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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
medium-paced
While not quite as gripping as Sapiens, Homo Deus is a worthy follow up to Harari's all encompassing account of our species' rise to being the dominant lifeform on the planet. Homo Deus examines the various ways the human race may alter itself into a new species through biological and physical enhancements and augmentations as well as technological advancements such us AI. Harari posits these posits these various possibilities through the reality in which we already live and draws a very clear line from our present life to the future.
However, that's where the book kind of dragged for me. Harari spends so much time explaining current trends and current breakthroughs that the speculative aspect is a bit under served. That may be a fault on me as a reader since I went in with the expectation this would be more about futurism. But coming off of Sapiens expecting a follow up work only to get (for the most part) a companion piece was a very slight let down.
There is still plenty of interesting content and ideas in Homo Deus, though. And the writing is as straightforward and digestible to the layman as Sapiens was. So I still recommend both books.
However, that's where the book kind of dragged for me. Harari spends so much time explaining current trends and current breakthroughs that the speculative aspect is a bit under served. That may be a fault on me as a reader since I went in with the expectation this would be more about futurism. But coming off of Sapiens expecting a follow up work only to get (for the most part) a companion piece was a very slight let down.
There is still plenty of interesting content and ideas in Homo Deus, though. And the writing is as straightforward and digestible to the layman as Sapiens was. So I still recommend both books.
Interesting, thought provoking, and relevant with the recent large language models AI availability.
In the author's opinion, the science, though claims to be superior towards religion and belief, yet has nothing to offer for more peace and equality among humans (and humans and animals as well). The future seems to be more aggressive and manipulative than before. Welcome to the brave new world!
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
I intend to return to write a more lengthy review but for now I can simply say I did not enjoy this as much as Sapiens. given the subject matter, speculating on future developments and their repercussions, the author had to include more of his opinion and I often did not agree with his conclusions and viewpoint. Additionally the book dragged at times and felt repetitive about halfway through though he did manage to get back on track in the last quarter. Despite my misgivings about his opinion intruding on the narrative I still feel this a worthy and timely read as it absolutely stimulated and awakened my consciousness... the author would so not appreciate that I just wrote that.
slow-paced
Meh. Ich bin mit diesem Buch auf einem schlechten Fuss gestartet. Gleich am Anfang spricht Harari über Fettleibigkeit und Armut auf eine Art, die mir ziemlich unangenehm schien (ohne die notwendige Komplexität der Beziehung auch nur annähern anzuerkennen), das hat mich direkt etwas kritisch gestimmt. Es gab danach noch ein paar kleinere Punkte, an denen ich mir dachte, dass «hier» klar wird, dass sich Harari in gewissen Bereichen schlichtweg nicht so gut auskennt, wie er glaubt (oder zu glauben scheint). So wie ich das sehe, wer sich gut auskennt in einem gewissen Fach/Bereich (welches vom Buch behandelt wird), wird vermutlich merken, dass Harari das nicht tut. Das stimmt natürlich auch sehr kritisch, weil sich, wie Harari selber sagt, niemand in allen auskennen kann, also weiss man auch nicht, wo Harari noch Argumente macht, die auf unzureichenden Argumenten gebaut sind.
Danach war das Buch aber dann wieder für eine lange Zeit voll ok. Relativ interessant, aber mir hat es oft an Tiefe gefehlt. Er hat selten etwas gesagt, was mir neu war, also hätte ich gehofft, dass er diese Diskussionen ausführlicher führt und mehr darüber nachdenkt, etwas mehr pro und kontra, etwas interessanteres daraus basteln. Aber das ist halt nicht passiert. So wie es war, ist es passabel interessant für ein paar hundert Seiten, nicht viel mehr, nicht viel weniger.
Gegen Ende hin, aber, wurde es mir wirklich unangenehm. Man merkt wirklich, dass Harari mehr oder weniger einfach eine Ideologie so hübsch wie möglich zu verkaufen sucht. Er verdreht ziemlich viele Tatsachen, um seiner «Religion» (ich nutze hier seine Definition von Religion) zu dienen und dieser zu nutzen. Gegen Ende werden auch seine Argumente immer brüchiger, besonders, weil man viel mehr merkt, dass er sich auf falschen Tatsachen stützt. Da ist meine Meinung zum Buch dann leider auch relativ rapide gefallen. Leider eine enttäuschende Erfahrung, aber ich werde Harari nochmal eine Chance geben, solange er sich auf seine Expertise beschränkt.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
The first chapters were kinda made to catch up for people who haven't read Sapiens, which I had to power through because I just finished Sapiens. However when I got to the middle, it's a page turner. I reflected on the way I approached religions and some religions that I didn't think were religions. The final chapter was definitely bleak and left me wondering what scenario will be realized, and what other scenarios can happen sans the ones mentioned in this book. Can't wait to read 21 century.
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
‘Homo Deus’ is the sequel to the famous ‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind’ by Yuval Noah Harari. I read ‘Sapiens’ in Melbourne lockdown last year (what a time) which became the book bug that bit me back into the habit of reading! So of course, I was going to give its sequel a good hot go.
In ‘Homo Deus,’ Harari sets out the thesis of the book very early on, describing how he predicts that Sapiens will strive for immortality, bliss and superhuman powers in the next century. He leaves this hypothesis extremely broad and admits that the future and the priorities of Sapiens could change direction at any time (which is a fair disclaimer to make). Just don’t expect definitive conclusions about the future by the end of this book.
