My experience with Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari, can be summed up in one phrase: tragically illuminating.

Through a meticulous cross-examination of historical findings, coupled with a heaping dose of imaginative inference and narrative storytelling, Harari walks his readers through a review of human history, painting in generally broad strokes a synthesis of evidence-derived theories and hypotheses that give reason and understanding to the accumulation of countless steps that aimlessly, then hungrily, guided the human species (and the Earth as a whole, really) to its current phase—as well as into ever-looming predicaments.

I say tragically illuminating quite deliberately.

There is a spirit of wonder deeply embedded in the historical analysis as presented—the incalculably incredible odds that, in the 4.5 billion years of Earth's existence and 3.8 billion years of biotic emergence and development, humanity in its most general form has only existed for an infinitesimal fraction of this time, while rendering arguably the greatest impact upon our local region of the universe compared to any other creature before it (and potentially even more significant impact than all other organisms combined).

The sense of wonder does not cease there.

Consider that thin sliver of terrestrial history we have labeled the Anthropocene. Within the ~300,000 years of Homo sapiens’ existence, the rate of development seen in our species is staggering. Even just comprehending the rate of growth in the last 500 years (from 500 million Homo sapiens in the world in 1500 to today’s ~8 billion), we can see our development as a species holds no precedent—and is exponential.

Then the wonder gives way to a deep-seated horror.

The tragedy of it all is nuanced. Many of us are well acquainted with the suffering and wanton destruction humanity has brought upon itself and the natural world. Some would like to attribute this tendency to consume and eradicate to the systems we have enshrined ourselves in, or to the machinations of some key, powerful bad actors.

After reading Sapiens, I find myself more convinced (though not entirely so) by the camp that attributes our destructive tendencies to something much more elementary within human nature itself.

Reading about how the Homo genus existed for over 2 million years in relative equilibrium and stepwise evolution prior to the emergence of Homo sapiens—and how, as H. sapiens left their cradle within the Horn of Africa, they devastated each newly traversed land with a trail of extinction events—wiping out not only local fauna and flora that had maintained generations of stable populations, not only thriving apex predators that had not acquired the necessary fear of our brutality, but even our cousins in our own genus: Homo rudolfensis, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo floresiensis, Homo ergaster, Homo denisova... the list goes on, and the body count grows.

Pulling away from the doom spiral for a moment, I’d like to sing the text’s praises in a certain regard. Sapiens presents a plethora of thought-provoking ideas that are likely to fascinate any with a love for history and a wandering imagination. One such example was his claim that one species, from an evolutionary perspective, has dominated and subjugated all others: wheat. To quote,
“We did not domesticate wheat. It domesticated us. The word ‘domesticate’ comes from the Latin domus, which means ‘house’. Who’s the one living in a house? Not the wheat. It’s the Sapiens.”
He inverts the classical agrarian narrative of humans taming the unruly wilderness and cultivating it into farmlands, acres upon acres of golden providence that burst with such abundance, storing it became a primary issue. Instead, let’s view the series of events from the perspective of the wheat. This humble grain has seen to it that countless generations of humans have toiled, plied, propitiated, lost sleep, and even fought wars in its benefit. In bestowing value upon humans in the form of consistent, plentiful nourishment, wheat “manipulated Homo Sapiens to its advantage.

This ape had been living a fairly comfortable life hunting and gathering until about 10,000 years ago, but then began to invest more and more effort in cultivating wheat.”

Here’s to humanity: Destroyer of Worlds, Slave to Wheat.

Brief History of Earth

13.5 Billion Years Ago: Matter, energy, atoms and molecules appear. Beginning of Physics and Chemistry.

4.5 Billion Years Ago: Formation of planet Earth. Beginning of Biology.

3.8 Billion Years Ago: Emergence of organisms.

6 Million Years Ago: Last common grandmother of humans and chimpanzees.

2.5 Million Years Ago: Evolution of the genus Homo in Africa. First use of stone tools.

2 Million Years Ago: Humans spread from Africa to Eurasia. Evolution of different human species.

500,000 Years Ago: Neanderthals evolve in Europe and the Middle East.

300,000 Years Ago: Daily usage of fire.

200,000 Years Ago: Homo sapiens evolve in East Africa.

70,000 Years Ago: The Cognitive Revolution. Emergence of fictive language. Beginning of History.

45,000 Years Ago: Sapiens spread out of Africa
Sapiens settle in Australia.

30,000 Years Ago: Extinction of Australian megafauna. Extinction of Neanderthals.

16,000 Years Ago: Sapiens settle in America. Extinction of American megafauna.

13,000 Years Ago: Extinction of Homo floresiensis. Homo sapiens become the only surviving human species.

12,000 Years Ago: The Agricultural Revolution Domestication of plants and animals. Permanent settlements.

5,000 Years Ago: First kingdoms, script, and money. Polytheistic religions.

4,250 Years Ago: First empire - the Akkadian Empire of Sargon.

2,500 Years Ago: Invention of coinage - a universal money. Persian Empire - a universal political order
Buddhism in India - a universal truth to liberate all beings from suffering.

2,000 Years Ago: Han Empire in China. Roman Empire in the Mediterranean. Christianity.

1,400 Years Ago: Islam.

500 Years Ago: The Scientific Revolution Humankind admits its ignorance and begins to acquire unprecedented power. Europeans begin to conquer America and the oceans.

200 Years Ago: The rise of Capitalism. The Industrial Revolution. Family and community replaced by state and market. Mass extinction of plants and animals.

The Present: Humans transcend the boundaries of planet Earth. Development of atomic energy and nuclear weapons. The rise of computerized and digital technology. Biology increasingly shaped by intelligent design.