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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
catherine_m_thomson's review against another edition
4.5
Very interesting and thought provoking exploration into ‘humans’ and how we might deal with the future, both technologically and politically.
I particularly enjoyed the explanations of terms and ideologies we hear thrown around but many of us don’t actually know what they really stand for (and neither do many of the people throwing them around)!
It made me have a bit less dispair for the current world order - it’s all just a consequence of ‘being human’, as was the past and as will be the future. It’s refreshing to realise humans aren’t just getting stupider, we’ve always been that way!
Read for a book group.
I particularly enjoyed the explanations of terms and ideologies we hear thrown around but many of us don’t actually know what they really stand for (and neither do many of the people throwing them around)!
It made me have a bit less dispair for the current world order - it’s all just a consequence of ‘being human’, as was the past and as will be the future. It’s refreshing to realise humans aren’t just getting stupider, we’ve always been that way!
Read for a book group.
halliemichelle's review
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Each chapter is fairly theoretical and at some points lacks the actual “lesson” of what to do about xyz challenge of the 21st century, essentially describing the challenges in great length but stopping short of offering any solutions. I guess they are supposed to be “lessons” and not a guidebook, but still, I kept saying out loud “so then let’s ____.” But maybe thats the point.
Still, I really liked one of the central takeaways, which is that homo sapiens need to put in the effort to understand ourselves as individuals and our minds before AI algorithms and bioengineering beats us to it. Lesson 21 on meditation was great. Also loved his perspective on the stories we tell ourselves, religion, and suffering, just to name a few. Overall, really thought provoking and insightful, but dense info.
Still, I really liked one of the central takeaways, which is that homo sapiens need to put in the effort to understand ourselves as individuals and our minds before AI algorithms and bioengineering beats us to it. Lesson 21 on meditation was great. Also loved his perspective on the stories we tell ourselves, religion, and suffering, just to name a few. Overall, really thought provoking and insightful, but dense info.
jkanownik's review
4.0
First off I highly recommend the physical book over the audio book. The framing of the sections and chapters is easily lost in audio book format and it loses important structure. The book probably works best read in succession with his earlier books but is also fine to read first. New readers will get lost in the beginning where there is a heavy dose of futurist speculation. That quickly passes and you can always go back and read Homo Deus later.
My review of the content of the book itself is very similar to Harari's earlier work in Sapiens and Homo Deus. This book will make you think and it is worth reading for that reason alone. At the same time it feels incomplete due to leaving many hanging threads that are not explored. It repeats speculation over and over without justifying the reliance on it. And it misses important additional points for the topics it explores. It is not clear if they are intentionally ignored for simplification or glaring omissions. The final issue for some readers will be that the book doesn't have many answers. If Homo Deus bummed you out this book will likely leave you depressed.
I was not bummed out by Homo Deus though. This book left me with the same positive feeling. There are no easy answers and the future will require hard work. It is a call to action that provides tools to guide that action to where it can be most impactful. It tears down the mythical liberal democracy as an ethereal concept and leaves stable pillars to build off of. Nationalism is not suited to handle global problems. Democracy beat communism and autocracies due to superior information processing, but technology is allowing communism and autocracies to process information much more efficiently. Knowing ourselves is a critical step in the fight for a future that will likely get scarier before we get through it. We need more trust, humility and a lot more cross-discipline cohesion to make a world without a true objective truth work.
My review of the content of the book itself is very similar to Harari's earlier work in Sapiens and Homo Deus. This book will make you think and it is worth reading for that reason alone. At the same time it feels incomplete due to leaving many hanging threads that are not explored. It repeats speculation over and over without justifying the reliance on it. And it misses important additional points for the topics it explores. It is not clear if they are intentionally ignored for simplification or glaring omissions. The final issue for some readers will be that the book doesn't have many answers. If Homo Deus bummed you out this book will likely leave you depressed.
I was not bummed out by Homo Deus though. This book left me with the same positive feeling. There are no easy answers and the future will require hard work. It is a call to action that provides tools to guide that action to where it can be most impactful. It tears down the mythical liberal democracy as an ethereal concept and leaves stable pillars to build off of. Nationalism is not suited to handle global problems. Democracy beat communism and autocracies due to superior information processing, but technology is allowing communism and autocracies to process information much more efficiently. Knowing ourselves is a critical step in the fight for a future that will likely get scarier before we get through it. We need more trust, humility and a lot more cross-discipline cohesion to make a world without a true objective truth work.
cocreeed's review
4.0
Zum Teil starke Wiederholungen von seinen beiden anderen Büchern. Trotzdem immer wieder sehr anstrengend und interessant einem solchen intelligenten Menschen beim Denken zuzulesen :) Harari ist einer der wichtigsten Ideologiekritiker des 21. Jhd. Auch wenn er selber meines Eindrucks nach nicht mehr so viel neues zu sagen hat, ist er grandios darin narrative aus gesellschaftlichen Bewegungen herauszuarbeiten, einzuordnen und stetig einen globalen fast universellen Standpunkt einzunehmen.
jesspearson23's review
2.0
I didn’t like this. However, I don’t think I was the audience. It’s too close to an academic book without the quality of being properly supported or academic. At best it’s a book that raises questions and might reshape how people think about a part of an issue.