Amazon.in:Customer reviews: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Reviewed in India on 6 September 2018

The paper and print quality are very poor. Sending fake printed books in the name of special collector's edition and that too without colours. I found a better book through different vendor as compared to this Harsh Books.

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Sonal

THOUGHT PROVOKING!!

Reviewed in India on 31 May 2017

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I have read Homo Deus and Sapiens in a row, Firstly both the books are written in a lucid flow nothing is left out for doubt but every sentence provoke you to think of our past present and future.
Its unbelievable how author put forth history/future of humankind in such an never ending enthusiastic manner.
loved both the books

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Just Another Customer

okayish

Reviewed in India on 31 December 2018

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Half the book is very interesting after which it becomes a drag to read. Too preachy with less history. His book begins in a most promising way, weaving history and narrative in a way that breaks down preconceived notions of linear evolution. It's terrific at this point. At roughly page 120, the book begins to veer into a bizarre social justice screed, and the author begins citing as true facts things that are neither footnoted nor true. It became so poorly sourced and agenda-driven that I had to set it down, as it differed significantly from all that preceded it.

It's not a history - it's "Pop History." Superficial with lots of bold assertions without any corroborating evidence. With five minutes on Google you can discover that some of the most outlandish stories are false. At many times in the book I felt the author departed from what scientific evidence/research supports and instead conveyed a more political/biased view of things.

I would have liked to have him bring his educated opinions, emotions and humanity into the book more directly and openly, with facts and ideas that show how he arrived at these beliefs, rather than disguise his emotions as science and cherry pick a few facts to support himself. It cheapened what could otherwise have been a very good, thought provoking and otherwise well written book.

Given his next book is about the future, I am going to avoid it. In the middle of the book, I even wanted to give it up. Towards the end I had to push myself through the book.

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KAMRAN ALAM KHAN

Less facts and more personal opinions

Reviewed in India on 10 May 2020

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This is a book for you if you like reading stories. At many places, the facts are presented incorrectly. For example, in chapter 12, he writes "... In Hindu polytheism, a single principle, Atman, controls the myriad gods and spirit, humankind, and the biological and physical world. Atman is the eternal essence or soul of the entire universe, as well as of every individual and every phenomenon." Anyone who studied Hinduism will find it difficult to digest. Also his comments on communism and Buddhism reflects his superficial understanding of the subject. The book is full of personal opinions and more like a work of fiction. The author adopted the reductionist approach of science to depict humans and nature merely as complicated machines and predicted that the artificial intelligence would soon replace every function of human cognition. The author preaches his philosophy authoritatively.

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fraza

Horrible Print Quality

Reviewed in India on 10 May 2019

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This seems like a cheap replica of the original book. I have read from the original book and the quality of pages and printing in this copy is just terrible. The author regularly makes use of pictures and diagrams to aide his point but because of the print, the images are not discernible at all (see attached image). The paper used is the sort that government schools use to print their question papers, it will tear at the slightest of tugs. I don't recommend you buy this just because of the terrible quality.

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Sahil

Unique and though provoking.

Reviewed in India on 11 July 2019

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I have special interest in History as i love it as subject. I have read many history books not only modern but also ancient or books on prehistory. But after reading Homosapiens i am just overwhelmed that how the author has presented evolution of human history in such a simplistic , unique and analytical manner.
This book not only details anthropological evidences or facts but it covers all scenarios to present the picture whether it is biology, genetics, culture, science , environment etc.
I loved the way the author covered the issue and aspects of religion in human history from early man till today. How and why religion evolved , and how religion is directly related to political and economic power.
This book will help you in critical analysis of what we are fed or what we study. This book will force you to form your opinion based on facts and logic rather than some religion or superstitions. Some of the best chapters in the book are:
1 History biggest fraud
2 There is no justice in history
3 The law of religion
4 The marriage of Science and
Empires
5 The End of Homosapiens.

This book is must read for not only student of history but for all those who are curious enough to understand the concept of how human history evolved.

