracy of what Harari writes, and I note several more or less expert reviewers giving Harari flack for sensationalism and errors.I feel Harari paints an unduly romantic picture of the life of a hunter gatherer, saying they had 40 hour work weeks and spent lots of time with their children and telling stories under the stars. Three points stick with me 1) The fraud of agriculture. Be that as it may, a potential lack of exact facts seem to me not to detract from a slew of very interesting thoughts on the broader topic.
Take a month and weed a bit, maybe chase off a herd of grazers or whatever, and then continue on the nomad trek. At first, it seems like a good idea to spend an extra month in this here spot to tend to some plants that grew really well last year. As humans, we have an incredible inability to look ahead, and Sapiens posits this inability trapped us in a dreadful spiral of growing population and diminishing freedom. And the goddam bees are dying. We see it time and again we start doing something that seems great in the moment, but three generations hence, we've no more oil, the atmosphere is turning toxic, and we're hopped up on a cocktail of hormone mimicking chemicals. The story Harai weaves simply makes sense to me. Harari's suggestion for the key difference is social and philosophical: Europeans were unusually willing to accept ignorance, and unusually interested in filling these gaps in knowledge. That said, he makes the case that in the 15th century, there were no major technological differences between the largest powers in the world Europeans, the Ottomans, the Chinese, they were all pretty evenly matched as far as technology went, and it might seem like a surprise that only 200/300 years later, Europe would have such a choke hold around the globe. Now, I am of both Southern and Northern European descent, so I may just not be sufficiently tuned to pick up on major issues with his arguments. 2) How come European culture became so dominant? This is an interesting topic that can easily turn into a trashy cultural masturbation contest, but on the whole, I feel Harari navigates it well. Speaking of how things might have been better if some other culture had gained the upper hand the way Europe did is not part of Harari's discussion, but that's fine by me he is describing history at this point, letting the listener draw any moral conclusions on their own. Meaning also that incredible damage and suffering, past and future, is at the hands of European cultures. But that isn't what Harari drives at. Of course, in light of our global culture where these kinds of ideals are, well, ideals, this sounds uncomfortably like European cultures are "better". Perhaps it could not really be otherwise, or, perhaps, it is a consequence of European hegemony, and another culture's approach might have led to science unmarred by ties to economic gains and imperial ambitions. And the parts of science not about conquest as such, are still all about us, and our desire to pad the list of things we understand. Harari draws a parallel between science and empire building in which he posits a philosophical equivalence science is about dominion over nature, insofar as large amounts of science is done to bolster our ability to make use of nature for our purposes. I now have a little insight into a field that interests me, and have things to think about. I think it lays out some sensible arguments about human history that I would not have seen were it not for Harari writing this book, and that is what I expect from a popular science work. I don't think Sapiens is entirely accurate, and I don't think it was meant to be used as the curriculum for a human history course. This is pretty scathing critique, but also a bit beside the point. Canon lbp7110cw driver for macWith most of the "historical" references being obvious speculation. I expected to find a more historical frame in this book as the name would suggest however what is to be found is a very general overview. The reader will notice a default pessimistic tone in Sapiens, drawing unnecessarily fatalistic conclusions from historical events, theorized historical events, and dogmatic practices of the human existence. Normally I find some positive takeaways from these types of books, but Sapiens is an exception. I read/audio a lot of popular nonfiction and this is the one time I've been compelled to post a negative review. As has been pointed out by other critics hunter/gatherer societies that evolved into agricultural societies were in places of (relatively) high population densities. There is no credibility to such speculation, even in comparison with modern hunter/gatherer societies. I find that sheer speculation with absolutely no factual reference or even suggestion of evidence is out of place in a nonfiction book. Relatively non serious injuries result in death on a regular basis ex. Even in modern hunter/gatherer societies strife, murder and even genocide are common amongst competing tribes.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorErica ArchivesCategories |