Hadley Bent’s Reviews > Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind > Status Update

I liked his thoughts of isolated human worlds - like single planets - each embedded in individual cultures and customs, but all existing in the overall galaxy.

Ch. 6, Building Pyramids was WOW!
His discussions of the Imagined Order and the means of how we live - our desire for travel and new experiences and our modern ideals, all in the search for individualism, autonomy and “happiness” - were so interesting. Saying how the Imagined Order is inter-subjective and even if we think we as a person are “free”, we are still in the same prison as everyone else. 🤯

This book is a heavy digest. It shines the light on new ways of thinking and has given me new perspectives of how we are as humans.

Harari’s section on the cognitive revolution was fascinating - one line that stood out to me was “Homo sapiens look like an ecological serial killer.” It’s an interesting way to think of it but it’s true.

I’ve now started the agricultural revolution section of the book.