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From Animals Into Gods: A Brief History Of Humankind (2011)

by Yuval Noah Harari(Favorite Author)

4.47 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1478237856 (ISBN13: 9781478237853)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

CreateSpace

review 1: This book started off great and I enjoyed it up until the end. In fact, the end seemed so outlandish, so poorly informed and out-of-date (complexity theory, epigenetics, etc) that I found myself wanting to give this book a 3/5. Out of greater consideration for how much I enjoyed it for 300 or so pages, I'll give it a 4 out of 5. But this might be generous. Harari should of laid off the subject of biology; or at least hope he would of. Instead, our 'guide' through history felt it was his business to repeat now discredited ideas about reductionistic "upward causation" i.e. from brain chemistry to mood. Ironically, probably not realizing it, Harari contradicts himself when he begins discussing Buddhist beliefs and how "detaching" from the panoply of emotion can help us get a ... moreclearer view of ourselves and thus improve happiness. He turns this into a category issue between 'happiness' and pleasurable feeling', when, for me, no such distinction seemed relevant. Ultimately, Harari doesn't seem to know much about the recent 'epigenetic' revolution, or the work of scientists such as Michael Meaney who study the interaction between environmental experience and epigenetic (and ultimately genetic) activity - which actually CONTROLS genetic expression. The days of genetic determinism, at least in terms of mood, are behind; replace by a worldview that is inherently complex, involving environmental influences (other people), developmental neurobiology, and self awareness. The irony I noted before was that by adopting a new perspective (interacting with new information) the beneficiary of Mindfulness is in fact interfering with the normal 'basin on attaction' of his supposedly immutable biochemistry, which Harari amaterusihly chalks up to bad genes. In reality, its a mixture of genes/epigenenetic processes interacting with an environment during early development. Environment and developing biology set "limits" as it were, in which the future self will 'develop'. While that bothered, I found myself struggling to finish the book. Harari thinks, really believes, that it his job as a historian in 2014 to talk about cyborgs, artificial intelligence, and human immorality. What was conveniently ignored in the conversation (and to the peril of those who don't know any better) is the UTTER complexity of the human body, let alone the feedback processes between body, brain and environment. The simplicity of the claim does not do justice to the complexity of the reality. The human brain has 100 billion neurons and trillions of synaptic connections; they operate simultaneously in time in synchrony with external 'events' and internal history. When he mentioned the human genome project, he said it took 3 billion dollars. The irony of this claim is that the human genome project is INFINITELY simpler than the brain. Whats also ignored in his discussion is how genes are not enough to explain how the body DEVELOPS or FUNCTIONS. Genes are merely one part of a puzzle which our geneticists are haphazardly trying to influence. But what should be getting greater attention are the non-linear processes which the wider organism-environment coupling does with genes that work one way in one animal, and another way in another animal. In short, the 'future of sapiens', Harari tries to describe, if ever possible, is not a subject of this century, or perhaps even the next. Our computers and especially our awareness of non-linear science is still too primitive too tackle an issue as complex as our brains.
review 2: While some of the 'facts' in this book may translate in to the authors opinions at times, one cannot fault the achievement of this book, chronicling the ascent of homo sapiens from their beginnings to their possible futures. What I found refreshing was the words used to describe cultural practices and beliefs, once so hallowed, now translated in to myths while not just blatantly slamming religion. My biggest grievance towards the book is that it peaked for me at the beginning, with a wonderfully written glimpse at prehistory, which has encouraged me to read more about this. Subsequent chapters contained many an eye opener, however. Harari appeared to have a fondness for Buddhism. I believe for the modern Western consumerist, Buddhism could be a good remedy for our ails, and I concur with his work. Certainly a book worth reading for the modern Western person. less

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