Life and career

1976 · Born in Israel. Born in Israel in 1976. He grew up in Kiryat Ata, an industrial town outside Haifa. He taught himself to read at three. From eight he studied in a class for gifted children at the Leo Baeck Education Center in Haifa. (Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari · The New Yorker: Yuval Noah Harari gives the really big picture (17 February 2020))
1993 · Jerusalem at 17. He began history and international relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem at 17. He took his BA there between 1993 and 1998. He specialised in medieval and military history. (Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari)
2000 · A first Vipassana retreat. As a doctoral student he went on a Vipassana retreat. He was told only to notice his breath. He later called this “the most important thing anybody had ever told me”. He has practised daily since. (Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari · The New Yorker: Yuval Noah Harari gives the really big picture (17 February 2020))
2002 · Oxford doctorate. He completed his DPhil at Jesus College Oxford under Steven Gunn. His thesis studied Renaissance military memoirs. At Oxford he read Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel and saw that such books could be written. The same year he met Itzik Yahav. (Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari · The New Yorker: Yuval Noah Harari gives the really big picture (17 February 2020))
2003 · The world history course. He held a Yad Hanadiv postdoctoral fellowship from 2003 to 2005. Back at the Hebrew University he agreed to teach the introductory world history course. Its 20 lectures became the basis of Sapiens. (Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari · The New Yorker: Yuval Noah Harari gives the really big picture (17 February 2020))
2009 · A prize-winning military historian. He published monographs on medieval and early modern war between 2004 and 2008. He won the Polonsky Prize in 2009 and again in 2012. The Society for Military History gave him its Moncado Award in 2011. (Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari)
2011 · Sapiens. Sapiens came out in Hebrew in 2011 and became a bestseller in Israel. The English edition followed in 2014. It held a top-three place on the Sunday Times list for 96 weeks in a row. (Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari · Yuval Noah Harari: About)
2016 · Homo Deus. Homo Deus turned from the past to the future. At Davos in 2016 he warned that power would lie with those who control the algorithms. He dedicated the book to his meditation teacher S. N. Goenka. (Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari · Yuval Noah Harari: Homo Deus)
2018 · 21 Lessons and the main stage. He published 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. Davos gave him the main stage between Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron. He gave the first TED talk delivered by a digital avatar. In March he gave a keynote on nationalism at the India Today Conclave. (Yuval Noah Harari: About · The New Yorker: Yuval Noah Harari gives the really big picture (17 February 2020) · India Today Conclave: Harari keynote (March 2018))
2019 · Sapienship. He co-founded Sapienship with his husband and original agent Itzik Yahav. He held a filmed conversation on technology and society with Mark Zuckerberg. In July readers found that the Russian edition of 21 Lessons had been edited. (Yuval Noah Harari: About · JTA: Harari defends omitting Putin criticism from Russian translation (26 July 2019))
2020 · The pandemic and a graphic Sapiens. He wrote and spoke widely on Covid-19. After the US cut its WHO funding he and Yahav gave $1 million to the WHO through Sapienship. The first volume of Sapiens: A Graphic History appeared. (Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari · Yuval Noah Harari: About)
2022 · Ukraine and Unstoppable Us. His essay on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine became the Guardian’s most-read opinion piece of all time. In the autumn he began Unstoppable Us, a history series for children. The first volume became a New York Times bestseller. (Yuval Noah Harari: About)
2023 · Turning to AI. In March he signed the open letter asking AI labs to pause training systems more powerful than GPT-4 for six months. In April The Economist published his essay on AI and language. At home he opposed the Netanyahu government’s judicial overhaul. (Euronews: Musk and Wozniak join calls to halt AI development (29 March 2023) · The Economist: AI has hacked the operating system of human civilisation (28 April 2023) · Wikipedia: Yuval Noah Harari)
2024 · Nexus and Mumbai. Nexus appeared in September and became an instant bestseller. In December he visited Mumbai. He told ThePrint that India could help bring a just end to the war in Ukraine. He also discussed AI on stage with Aamir Khan and Dr Rajesh Parikh. (Yuval Noah Harari: Nexus · The Guardian: Steven Poole reviews Nexus (11 September 2024) · ThePrint: Harari on India’s role in ending the war and on AI (8 December 2024) · ThePrint: Harari and Aamir Khan discuss the dangers of AI (9 December 2024))
2026 · LawZero, Davos and Oxford. In January he joined the board of LawZero. At Davos he spoke on AI with Oxford Vice-Chancellor Irene Tracey. In May Linacre College released his Tanner Lecture on Human Values. His website announces The Laws of History for 21 September 2027. (LawZero: Seven global leaders join LawZero (15 January 2026) · World Economic Forum: An Honest Conversation on AI and Humanity (2026) · Linacre College: The Tanner Lecture on Human Values 2026 · Yuval Noah Harari: The Laws of History)

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