Sapiens: A Graphic History, Volume 1 - The Birth of Humankind - Yuval Noah Harari - ★★★.¾

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Yuval Noah Harari

ADAPTER: David Vandermeulen

ILLUSTRATOR: Daniel Casanave

SERIES: Sapiens: A Graphic History, #1

GENRE: Nonfiction, Graphic Novel.

PUBLICATION DATE: October 7, 2020

RATING: 3.75 stars.

I had read and reviewed the original Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind long back. But a recent query in a Facebook group on whether this graphic version was suitable for a 12 year old got me thinking if I could share this book with my teenager, so I pushed this up right to the top of my TBR. If you want my opinion on the content of the original nonfiction work, please click HERE. This review is only about the graphic version, whether it does justice to the original, and its suitability for younger readers.

It is not an easy job to take a nonfiction tome such as Sapiens and adapt it to a graphic version. So I must appreciate the efforts of the author, the storyboard artists, illustrators and editors who would have worked on this graphic version. They have done a fabulous job.

𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹?

Sapiens, if you remember, had four sections: The Cognitive Revolution, The Agricultural Revolution, The Unification of Humankind, and The Scientific Revolution. This first graphic volume covers the first section of the cognitive revolution.

To make the topic transit successfully from text to graphic, many interesting characters have been added to the narration. This serves the purpose aptly as the storyline doesn't become monotonous or too intense for younger readers.

The book does its best to be inclusive with characters from various backgrounds, including a saree-clad Professor Saraswati who is next only to Harari himself in terms of character scope. Even keeping aside any personal national pride, I loved the portrayal of her character. She rocked the cool grandma approach, and younger Indians will definitely bond with her character.

𝗜𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 "𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘃𝘆"?

Well yes, the book is heavy for a graphic novel, but considering what Sapiens was, this is perfect for those who want an insight into it without struggling through the intense content. Especially for those who aren't too crazy about nonfiction, this graphic novel will be a great way to know Harari's theories.

At the same time, seeing his theories visually makes them all the more concrete in your head, and you might tend to forget that all his theories are heavily reliant on his assumptions. Adult readers might be able to filter out the chaff from the wheat; youngsters might take his version as an accurate representation of the past. So the content is still relevant, but to be taken with a pinch of salt, just like in the original book.

𝗗𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆?

The illustrations are A-grade, no doubts about that. I never thought an intense book such as Sapiens could be represented so interactively. But mainly because of the rich variety of characters, the illustrations add a pizzazz to the book.

Overall, I think I enjoyed this book even more than Sapiens primarily because of the illustrations and characters. To visualise the original content in this graphic version was a thrilling experience, and to do so along with Professor Saraswati was simply enthralling!

𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦:

1. One of the characters talks of people sleeping around, adultery, and gossip about crushes in front of Harari's young niece in a couple of the story panels.

2. There is nudity in the illustrations. Nothing vulgar. Just that in a couple of panels, the pubic area of human males and females is depicted. There are some panels with breasts shown.

These two points aren't to drive you away from sharing the book with your children, but just so that you can make an informed decision of when you want to share it with them.

𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗜 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻?

Whether to share it with your children or not is an individual choice, and there's no right or wrong age for this. After all, these decisions can't be standardised and depend on the age, reading level, comprehension level, and exposure of the kids to such topics. But I hope this post has made things a bit easier for you in taking that decision.