Before I begin, I want to stress that I don’t possess any professional degree or qualification on archeology, anthropology or social sciences, so I cannot and will not mention about historical accuracy in any aspect of this book. I read this book as a layman, but someone with a deep interest and passion for science and history.
While I was reading the book, three aspects came into view,
The key elements that stood out for me
How it changed the way I look at certain things
How it prompted me to learn more deeply about several things
At 400 plus pages, it is a plum book, well detailed and doesn’t rush into things. Right after I finished the book, I took a piece of paper and wrote down words, phrases and ideas that really stood out for me.
The three revolutions and how each shaped our future
The imagined order
How money united everyone in the world
Some narratives made by a particular group of people for their convenience can become fact and affect a large group of people
Harari explains that the cognitive revolution is where Homo sapiens became “special.” Harari argues that our ability to think abstractly and believe in collective myths (religion, money, nations, laws) allowed us to organize in large groups. Before this, humans lived like any other animal, hunting and gathering in small tribes. But once we developed language and imagination, we could build cultures and work toward shared goals. He introduces the idea that fiction and storytelling are the foundations of human civilization which is a thought-provoking claim that challenges how we perceive history.
The agricultural revolution marks the shift from hunter-gatherers to farmers. While many assume this was progress, Harari challenges that idea, arguing that farming trapped humans in a cycle of labor, inequality, and disease. The surplus of food led to larger populations, social hierarchies, and private property. However, it also brought malnutrition, harder work, and social inequality compared to the freer lifestyle of hunter-gatherers. He even calls agriculture “history’s biggest fraud” which is a bold and controversial claim.
The scientific revolution section describes how modern science, technology, and capitalism reshaped the world. He makes the case that humans became powerful not because we had answers, but because we admitted our ignorance which led to exploration, scientific breakthroughs, and industrialization. He touches on how AI, biotechnology, and genetic engineering could transform humanity in the future, asking “What happens when we start playing God”?
Next is the imagined order concept. The idea that much of the human world is made up of shared beliefs rather than objective truths. Money, Nation borders, corporations, human rights are all made up realities. Even dividing a year to 12 months, and then a month to 4 weeks, to a week to 7 days, these are all systems that we came up with. Imagined order helps us to keep control and order in the world.
He talks a lot about capitalism in this book. He argues that capitalism and economic systems function as modern day religions and people believe in money because we all agree it has value.
The book also talks about racism in several occasions. It was fascinating to me to learn how dominant groups have created fictional narratives that justified oppression, exploitation, and even genocide. Whether its the white supremacy theory, divine connection of kings, caste system in India, women’s inferiority or most recently the American dream, these were actively reinforced through media, political speeches, and text over the years. Sometimes these narratives become so deeply rooted in our culture, that breaking them requires humongous effort, think World War 2.
These are the key elements that stood out for me. Not the only elements, but definitely these were quite thought provoking for me. Now how did the book change the way I look at certain things. Honestly, I think as we all do, we are all conscious about the fact that some of the things that we follow so religiously, like money, banking systems, corporations, capitalism, empires or nations, human rights are imagined orders. But the book really opened my eye to this realization, if these are indeed imagined orders, should we be spending so much of effort, precious time and resources chasing them. Countries spend so much effort trying to expand their borders, attack other nation borders, boast about the things that one nation has that the other doesn’t, is this fruitful?
I don’t think I have to mention about chasing money, because we all know its pointless but we all do it anyway. The society has been set, in a way. If you don’t follow everybody else and try to collect as much money as possible, you will be left out.
Once I finished reading the book, I went online to see what others thought of the book. I saw a lot of criticism on some of the major elements of the books, especially from professionals in anthropology and social sciences. He contrasts hunter-gatherers with modern society in a way that many anthropologists feel is romanticized and inaccurate. Also one common criticism I saw was about the transition from hunter-gatherers to agriculture. His idea like agriculture is the biggest fraud, or transitioning from foraging to agriculture did more bad for us than good are interesting but not universally accepted among historians. These things I feel should be backed by historical findings, archeology, because otherwise we cannot know for sure what went down 12,000 years ago. I saw in one article that the archeological findings from sites before the agricultural revolution showed human bones lacking nutrition compared to after agricultural revolution. The argument that agriculture actually did bad for our overall health can be questioned with findings like this.
The overgeneralization of certain points is something even I felt as a limitation of this book. I think maybe from a broader sense, or if you only look at big and popular societies in history, certain things might be true. But that doesn’t mean that’s the only way. Lesser known societies or cultures may provide contrasting developments. Harari argues that wherever humans went, they caused mass extinctions of megafauna, such as mammoths in North America and giant kangaroos in Australia. While human activity likely contributed, the claim that humans alone wiped out these species oversimplifies the issue. Harari often describes religion as a way to manipulate people rather than a genuine human experience. He emphasizes how religious beliefs helped rulers maintain power, but this overlooks,
The personal, spiritual, and existential aspects of religion.
The positive role religion has played in uniting societies, providing moral frameworks, and inspiring art, literature, and philosophy.
Now my final thoughts, I absolutely loved this book. This was a game changer for me. I’m not going to takt this book as a history textbook, or consider it as 100% factually accurate text. Why I personally loved this book was mostly because of Harari’s writing. He write such complex, thought provoking, huge concepts, theories which such ease. When you start reading it, you don’t want to put it down. You may not agree with some of the things he says, but you cant deny that he brings up really thought provoking ideas, and makes you want to learn more about our own history. Sure, certain technical things might be far fetched, like agriculture was the biggest fraud, but he also brings to our attention the social injustice caused by false narratives like white supremacy. He covers a lot of big fields like history, archeology, anthropology, economics, science and makes it accessible to a wide audience. He raises important ethical questions about modern capitalism, artificial intelligence, and the future of humankind, and to me that is more important than being fixated on some historical errors. I’m not saying this is a perfect book, but its a needed book for our society. I understand a lot of criticism comes from people not because they are so worried about historical accuracy on few aspects of the book, but because they are unable to stomach some of the bold claims laid out by the author. A deeply religious reader might have trouble reading because the author bluntly says that all religions are a product of our imagination. A deeply nationalist person might dislike the fact that the author called nation borders an imagined order.
Should you read it?
Absolutely. It’s a brilliant book to challenge your thinking and understand history in a new way. I really appreciate the effort of the author, he became one of my favorite authors after this book. However, it’s best read with a critical mindset don’t take every claim as absolute fact, also don’t go into the book expecting to be too critical. If you come across something you don’t agree with, or you know to be inaccurate, don’t dismiss the whole book on that basis. Keep on reading, and you might find sections you really like. After all, as intelligent readers and literary enthusiasts, its up to us to read all sorts of material, critically evaluate and grab the message they try to convey and dismiss the rest.