Books and writing

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011)

Harvill Secker (English edition, 2014). A history of the human species from the Stone Age to genetic engineering. It began as 20 undergraduate lectures in Jerusalem. It covers the cognitive, agricultural and scientific revolutions as well as money, empire and religion. Recommended by Barack Obama and Bill Gates. Galen Strawson in the Guardian found it “extremely interesting” but faulted its “exaggeration and sensationalism”.

Yuval Noah Harari: Sapiens · Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari · Yuval Noah Harari: About · The Guardian: Galen Strawson reviews Sapiens (11 September 2014)

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2016)

Harvill Secker. His look at the future. Old myths meet new godlike technologies. He asks what becomes of democracy and the welfare state when algorithms know us better than we know ourselves. It first appeared in Hebrew in 2015. Siddhartha Mukherjee in the New York Times said it failed to convince him entirely but called it “essential reading for those who think about the future.”

Yuval Noah Harari: Homo Deus · Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari

21 Lessons for the 21st Century (2018)

Jonathan Cape. A turn to the present. It takes on fake news, nationalism, terrorism, liberal democracy in crisis and what to teach children. It closes with a chapter on meditation. Kirkus called it a “tour de force”. Other reviewers found banalities in it. Bill Gates listed it among his five favourite books of 2018.

Yuval Noah Harari: 21 Lessons for the 21st Century · Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari

Sapiens: A Graphic History: Volumes 1 to 3 (2020)

Jonathan Cape. A comic-book retelling of Sapiens with co-writer David Vandermeulen and illustrator Daniel Casanave. Harari appears as the guide. Volumes followed in 2020, 2021 and 2024 out of four planned. The Spectator called it “an imaginative and prankish gallop through human prehistory.”

Yuval Noah Harari: Sapiens: A Graphic History · Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari · Yuval Noah Harari: About

Unstoppable Us: Volumes 1 to 3 (2022)

Bright Matter Books. A history of humankind for middle-grade readers with illustrations by Ricard Zaplana Ruiz. Volume 1 asks how humans took over the world. Volume 2 in 2024 asks why the world is not fair. Volume 3 in 2026 asks how enemies become friends. Volume 1 was a New York Times bestseller and on the paper’s list of the best children’s books of 2022.

Yuval Noah Harari: Unstoppable Us · Yuval Noah Harari: About · Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari

Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI (2024)

Fern Press. A history of information from the canonisation of the Bible through witch-hunts, Stalinism and Nazism to AI. He argues that networks often run on fictions and delusions. He asks how to keep self-correcting institutions in the age of AI. The Economist called it “strikingly original”. Steven Poole in the Guardian found him “peculiarly credulous” about AI.

Yuval Noah Harari: Nexus · The Guardian: Steven Poole reviews Nexus (11 September 2024) · Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari

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