Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Hardcover – 4 Sep 2014

Review

"A rare book...thrilling and breathtaking" (Observer)

"I have just read Yuval Noah Harari's book Sapiens. It is brilliant. Most likely the best - and I have read very many - on the history of humankind. I have never read anything better" (Henning Mankell)

"Full of shocking and wondrous stories" (Sunday Times)

"Sapiens is a starburst of a book, as enjoyable as it is stimulating" (Sunday Express)

"Reading it is like having a mental massage, cold shower and brisk workout, and all in the comfort of your own home" (Esther Rantzen Mail on Sunday)

"Provocative, thrilling erudite… One of the year’s most talked-about books" (Metro)

"Consistently engaging…Harari writes prose that leaps from the page. His broad sweep, collating philosophy, science, history and economics, creates moments of eyebrow-raising revelation for a reader from any background" (New Statesman)

"Sapiens is a fast-paced, witty and challenging romp through 70,000 years of human history...I did love it, and if you are interested in the whole story of humankind, I'm confident that you will love it too" (Literary Review)

"Harari is able to be as refreshingly clear in his discussions of biology, of evolutionary anthropology and of economics as he is of historical trends… Stick with him and you learn a lot" (Daily Telegraph)

"We usually think that we are an outcome of our personal history, where we grew up, the way our parents educated us, etc. In Sapiens, Harari delves deep into our history as a species to help us understand who we are and what made us this way. An engrossing read." (Dan Ariely, New York Times Bestselling author of Predictably Irrational)

"Harari delivers a boldly synthesized account of Homo sapiens' rise through the hominin ranks...A view of our ascent as nasty, brutish, long - and endlessly fascinating" (Nature)

"Eloquent and wonderfully funny" (i)

"Harari can write. Not in the sense that most authors can...But really, really write, with wit, clarity, elegance and a wonderful eye for metaphor" (The Times)

"This is mega-history of the best sort: sweeping but not simplistic, contemporary but not gimmicky, provocative but not contrarian. Almost everyone will want to argue with one part of this book or another, but working out which part and why will do us all good." (Dr Steven Gunn)

"For its sheer originality and intellectual stimulation, I was captivated by Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens" (Matthew d’Ancona Evening Standard - Books of the Year)

"Probably the most ambitious history book of the year. Certainly the most thought-provoking" (Dan Jones Evening Standard - Books of the Year)

"Ambitious and invigorating" (Charlotte Heathcote Sunday Express)

"Harari’s book is important reading for serious-minded, self-reflective sapiens" (Avi Tuschman Washington Post Sunday)

"Brilliantly done and endlessly fascinating" (Reader’s Digest)

"As a writer, Harari is superbly clear. He’s also a formidable polymath and a wonderfully elegant thinker... He is a brilliant analyst with a storyteller’s gift" (William Leith Evening Standard)

"Vast and intricate... Engaging and informative" (Guardian)

"A thrilling account of humankind’s extraordinary history" (Jersey Evening Post)

"The book is maddeningly opinionated and insanely ambitious. It is also compulsively readable and impossibly learned. It is one of the best accounts by a Homo sapiens of the unlikely story of our violent, accomplished species" (Michael Gerson Washington Post)

"An enthusiastic and confident narrative that is relentlessly interesting from the first word to the last" (UK Press Syndication)

"The most exciting book I’ve read this year" (Rory MacLean Geographical)

Book Description

Yuval Harari's international bestseller is a thrilling account of humankind's extraordinary history - from insignificant apes to rulers of the world