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Sapiens: A Brief History Of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

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    Sapiens: A Brief History Of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

    I read an article on the BBC News site last week about how the arrival of the Beaker people from Anatolia completely transformed the genetic make up of the population of the British Isles over the space of a thousand years or so following the time of Stonehenge. It made me think I'd like to read a book that gives a broad overview of pre- and early human history with an ideal closing point perhaps being Alaric's sack of Rome.

    A day or two after reading the article I noticed a copy of Sapiens on a colleague's desk which at first glance seemed to be just what I was looking for. My colleague had only just started it so couldn't tell me much about it but I've since read a Guardian review which describes it as engaging and informative, if also sensationalist and exaggerated and, crucially given what I'm after, wholly mis-named.

    So, has anyone here read Sapiens? Or can anyone recommend any other titles which might fit what I'm looking for?

    #2
    A friend in my book group read it and raved about it, although with no real background in the field, he admitted he didn't know how reliable it was.

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      #3
      I don't think it's what you're after, as far as I can tell. It's more how language evolved, and how money evolved and stuff like that, rather than telling you which group of early humans went where.

      I'd still recommend it though - it's probably very over simplified if you know much about this sort of stuff already, but it's good for the layman as an entry level primer.

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        #4
        Harari is a very good and entertaining writer, but occasionally prone to overstatement in favour of a particularly cogent phrase or anecdote. As RC says Jared Diamond covers much of the same turf.

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          #5
          I honestly thought it was shit

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            #6
            First view chapters on the history of mankind were interesting and informative, became a chore after that

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              #7
              It was from Jared Diamond, I think, that I gained two of my favourite random 'facts' (the second of which is a theory that may or may not have any credence).

              The first is that human babies are born so under-developed on account of our brains being so large that if we remained in the womb long enough to be better equipped to survive infancy our heads would by then be too big for mothers to squeeze out. The second is that the formation of the Great Rift Valley was one of the key triggers for the success of the earliest bipedal species. Our ancestors on the forested side of the valley never left the trees. Those on the barren side had to learn new survival tricks pretty sharpish. The rest as they say etc...

              It's a long time since I read The Third Chimpanzee so I could be wrongly attributing these recollections to Jared Diamond. He's not what I'm looking for right now though. The book I want to read is a series of maps brought to life. I want the out of Africa migrations and I want to know when and how groups of individuals led by alpha males became tribes with distinct identities. Sapiens, according to the Guardian article, presents the intriguing concept that it was wheat the domesticated humans rather than vice-versa. I want the story of the formation of the first nation states that followed that agricultural revolution and I want the sweeping drama of the interactions between those states and with the 'barbarians' who surrounded and, in the case of Rome, eventually conquered them.

              It's not much to ask, surely!

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                #8
                I don't know if such a thing exists, but how about a timeline?

                The History of the World

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                  #9
                  That's great. My phone doesn't do it justice but I'm looking forward to having a longer look on the laptop when I get chance.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Artificial Hipster View Post
                    I read an article on the BBC News site last week about how the arrival of the Beaker people from Anatolia completely transformed the genetic make up of the population of the British Isles over the space of a thousand years or so following the time of Stonehenge.
                    I'm not surprised, just look at the fuckers.

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                      #11
                      So that's where the gingers come from

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                        #12
                        etter books that cover similar territory would be The Ascent Of Man by Jabob Bronowksi
                        This is surely massively out of date by now when it comes to prehistory. No Floriensis, no Denisovans, no neanderthal intermixing evidence, very different ideas about sapiens migrations.

                        I started Sapiens not long ago. I'm finding the style pretty grating, and the prevalence of unfootnoted assertions is worrying, but maybe that will improve once I'm past the opening chapters.

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                          #13
                          Florensis was the very small Homo Erectus that survived until at least 13000 years ago in SE Asia (“Hobbit” in the press when the fossil was found about 10 year back). Denisovans have only been identified with a few fragments of finger bones and teeth I think. But apparently would have been quite large, contemporary with Neanderthals but taller than them or us. Think their DNA survives in Asian human populations, similar to Neanderthal in Europe.
                          Last edited by Lang Spoon; 04-03-2018, 22:18.

