The first volume subtitled "How Humans Took over the World", subtitld "How Humans Took Over the World" starts with prehistoric man. A hard concept to realize is that humans were weak compared to other animals. Our distant ancestors were fearful of predators, even of scavengers. Harari speculates early humans may have discovered marrow by cracking on bones that had been abandoned and from this developed a love of meat eating.
Another key step was learning to control and to initiate fire. Cooking not only improved digestion, but paved the way for brain development. see http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2025/04/hooked-how-big-food-draws-you-in.htmlThe ability to tell stories was essential for humans to co-operate. Some stories were of a religious nature and others told of business structures. Telling stories has proved to be an effective way of communicating see http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2011/06/tell-to-win-offers-winning-formula.html
Humans started in Africa and then spread to Europe, Asia and Australia. After the development of needles that could be used to stitch furs together they made it to North America and then South America. Along the way groups of people co-operating were able to make some large animals become extinct. Our ancestors were also forced out other human rivals, namely Neanderthals and Denisovans.
The second volume is sub-titled "Why the World Isn't Fair"
Agriculture developed very gradually, but eventually humans learned to plant wheat and other cereals and to store it. Early humans learned how to turn wild animals into providers of human needs. They didn't have to move like gatherers did and eventually learned to build walls and even hire guards to keep out intruders.
The farmers developed more permanent structures, but had a monotonous diet. Gatherers had a more diverse diet and were thought to be more anxious than village dwellers.
Sumer was credited with inventing writing which was really to keep track of properties and taxes. By this time slaves were considered property. The Egyptians took tracking information to a higher level developing a type of writing for more than just numbers, but more important improved organization that amounted to bureaucracy.
There were so many Egyptians that they developed a leadership backed by a religious story allowing the Pharaoh enormous power so much we can see the magnificent pyramids. In the gathering stage there really were no such leaders as all the humans were relatively equal. See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2014/07/selected.html
Harari towards the end reiterates the importance of stories, admitting that they are still necessary even today as people obeyed the rules because they believed the stories. But there are bad stories. The Crusades were started by priests proclaiming that God did not want the Muslims to control Jerusalem. He chooses two more examples, women and gays. In both cases changing stories have been developed to give both groups more freedom that in turns benefits us all.
He leaves the thought that if a story is causing suffering maybe we should change the story and furthermore such change will come from kids.
In his acknowledgements, a part of the education process he explains the author gets their name on the
cover, but require the help of many other people to produce the book. Harari is an excellent explainer and he realizes children represent the future of humankind
Earlier blog posts about other books by Yuval Noah Harari
http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2015/12/sapiens-brief-history-of-humankind.html
http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2017/04/homo-deus.html
http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2018/12/21-lessons-for-21st-century.html
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