Yuval Noah Harari

[Cireeric]

I recently bought the book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, because I heard many good things about it. In this discussion: 

Yuval Noah Harari talks about very interesting topics like Religion vs. Spirituality, how Humans making sense of reality via storytelling and why philosophical and spiritual questions now are more important than ever in human history. What are your opinions on his books and his ideas?

[Petals]

I really can't say much because I haven't read his books, but I recommend reading the 1-star-reviews of his book 'Sapiens'.

e.g.: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/review/0062316095/R2EYZ3KK8Y3QHE?ref=pf_vv_at_pdctrvw_srp

Edited November 15, 2020 by Petals

[Cireeric]

Yeah I asked for opinions because I wasnt sure about the author. I hadnt read the book yet. But his points in the video I find very interesting. I will read it and build my own opinion on it. The main reason is just to see more interesting persoectives on the world.

[Roy]

I've got all his books but only 100 pages into Sapiens atm. Listened to a handful of podcasts and interviews so far as well.

He explains things in a very impartial but also very clear way. There aren't as many comparable historians that do a good a job as him without pushing some agenda.

[kag101]

I read 21 lessons. It's pretty interesting. It doesn't go into great depth on each topic. It's more the basics of various topics. I'd probably give it 4 stars (out of five). 

[Ameer]

This guy is amazing. His book blew my mind open when I read it for the first time and it explains a lot of the things humans do and why we do it. Definitely read his work it’s worth it

[Fadl]

Harari is the upgraded version of Sam Harris, nothing new. 

[PurpleTree]

20 minutes ago, Fadl said:

Harari is the upgraded version of Sam Harris, nothing new. 

what are the similarities besides both having a jewish background?

 

 

sapiens is a decent/good book and very easy to read

he must have sold a lot from that, i saw so many people talk about it

[Fadl]

6 minutes ago, PurpleTree said:

what are the similarities besides both having a jewish background?

 

1-Atheism. 
2-loving their egos too much ... maybe they think that they were chosen or sth. 

10 minutes ago, PurpleTree said:

sapiens is a decent/good book and very easy to read

he must have sold a lot from that, i saw so many people talk about it

Harari is a good storyteller, but he doesn't know a lot.

[Scholar]

The book is excellent, should be on Leo's booklist, I don't know if he has read it.

It's a paradigm adding book.

[Fadl]

5 hours ago, Tim Ho said:

Not sure if I can agree with this. 

well, sometimes we agree and sometimes we don’t. Harari and Sam have the same core values. 

[Javfly33]

Greatly over-rated

[Lindsay]

@Cireeric I absolutely loved all three of his books, Sapiens, Homo Duos, and 21 lessons for the 21st century. Loved the way he told human history like a grand story. I believe it’s a very important book for all walks of life to read. It’s almost a must. It really connected a lot of dots for me. I was educated in a low income inner city in the USA. I barely know American history let alone ancient world history. The brief overview of human history presented in this book indirectly went along side with Spiral Dynamics. It reinforced all the stages in SD. It also reinforced all the symbolism and importance of religion that Jordan Peterson’s lectures on YouTube conveyed. Sapiens is such an insightful book of wisdom. Honestly I believe kids should be taught big history like this in the form of stories. And then go in depth with all the details of war and economy and politics once they are in middle school and high school. It just really helps with the dot connecting lol. I personally learned history way out of order. It was a confusing hot mess after I graduated highschool. I didn’t like how segregated and out of order history was. I didn’t make connections between 1700s America and 1700s Europe and 1700s Asia. It was taught to me separately and out of order. It just makes the big picture more difficult. 

[Lindsay]

@Javfly33

On 11/19/2020 at 1:45 PM, Javfly33 said:

Greatly over-rated

Why? Don’t take for granted how intelligent you must be then. Most people don’t understand history the way Harari does. I’m thankful he wrote a book to sum it all up for me. 

[Cireeric]

@Lindsay Thank you for your detailed answer! Im really excited to read it.