# Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

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Book author: Yuval Noah Harari

Review and notes by Juvoni Beckford.

Rating: 9/10

Posted: 2026-10-29T00:50:01.841Z

Read: 2016-12-04

## Review

Stories. It's our social-evolutionary trump card. In Sapiens, Harari takes us on a historical tour of our own story, that of Homo Sapiens, and why we survived compared to other Homo species. Written in a simple, focused and vibrant style, the story takes us through early homo branches and then the age of the solo homo species and it's milestones through different eras and revolutions, geographical, biological, and scientific progress and the spread of different philosophies and beliefs. We humans are on an endless conquest for things we know and things we don't know. We have conquered many lands, other species, and the elements; tried to conquer one another and aim to become gods ourselves. And yet we still may not know what we really want.
Harari frames the book in a way for you to understand the events in their historical context. I found myself hooked and it has widened my understanding of people and the world. I enjoyed reading along and watching myself make big history connections and felt waves of empathy, wonder, sorrow, and hope.

## Why I read it

I'm a fan of books that summarize history in a captivating way because it sparks the curiosity to dive deeper into history. This book comes widely recommended by people I admire.

## Reasons to read

1. How history and biology have shaped what it means to be human.
2. How stories enabled our species to survive.
3. A great big history book.

## Quotes — Yuval Noah Harari

> “Large numbers of strangers can cooperate successfully by believing in common myths. Any large-scale human cooperation – whether a modern state, a medieval church, an ancient city or an archaic tribe – is rooted in common myths that exist only in people’s collective imagination.”

> “Money is the most universal and most efficient system of mutual trust ever devised.”

> “We study history not to know the future but to widen our horizons, to understand that our present situation is neither natural nor inevitable, and that we consequently have many more possibilities before us than we imagine.”

> “Culture tends to argue that it forbids only that which is unnatural. But from a biological perspective, nothing is unnatural. Whatever is possible is by definition also natural. A truly unnatural behaviour, one that goes against the laws of nature, simply cannot exist, so it would need no prohibition.”

> "According to Buddhism, the root of suffering is neither the feeling of pain nor of sadness nor even of meaninglessness. Rather, the real root of suffering is this never-ending and pointless pursuit of ephemeral feelings, which causes us to be in a constant state of tension, restlessness and dissatisfaction. Due to this pursuit, the mind is never satisfied. Even when experiencing pleasure, it is not content, because it fears this feeling might soon disappear, and craves that this feeling should stay and intensify. People are liberated from suffering not when they experience this or that fleeting pleasure, but rather when they understand the impermanent nature of all their feelings, and stop craving them."

> “Biology enables, Culture forbids.”


> “Is there anything more dangerous than dissatisfied and irresponsible gods who don’t know what they want?”

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