BOOK SPECIFICATIONS :
1 Book : Sapiens
2 Author : Yuval Noah Harari
3 Language : English
4 Year : 2015
5 Publisher : Penguin
6 Parts/Chapters : 5/20

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Sidharth Shankar

Worthless reading for Indian subcontinent's

Reviewed in India on 7 March 2020

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Author have very poor knowledge about rich historical past of India. 3000-100BC. He have to read about Indus Velly Civilization. Worthless reading for Indian subcontinents. Just funney things he have compiled, so called reseach. I suggested, he have to visit India once, he will definitely feel ashamed about his very little knowledge about History.

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Ravneet Kaur

Sapiens- a book review

Reviewed in India on 4 September 2019

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SAPIENS by Yuval Noah Harari is one of the most important books of the 21st century. It is an eye opener and as informative as it can get. Harari has literally compiled all the information about our planet and our species and put it in this book. It tells us of the reason why the world that we live in today is the way it is. This book is very informative and important and cannot be described as a casual read.
I am a quick reader. I can finish a book in a few hours or a day or two, but this book has literally taken me weeks to finish. And I don’t think it is a bad thing at all. It just contains so much information and has so much to tell that I needed time to process all that I was reading about. I would literally stop after a certain topic so I could think about it and process it all and then pick up the book again. No book, and I mean no book at all, can come up to this level of importance on the ‘must-read’ scale.
It is very important for us to read this book and understand the way that we as humans have evolved in every way since existing on this planet and the consequences of our decisions on other humans, beings and most importantly, this planet.

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S. Waikhom

Brilliant! A must read for everyone

Reviewed in India on 22 July 2017

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This is one of those rare books that makes you think, think hard, think again and yet again. Brilliant! A must read for everyone. You won't find a better book on the history of humans with so vast a spectrum of valuable insights and new perspectives condensed in such a small volume. I heartily recommend it!

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Ashok Krishna

Don't fall for the hype!

Reviewed in India on 11 June 2020

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I have read quite a number of books that ended up disappointing me. Some of those were gifted by well-meaning friends. Some of them were books I bought on an impulse. Then there were books that I had waited years to read only to find them unworthy of all those years of patience. But this book by Yuval Noah Harari tops the list. Just imagine reading a book that all your friends were going gaga about, only to find that there is nothing worthwhile in it and wondering whether you are really a good reader at all, now that you don’t even like a book that the whole world around you seems to love!

Let’s clear a few things first, before you think of bashing me up. This is a commendable effort by Mr. Harari to summarize the whole history of mankind and its evolutionary tale. During the initial pages, I too thought that this will be one of the best reads on anthropology. But this book promises a lot only to deceive. We statisticians use the term confirmation bias, which means the tendency to favor and present only those information that are supportive to one’s beliefs. This book is full of them. Harari had decided to present all that is wicked and weak about Homo Sapiens and he has succeeded to a large extent.

Not that I am complaining. I for one have never held the notion that we humans are special beings sitting atop the food chain, placed there by a favorable god who created us all in his (or, is it a ‘her’?) own image. I think of us as a different species of apes that managed to evolve a little quicker than our cousins. Despite our use of advanced languages, costly clothes and snazzy gadgets, internally we remain the beasts that roamed the vast forests once. I see nothing special about being human. This book helped cement that belief in my mind by discussing the idiocies and idiosyncrasies of our species as a whole.

But that’s just about it. This book isn’t ‘a brief history of humankind’, but the opinions of Mr. Harari about the various aspects of human evolution. This isn’t a chronological history in the lines of ‘What on Earth Happened?’ by Christopher Lloyd or ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ by Bill Bryson, both of which I found to be far more informative and interesting than this one. This is both a philosophical take and passing of judgments by Mr. Harari on what he considers to be the vital cogs of human evolution, namely Cognitive Revolution, Agricultural Revolution & Scientific Revolution. There is nothing that you end up learning that you already didn’t learn, especially in case you had read those two aforementioned books.

Sorry, dear friends. I have read much better books. 2.5 stars!

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