Analysis Of Sapiens: A Brief History Of Humankind

Author Yuval Noah Harari has a unique way of reviewing the past fourteen billion years in his monograph Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. His intention for writing this book is mainly to bring up the conversation of the human condition and how it has affected the course of history. In this case, the human condition coincides with the inevitable by-products of human existence. These include life, death, and all the emotional experiences in between. Harari is trying to determine how and why the events that have occurred throughout the lives of Homo Sapiens have molded our social structures, the natural environment we inhabit, and our values and beliefs into what they are today.

The subtitle, A Brief History of Humankind is not an exaggeration.

For example, chapter 4 brings up the question of how much Homo Sapiens played a role in the extinction of most of the large marsupial mammals in Australia. The evidence is presented that, after Homo Sapiens arrived on the continent of Australia, “of the twenty-four Australian animal species weighing 100 pounds or more, twenty-three became extinct” (65). This is the type of evidence that cannot be disputed. It is a literal fact that certain areas with large mammal populations experienced a decrease in those populations upon the arrival of Homo Sapiens. Thus it is posited that humans have been a strong antagonist to other species for many thousands of

It compels the reader to think more about and to analyze the information they are given from a new perspective. One idea that the author shares is that “Biology enables; Culture forbids” (147). When a certain culture prohibits something because it is “unnatural”, its reasons are most likely of a religious origin that condemns anything that is deemed bad in the eyes of their god. In reality, nothing can be unnatural because that would mean going against the laws of nature, which is impossible. This logic only gives more merit to the fact that no one is genetically programmed to discriminate, but rather prejudice is something that is learned and instilled by