Gates and Zuckerberg want you to read this Israeli book
Viva Sarah Press
Take Yuval Noah Harari’s ‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind‘ to the beach, even if it’s not quite light summertime reading.
Yuval Noah Harari – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harari, who is of Mizrahi Jewish background, was born in Israel to Jewish Lebanese parents. He first specialized in medieval history and military history, and studied from 1993 to 1998 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He completed his doctorate at Jesus College, Oxford, in 2002 under the supervision of Steven J. Gunn . From 2003 to 2005 he pursued Postdoctoral studies in history, as a Yad Hanadiv Fellow.[2]
Since then, he has published numerous books and articles, including Special Operations in the Age of Chivalry, 1100–1550;[3] The Ultimate Experience: Battlefield Revelations and the Making of Modern War Culture, 1450–2000;[4] “The Concept of ‘Decisive Battles’ in World History”;[5] and “Armchairs, Coffee and Authority: Eye-witnesses and Flesh-witnesses Speak about War, 1100-2000”.[6]
He now specializes in World History and macro-historical processes. His research focuses on macro-historical questions such as: What is the relation between history and biology? What is the essential difference between Homo sapiens and other animals? Is there justice in history? Does history have a direction? Did people become happier as history unfolded?
His most recent book is titled Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (originally published in Hebrew under the title A Brief History of Mankind, and later translated into close to 30 languages).[7] The book surveys the entire length of human history, from the evolution of Homo sapiens in the Stone Age up to the political and technological revolutions of the 21st century. The Hebrew edition has become a bestseller in Israel. It has generated much interest both in the academic community and among the general public and has turned Harari into an instant celebrity.[8] YouTube Video clips of Harari’s Hebrew lectures on the history of the world have been viewed by tens of thousands of Israelis;[9] He is also giving a free online course in English titled A Brief History of Humankind. More than 100,000 people throughout the world have already taken this course.
Harari twice won the Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality, in 2009 and 2012. In 2011 he won the Society for Military History’s Moncado Award for outstanding articles in military history. In 2012 he was elected to the Young Israeli Academy of Sciences. In 2015 Sapiens was selected by Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, for his online book club. Mark invited his followers to read what he describes as “a big history narrative of human civilisation”. “Harari is a vegan and the dire plight of animals, particularly domesticated animals, since the agricultural revolution is something he riffs on” in his writings.[10]
Harari lives with his husband in moshav Mesilat Zion near Jerusalem.[11][12][13]
Image of Bill Gates via Gates Notes blog
Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has released his 2016 list of summertime reads and it includes a 400-page history of the human race.
Light reading it is not. But for Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari, being included on Gates’ “5 Books to Read This Summer” is definitely a new feather in his cap.
“This summer, my recommended reading list has a good dose of books with science and math at their core. But there’s no science or math to my selection process. The following five books are simply ones that I loved, made me think in new ways, and kept me up reading long past when I should have gone to sleep,” Gates blogged.
Harari, a lecturer in the department of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, offers up a fresh perspective on the history of our species. His book, first published in 2014, is being translated into almost 30 languages, according to his website.
In his book, Harari argues that capitalism is the most successful religion ever invented; he calls the treatment of animals in modern agriculture probably the worst crime in history, and suggests that people were happier before we started farming.
“Both Melinda and I read this one, and it has sparked lots of great conversations at our dinner table,” writes Gates on his blog.
“Harari takes on a daunting challenge: to tell the entire history of the human race in just 400 pages. He also writes about our species today and how artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and other technologies will change us in the future. Although I found things to disagree with—especially Harari’s claim that humans were better off before we started farming—I would recommend Sapiensto anyone who’s interested in the history and future of our species.”
Read more: Gates and Zuckerberg want you to read this Israeli book
twoje uwagi, linki, wlasne artykuly, lub wiadomosci przeslij do: webmaster@reunion68.com
