Entertaining, and thought provoking - in that order.
A new perspective
Sapiens made history fun for me. Calling sapiens a book about human history sort of undersells it. It would be more appropriate to call sapiens a book about how, and (possibly why?) we as a people ended up here.
What I loved about the book, is the simple, matter of fact way that the author adopts why describing the various concepts in our society, be it religion, economic forces, or human’s scientific evolution.
The way the books is structured makes the story of humankind feel like a grand adventure, that is mind expanding in multiple ways. My favourite part of the book was that it showed me new perspectives, making me think of certain anthropological concepts in a completely new light.
It should be noted though, while this makes you think about things you don’t give a second thought about on a normal day, you may not find yourself agreeing with everything the author says. But, in a sense, that’s what I loved about the book, it gets you thinking.
Yuval Noah Harari clearly has an amazing talent for explaining big concepts in lucid language, that is engaging, and entertaining. It never slows down, and is something of a page turner.
Final thoughts
I get silicon valley’s obsession over this book. It asks the big questions about humankind, and makes you wonder about where we are headed, while appreciating, how we reached here. Its a big ideas book. And the VC lads love the big questions. I would give this a 4.5/5