On its journey to a somewhat anticlimactic final chapter, the book meanders through a broad range of topics and questions that have their own mini-conclusions. Some chapters may seem slightly irrelevant at first but Harari tactfully establishes these arguments which form a bedrock of evidence to stabilise debates in following chapters. They say that “the journey is more important than the destination” and this rang true for me when reading ‘Homo Deus’. A lot of the chapters that fell outside the main thesis resonated with me more than the actual core arguments of the book.
One of these particular chapters detailed the relationship between Sapiens and animals. Harari asks, ‘What distinguishes Sapiens from other animals?’ What is our relationship with animals and how did it become that we think of ourselves as superior to them?’ He denounces the modern mistreatment of livestock and industrial farming practices. This struck a chord with me – making me simultaneously proud and shameful of my flexitarian dietary status; an ongoing battle in my mind between my love for animals and the pleasure of a Sunday roast dinner.
But do we even have a mind? Harari then asks. What about a soul? Tell me where the mind and the soul exists, he challenges, introducing us to the age-old philosophy of mind problems that caused me headaches in my undergraduate philosophy classes.
He covers religion too and not just traditional denominations but Communism, Capitalism, human rights theory, Nationalism and most importantly, Humanism – the current major religion of humans in the 21st Century.
Just like ‘Sapiens’, ‘Homo Deus’ is written in an accessible and conversational style which helps break down dense topics into palatable pieces. This is a definite strength of Harari’s writing. If you want to build up your general knowledge on an eclectic range of topics then read this book. I wouldn’t categorise ‘Homo Deus’ as a necessity to read in your life (as I do for ‘Sapiens’) but it does help to add a few wrinkles to the ol’ brain.
I did really enjoy ‘Homo Deus’… don’t get me wrong, but Harari’s airtight logic about the scientific nature of Sapiens and the lack of evidence for anything more divine in the world left me feeling a little short of breath. Harari is not there to reassure you of your purpose and existence. His job is to widen your perspective and expose you to new concepts and theories and he does succeed in his quest. It was fortunate that I finished the book on a sunny long weekend spending time with family and enjoying life’s simple pleasures…otherwise I may have spent those few days in a nihilistic spiral.
I should add that I wasn’t fond of the final chapter on the ‘Data Religion.’ It made logical sense, yes, but I felt as if Harari was trying too hard to persuade me to try and follow this new techno-religion. He lazily threw in a few lines of counter argument to appear unbiased but I wasn’t sold. Forgive me if I don’t want to worship global data as my new God. I am a logical person but I still feel that I have a soul! (Just don’t ask me to explain where in my body it is).
4 stars for this.
In ‘Homo Deus,’ Harari sets out the thesis of the book very early on, describing how he predicts that Sapiens will strive for immortality, bliss and superhuman powers in the next century. He leaves this hypothesis extremely broad and admits that the future and the priorities of Sapiens could change direction at any time (which is a fair disclaimer to make). Just don’t expect definitive conclusions about the future by the end of this book.
On its journey to a somewhat anticlimactic final chapter, the book meanders through a broad range of topics and questions that have their own mini-conclusions. Some chapters may seem slightly irrelevant at first but Harari tactfully establishes these arguments which form a bedrock of evidence to stabilise debates in following chapters. They say that “the journey is more important than the destination” and this rang true for me when reading ‘Homo Deus’. A lot of the chapters that fell outside the main thesis resonated with me more than the actual core arguments of the book.
One of these particular chapters detailed the relationship between Sapiens and animals. Harari asks, ‘What distinguishes Sapiens from other animals?’ What is our relationship with animals and how did it become that we think of ourselves as superior to them?’ He denounces the modern mistreatment of livestock and industrial farming practices. This struck a chord with me – making me simultaneously proud and shameful of my flexitarian dietary status; an ongoing battle in my mind between my love for animals and the pleasure of a Sunday roast dinner.
But do we even have a mind? Harari then asks. What about a soul? Tell me where the mind and the soul exists, he challenges, introducing us to the age-old philosophy of mind problems that caused me headaches in my undergraduate philosophy classes.
He covers religion too and not just traditional denominations but Communism, Capitalism, human rights theory, Nationalism and most importantly, Humanism – the current major religion of humans in the 21st Century.
Just like ‘Sapiens’, ‘Homo Deus’ is written in an accessible and conversational style which helps break down dense topics into palatable pieces. This is a definite strength of Harari’s writing. If you want to build up your general knowledge on an eclectic range of topics then read this book. I wouldn’t categorise ‘Homo Deus’ as a necessity to read in your life (as I do for ‘Sapiens’) but it does help to add a few wrinkles to the ol’ brain.
I did really enjoy ‘Homo Deus’… don’t get me wrong, but Harari’s airtight logic about the scientific nature of Sapiens and the lack of evidence for anything more divine in the world left me feeling a little short of breath. Harari is not there to reassure you of your purpose and existence. His job is to widen your perspective and expose you to new concepts and theories and he does succeed in his quest. It was fortunate that I finished the book on a sunny long weekend spending time with family and enjoying life’s simple pleasures…otherwise I may have spent those few days in a nihilistic spiral.
I should add that I wasn’t fond of the final chapter on the ‘Data Religion.’ It made logical sense, yes, but I felt as if Harari was trying too hard to persuade me to try and follow this new techno-religion. He lazily threw in a few lines of counter argument to appear unbiased but I wasn’t sold. Forgive me if I don’t want to worship global data as my new God. I am a logical person but I still feel that I have a soul! (Just don’t ask me to explain where in my body it is).
4 stars for this.