B's Reviews > Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Yuval Noah Harari is the coolest.

He's the guy smoking in the back of a murder mystery film, knowing the answers to all the questions folks are asking, quietly providing them while the cast loudly ignores him.

Sapiens is a sketch of humanity - how Homo Sapiens came to be, why they're the iteration of Homo which remains, and where we as a species are heading. He posits that, by 2050, there will likely be individuals who are a-mortal, that is, they will not die by disease or old age. And he provides real data to support this theory.

Yowza.

Unlike many similar books which ask big questions like "how did we get where we are" and "where are we going," Harari actually provides possible answers, with reasoning to back them up. He tackles why we moved from hunters/gatherings to agriculture; how we created constructs such as society, government, and currency; what it means to be a consumer; what purpose religion served... I can go on. But I won't. Because you need to read this book. Everyone needs to read this book.

Give this man a goddamn cookie.