You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I thought the first few chapters were fine but not world-changing or mind altering. As the book progressed, I appreciated the discussion about spiritualism and religion and I especially thought it was interesting in the context of 2018 v 2025 realities. I see now why it was so lauded by the general public. I would recommend as a read, but with caveats. I'm interested in reading other works from this author.
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, War
Best book I’ve read so far. Almost every chapter is eye opening. Totally recommend 15/10
I "read" the first half of this book on audio, and the second half on paper. For reasons I can't totally explain, I enjoyed the second half a lot more. Harari is a thinker and a futurist and I'd say this book is pretty much centered on 2050, not a date I can easily imagine. The book is sort of like reading Jarad Diamond's "Collapse", but instead of the smug safety of thinking how stupid those humans were, it's now us. Harari has three boogeymen, global warming, nuclear war, and AI (artificial intelligence), all of which he is mostly pessimistic about our ability to handle. I think there's common agreement on the first two, but the third I'm not totally sure of his conclusions. He says things like, "As explained in earlier chapters, the rise of AI might eliminate the economic value and political power of most humans." He is most concerned of the intersection of AI and biotechnology, envisioning a time where the rich can become "superhumans" and the poor basically fodder. He is also concerned about giving programmers the job of embedding ethics into machines, with the somewhat strained (in my opinion) example of the self-driving car that has to decide whether to kill a pedestrian who walks into the street suddenly or swerve into the path of a truck and kill the car's passenger. Finally, Harari goes off the rails (and apologizes for doing so) in the last chapter titled, "Meditation", in which he says, essentially, "but none of this stuff matters because the real reality is only revealed by meditating, i.e. thinking nothing." Still, I give the book five stars because I think everybody should read it. It is pleasant and useful to live in the now, but thinking about the future is important too.
Harari lays out a clean and clear line of logic for navigating the terra incognita of the future.
adventurous
informative
I will read anything he publishes at this point. Harari is one of the clearest and most interesting writers I have enjoyed. In Sapiens and Homo Deus he examined history and the future, but in this one he looks at the present. Most of it is fascinating - examining religions, nations, technology. It lags in spots and is just a tad behind his first two books in my view, but quite interesting nonetheless. I found myself underlining passages and taking notes on topics he treated well, like elections, nationalism, terrorism, and education.
“Even if we think we know something, we shouldn’t be afraid of doubting our opinions and checking ourselves again. Many people are afraid of the unknown and want clear cut answers for every question. Fear of the unknown can paralyze us more than any tyrant. People throughout history worried that unless put all our faith in some set of absolute answers, human society would crumble. In fact, modern history has demonstrated that a society of courageous people willing to admit ignorance and raise difficult questions is usually not just more prosperous but also more peaceful than societies in which everyone must unquestioningly accept a single answer. People afraid of loosing their truth tend to be more violent than people who are used to looking at the world from several different viewpoints. Questions you cannot answer are usually far better for you than answers you cannot question.”
Audiobook
Audiobook