Book Review: Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

When my father worked on a podcast with a man, Marc David Maron, I was little, and for years I heard him on the phone and in facetime meetings with Mr. Maron, or Marc with a “C” my dad used to say. Now, I am older, and the podcast is over, and one of the main things I remember most about my father, a historian, was him giving Marc Maron background notes on guest political issues with an accurate historical angle, like understanding how Iran went from friend in the middle east to enemy in a short 15 year period between 1962 and 1977 when the the United States supported the overthrow of the Iranian government for a certain leader known as the Shah, to give USA ally Great Britain access to cheap oil. This led to political corruption, and anti-western sentiments and the eventual rise of the current religious regime that has beliefs and processes of government that don’t align itself with Western values of Capitalism. Yet, the most memorable moment was when President Barack Obama went on Marc Maron’s podcast, and my father prepared him for the discussion of many of Obama’s favorite books at the time, and one was the book Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari.
My father recommended this book, and eventually bought it for me for Christmas, and I read it. The book is incredibly insightful. In fact, I will never see the world the same again, or my role in it. Harari’s exploration of homo sapiens as an animal on this planet, and our destructive impact to all forms of life, animal and plant, was astounding and disheartening. In fact, learning that no matter where homo sapiens went everything around them went extinct: other humans, animals and plants. In short, mankind can be seen as a virus, or carnivorous bug that eats everything. His acknowledgement of mankind’s keen ability to tell stories, or to lie until we believe it to be true has united mankind in this destructive quest to separate himself from the animal kingdom and destroy it. In fact, he goes century to century with clarity and resolve to point out the hostile and self-serving intellect that is mankind. For example, our cruelty to ourselves and the animal life around us should give us all pause in the kind of lives we live, and how we see ourselves in the past, present and future timelines of terrestrial existence.
Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens should be required reading for all students. I can’t recommend this book more. Not reading it is like having eyes and a voice, but never opening your eyes to see, or mouth to speak. In reading this book one gains the clarity and understanding of the common history that we never knew, forgot and refuse to acknowledge. The book is pure wisdom and in reading it you realize that you never had anything important to say or understand until you know all of the 99% of history mankind has collectively forgotten and continues to ignore until you read this book.