Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

[3.75] I'm torn. This book presents some interesting ideas; some I find compelling, some I don't. Harari is definitely a skilled writer, especially for general audiences. That being said he is also no doubt inspired by Jared Diamond, and Diamond is quite the controversial figure in academia. Like Diamond, Harari is (in my opinion) taking one theory and trying to apply it far too broadly. Any living species, especially humans, are far too complicated to be explained by one big idea. It really does feel like he sat in on a colleague's intro to anthropology class and was like “I've got it!”