Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
I liked the content, a summary of society you could call it; but it was dry and largely self-evident (to me).
A bit bleak for me, but an excellent read nonetheless. There are fantastic take away seven if you don’t agree with every one of the lessons here.
Com’era prevedibile, trattandosi di Harari, è stata una lettura interessante, ma a differenza di Sapiens, che ho adorato, ho trovato questo libro molto meno sorprendente, meno coinvolgente, un po’ più scontato nei contenuti e un po’ troppo ripetitivo. Soprattutto la prima metà del libro, a mio avviso, avrebbe potuto facilmente essere dimezzata pur continuando a contenere gli stessi concetti affrontati in maniera sufficientemente esaustiva.
Gli argomenti che più ho apprezzato: l’esistenza di un etica ben prima della comparsa del genere umano; l’illusione della conoscenza; l’effetto controproducente del bombardare le persone di fatti ed evidenze sottolineando la loro ignoranza; il buco nero del potere; la potenza del rito del sacrificio che sostituisce tutti gli obblighi nei confronti della fede e delle ideologie; la fallacia logica dell’uomo che è in grado di separare in compartimenti separati la fede in narrazioni diverse, anche quando queste sono in contrasto tra loro.
Gli argomenti che più ho apprezzato: l’esistenza di un etica ben prima della comparsa del genere umano; l’illusione della conoscenza; l’effetto controproducente del bombardare le persone di fatti ed evidenze sottolineando la loro ignoranza; il buco nero del potere; la potenza del rito del sacrificio che sostituisce tutti gli obblighi nei confronti della fede e delle ideologie; la fallacia logica dell’uomo che è in grado di separare in compartimenti separati la fede in narrazioni diverse, anche quando queste sono in contrasto tra loro.
Almost didn't read it because of how tacky the title is, but i really enjoyed it, and found some parts of it more impactful than in his previous works.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I'm not sure I learnt anything but it was interesting to hear his point of view and it was really easy to read.
Edit: Actually, this book led to really interesting conversations. So I changed my rating to 5 stars.
Edit: Actually, this book led to really interesting conversations. So I changed my rating to 5 stars.
I’m sorry to say that 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari ended up being bit of an underwhelming reading experience. Whereas Sapiens condenses our history and Homo Deus goes through some challenges of our future, both of which I adored, this one focuses on the present. The 21 chapters, or lessons, deal with very current subjects such as artificial intelligence, nationalism, religion, immigration and war. The beginning was promising and even though a lot of the artificial intelligence stuff was repetition from Homo Deus, it had fresh viewpoints as well that were utterly fascinating. Unfortunately, the chapters started to get bland. When I look at the table of contents now, many of the titles don’t evoke any memories at all - they were quite forgettable.
Harari’s writing style is as accessible as always, relatable examples are used to explain everything, but perhaps he tried to cover too many things. Some of the topics are out of his expertise resulting in a superficial handling of them. For instance, biotechnology is mentioned often, but it’s never explained properly, with deep knowledge. And because Harari is a historian, everything feels quite history focused even though the book is about the present.
However, I’m not saying I didn’t get anything out of this because I definitely did. I feel like I understand the current global situation slightly better and am more aware of the problems we might face in the not too distant future. I just think that something like this, a book with this many different ‘lessons’, might work better if it were written by multiple authors each writing about what they know best.
Harari’s writing style is as accessible as always, relatable examples are used to explain everything, but perhaps he tried to cover too many things. Some of the topics are out of his expertise resulting in a superficial handling of them. For instance, biotechnology is mentioned often, but it’s never explained properly, with deep knowledge. And because Harari is a historian, everything feels quite history focused even though the book is about the present.
However, I’m not saying I didn’t get anything out of this because I definitely did. I feel like I understand the current global situation slightly better and am more aware of the problems we might face in the not too distant future. I just think that something like this, a book with this many different ‘lessons’, might work better if it were written by multiple authors each writing about what they know best.
Fascinating; definitely a recommended read. I found Harai's chapters on religion especially worthy. #21lessonsforthe21stcentury #bookworm #bookstagram #bookish
Another incredible book from this author. It is so brilliant to be able to read a book that is so relevant and so up-to-date whilst still taking into account everything that has come before. It takes a very intelligent person to be able to bring a book like this together and it should never be taken for granted how lucky we are to have access to the thoughts and conclusions of Yuval Noah Harari. I also love listening to podcasts that he has appeared on as it still amazes me how he is able to coherently put his thoughts together on such complex matters, always making sure he considers things from different perspectives.