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by Ginger Yellow View Post
                            This is surely massively out of date by now when it comes to prehistory. No Floriensis, no Denisovans, no neanderthal intermixing evidence, very different ideas about sapiens migrations.

                            I started Sapiens not long ago. I'm finding the style pretty grating, and the prevalence of unfootnoted assertions is worrying, but maybe that will improve once I'm past the opening chapters.
                            Once got Sapiens at the airport. Lasted about as long as the journey, for precisely the above. When he happened to touch on something I did know a little about, it was obvious he was cherry picking often outdated or discredited hypotheses to suit his narrative.

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                              #15
                              Agree with that. For me me lost a fair bit of credibility bit on the very first page, which has a photo of a 30,000 year-old-handprint on a cave at Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc. His comment: "Somebody tried to say, 'I was here!'" Not only is that a massive assumption (he or she, might have done it for no other reason than seeing what it looked like), but it also contradicts his assertion later that "based on the little evidence we have [artefacts and cave paintings] can be interpreted a myriad ways." It's what I meant by overstatement for effect. Entertaining, but not good scholarship.
                              Last edited by Amor de Cosmos; 04-03-2018, 18:44.

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                                #16
                                I don’t think there’s much than can date as fast as evolutionary biology and anthropology. Alice Roberts had a series on evolution about a decade back that was perfectly orthodox in saying we never interbred with Neanderthals. We would have found them too disgusting or something, apparently, which always seemed a bit dubious. They were hairless and upright, just massively well built and with some distinctive facial features compared to us. Don’t see that as being an insurmountable barrier to getting off.

                                The multiple examples of the Neanderthal genome we have found and decoded has pretty much thrown all that in the bin. Folk in Europe and Asia did interbreed with Neanderthals, and other Homo sapiens out there.
                                Last edited by Lang Spoon; 04-03-2018, 22:17.

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                                  #17
                                  Now it seems Neanderthals may have made the first cave art found in Europe, from about 70000 years ago. Including hand prints as well as geometric trip style repetition. 30 years back it was very controversial to say that ochre found in their burials was any evidence of “higher behavior” like ritual.
                                  Last edited by Lang Spoon; 04-03-2018, 20:52.

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                                    #18
                                    I’m just allergic to these popular history/science books that often strain for A Big New Theory that ties everything up in a neat little bow. It’s also why BBC2/4 docs usually have me shouting at the Telly. Guessing the publishing houses/Commissioning Editors are mostly to blame. 15-20 years ago it was tonnes of books on how One Humble Foodstuff/Invention Changed The World. So we had Longitude, Cod (ffs, herring may have been more appropriate as that’s what kicked off the late medieval Low Countries boom, so did kind of give us the joys of Modern Capitalism, up to a point), Salt, that Nutmeg book. All incredibly cherry picky and boring really.

                                    Every piece of popular history should model its prose and method on Neal Ascherson’s Black Sea. I’ve wittered on about that book more than once here, but it’s fuckin exquisite. Beyond the Holy Mountain on Eastern Christianity past and present by William “face it man, the Raj is over” Dalrymple is almost as good for having a light touch with facts and erudition but not baffling the casual reader or talking down, and without making spurious or questionable claims.
                                    Last edited by Lang Spoon; 07-03-2018, 00:30.

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                                      #19
                                      Thanks for those tips LS.

                                      Whilst on “popular” science where do the Collective stand on Steven Jay Gould? Not a big Theory of Everything, just essays but I felt he pitched it just right.

                                      Completely irrelevant to this thread but this is OTF, so there.

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                                        #20
                                        He was a great Red Sox fan and a very good lecturer.

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                                          #21
                                          Sounds like you might be speaking from experience?

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                                            #22
                                            Yup

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                                              #23
                                              Just read the follow up Homo Deus. on sale in Tesco for £4

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                                                #24
                                                I got Sapiens and Homo Deus for Christmas from my step-son. I thought he was being excessively generous until he revealed that they were both on special offer on Amazon for 2.98 each. Haven't looked at the follow-up yet but as the back of Sapiens contains a glowing review by Chris Evans I should have known it wasn't going to be brilliant.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Well it keeps coming up on my Kindle recommended list, and had got as far as me adding it to my Wish List. So you're not alone. I've only been saved by this thread, so thanks for your,sacrifice.

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