Sapiens

by Yuval Noah Harari

Recommended in 19 interviews and reading lists

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Who recommends it

1. Emma TourtelotInterview
2. Phil Treagus-EvansInterview

   I feel the world would be better if everyone had read Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. It’s a mind-blowing book that changes how you see the world and ourselves.

3. 20 Books That Will Make You SmarterReading list

   First up, we have a grand time-traveling expedition waiting for you in the form of Yuval Noah Harari’s internationally acclaimed ‘Sapiens’. As dazzling as a comet and as enlightening as a bolt of lightning, ‘Sapiens’ unravels the intricate tapestry of human history in a manner so riveting, it’ll make your brain dance.

4. The Most Life Changing BooksReading list

   Books have the ability to transport us to different worlds, teach us new things, and give us a new perspective on life. They can be life-changing, and Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari is one of those books. The book tells the story of humanity’s journey from primitive apes to modern humans, and the challenges we face in…

5. Nir EyalInterview

   I couldn’t put Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari down. I found Harari’s writing to be engaging yet academic and authoritative—that’s not easy to do. It inspired me to see if my writing could have a similar impact.

6. Dawson ChurchInterview

   The best book I’ve read in the last six months is Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. He manages to not only be scientifically precise, but to write with lyrical beauty. It’s a combination to which I aspire. Like me, he meditates every day.

7. Jordan MechnerInterview

   Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes by Tamim Ansary. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. Le Comte de Monte-Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (I read it in English as a kid, now I’m reading it in French). Edge of Irony: Modernism in the Shadow of…

8. Ashley StorrieInterview

   Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, my friend has been badgering me to read it. It’s sitting on my bedside table, untouched, taunting me with its small print and many pages.

9. Barbara TverskyInterview

   More recently I’ve shifted to non-fiction. Since Gödel Escher Bach by Douglas Hofstader and The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker and Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, more and more eminent scholars have discovered they are also excellent communicators to the public. I read linguistics and cultural history and…

10. Alun CochraneInterview

    I spent a lot of last year telling people to read Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. I stand by it, what a book.

11. Brenda NovakInterview
12. Kit GrierInterview

    Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari is mandatory reading for life on earth. It’s a brief history of humanity. I like it a lot because it talks objectively and candidly about issues that are important to me such as the effects of agriculture on humanity, as well as the ethical problem of eating animals.

13. Jason SilvaInterview

    The last book I read cover to cover was Stealing Fire by Jamie Wheal and Steven Kotler. I’m also currently reading Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari.

14. Naomi DuguidInterview

    Whatever I come across that seems interesting and that relates to historical trading routes, salt, agricultural labour, Central Asia, cultural contact zones. And then novels that I encounter, new and old, that catch my eye or that others have told me about. I know that I want to find and read The Language of Food by…

15. Peter AttiaInterview

    The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee, Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer, The President’s Club by Nancy Gibbs, The Most Important Thing by Howard Marks, Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz, 10 Percent Happier by Dan Harris, The Rommel Papers by B.H…

16. John PerkinsInterview
17. Laura VanderkamInterview

    I’ve recently recommended Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. It’s a fascinating take on the history of humanity, with a very contrarian bent. We generally think of agriculture as a good thing. Harari, not so much.

18. Mark MansonInterview
19. Andrew CraigInterview

    Yuval Harari Noah’s Sapiens and Homo Deus could be options here too, but they’re not quite as focused on how much better human beings have been getting over time (and so much better than most people think or realise sadly).

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