Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind - Yuval Noah Harari - ★★★.¼

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AUTHOR: Yuval Noah Harari
GENRE: Nonfiction.
PUBLICATION DATE: January 1, 2011
RATING: 3.25 stars.

Assume that you are a huge coffee lover, and you are served a cup of tea. You refuse at first, but are then informed by all and sundry that it is no ordinary tea, but a delightful masala chai, exotic and exquisite, innovatively prepared like never before... All these raring compliments convince you to give it a try. Still slightly wary, you take a tentative sip. "Well, it does seem pretty good for tea", you think, and end up drinking the whole cup. You relish the flavour and appreciate the chai-maker for converting something mundane into something so pleasing to your senses. You feel like complimenting him for not following the typical tried-and-tested recipe but taking a different approach towards instilling new flavours in the brew. However, a teeny tiny part of your heart is still not satisfied. Just because it was tea and not coffee.

"Sapiens" to me is that brilliant masala-infused chai. Almost all of the nonfiction I read tends to be science, economics, business or real-life narratives. So I was slightly apprehensive about taking up an anthropological book. But it seemed to have received glowing reviews from almost all quarters, so the temptation to try it was tremendous. A few chapters into it, I began relishing the journey. Sapiens is flavourful, it is offbeat, it is thought-provoking. It is a ray of sunshine in the bleak realm of human evolution books.

And yet, in spite of all this, by the time I reached the end, I was left underwhelmed. It was more a feeling of relief that the book was over rather than satisfaction on reading a thought-provoking book. Surprisingly to me, I enjoyed the cognitive and agriculture revolution sections of the book (they were really eye-openers) much more than the scientific and industrial revolution parts.

This doesn't take away anything from the book. It's still worth a read, and opens up your mind tremendously about who we are as a species and how we've reached this position in society. After all, covering thousands of years of human evolution within a single book is no mean task. Though Harari sounds a bit presumptuous at times, his knowledge does reveal itself in most cases without any ambiguity or bias.

Do I regret reading this book?
Definitely no regrets.

Did I enjoy the book?
Indeed, I did.

Would I recommend the book to others?
Certainly, I would.

Would I reread it anytime?
Absolutely not!

Why?
Because Sapiens isn't my cup of..... er... coffee.


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Since the above book, Sapiens has also been released in graphic novel form. So far, the first two sections of the book have been published in graphic format. Check them out:

Sapiens: A Graphic History, Volume 1 - The Birth of Humankind.

Sapiens: A Graphic History, Volume 2 - The Pillars of Civilization.

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