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Sapiens A Graphic History, Volume 2: The Pillars of Civilization Kindle Edition
Yuval Noah Harari (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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Discover the second volume of an epic, beautifully illustrated graphic history of humankind, based on Yuval Noah Harari's multi-million copy bestselling phenomenon.
When nomadic Homo sapiens settled to live in one place, they started working harder and harder. But why didn't they get a better life in return?
In The Pillars of Civilization, Yuval Noah Harari and his companions including Prof. Saraswati and Dr. Fiction travel the length and breadth of human history to investigate how the Agricultural Revolution changed society forever. Discover how wheat took over the world, how war, famine, disease and inequality became a part of the human condition, and why we might only have ourselves to blame.
The origins of modern farming are told through Elizabethan tragedy, the changing fortunes of domesticated plants and animals are tracked in the columns of the Daily Business News, and the history of inequality is revealed in a superhero detective story.
A radical, witty and colourful retelling of the story of humankind, adapted from Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Volume 2 can be read as a standalone or as a follow-up to Volume 1, The Birth of Humankind.
Praise for Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens:
'I would recommend Sapiens to anyone who's interested in the history and future of our species.' Bill Gates
'Interesting and provocative... It gives you a sense of how briefly we've been on this Earth' Barack Obama
'Jaw-dropping from the first word to the last... It may be the best book I've ever read' Chris Evans
'Contains a remarkable piece of information on almost every page and reminds us that we should be grateful to be human.' Matt Haig
'Sweeps the cobwebs out of your brain... Radiates power and clarity, making the world strange and new' Sunday Times
'Provocative and fascinating and opinionated...it makes the familiar seem unfamiliar. It altered how I view our species and our world.' Guardian
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherVintage Digital
- Publication date28 October 2021
- Reading age14 years and up
- File size102282 KB
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Product description
About the Author
Prof Yuval Noah Harari has a PhD in History from the University of Oxford and now lectures at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specialising in World History. Sapiens- A Brief History of Humankind has become an international phenomenon attracting a legion of fans from Bill Gates and Barack Obama to Chris Evans and Jarvis Cocker, and is published in sixty languages worldwide. It was a Sunday Times Number One bestseller and was in the Top Ten for over nine months in paperback. His follow-up to Sapiens, Homo Deus- A Brief History of Tomorrow was also a Top Ten Bestseller and was described by the Guardian as 'even more readable, even more important, than his excellent Sapiens'. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, was a Number One Bestseller and was described by Bill Gates as 'fascinating' and 'crucial'. Harari worked closely with renowned comics illustrator Daniel Casanave and co-writer David Vandermeulen to create his latest book, an adaptation of his first bestseller, Sapiens Graphic Novel- Volume 1.
--This text refers to the hardcover edition.
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Product details
- ASIN : B099D8QTSV
- Publisher : Vintage Digital (28 October 2021)
- Language : English
- File size : 102282 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Not enabled
- Enhanced typesetting : Not Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Not Enabled
- Best Sellers Rank: 234,520 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Prof. Yuval Noah Harari has a PhD in History from the University of Oxford and lectures at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specializing in world history. His books have been translated into 65 languages, with 40 million copies sold worldwide. 'Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind' (2014) looked deep into our past, 'Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow' (2016) considered far-future scenarios, and '21 Lessons for the 21st Century' (2018) zoomed in on the biggest questions of the present moment. 'Sapiens: A Graphic History' (launched in 2020) is a radical adaptation of 'Sapiens' into a graphic novel series, which Harari created and co-wrote in collaboration with comics artists David Vandermeulen (co-writer) and Daniel Casanave (illustrator).
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This second volume (the pillars of civilization) feels much more rambling and seems mostly cobbled together from a list of pet social theories/ agendas of the author. It's strongly opinionated, which I guess is OK in principle, but this is presumably intended to be a factual book aimed at young people(?) without the necessary caveats. In fact I'm not sure who it's aimed at since its a bit patronizing for adults but wouldn't interest teenagers. I was hoping for perhaps a brief summary of some themes of human history and an outline of some cultures. References to, for example, Sumer are mostly just humorous and glimpsed through illustrations. It feels like a missed opportunity to explain some great stuff. A reference system to some primary evidence at least would be appreciated (just one example: In the authors view that the agricultural revolution made people miserable, much seems to hinge on the idea that hunter gatherers practised family planning, whereas early farmers did not. It all feels very speculative.)

This book seems to be aimed at 12 to 14 year olds.
It carries little information and the modest pictures add nothing to the text.
Filled with doom.
Not for me, returned within the day.

Regarding this book, I appreciate the efforts taken to deal with hierarchies, Slavery, racism and discrimination. However I feel the arguments proposed regarding slavery and how they bolstered hierarchies are some what halfbaked.
In a nutshell the three arguments are. Europeans established the transatlantic slave trade because Arabs and Africans were participating in the slavery already. Since they were participating in the slavery already it was (Convenient) not the word he used, to follow suit for economic prosperity.
The second argument which bolsters the first argument is that, European explorers, so-called explorers had already established safe navigable routes. So It follows that the path was laid out as it was closer to transport African slaves from the coast of Africa to New lands in Brazil and the Americas.
The last argument states that, Africans had proven immune to tropical diseases, So (conveniently) not the word used, would prove to be the suitable tools for their new Prosperous nations.
Now I don’t know whether this was a objective fact or subjective opinion, or some what in the middle as the previous chapter myths of men introduced a new keyword - intersubjective reality. If so, In conclusion why we have slavery and racism is because of fiction – stories that white Europeans created. I feel this is below satisfactory to say the very least as an argument.


Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 March 2022
Regarding this book, I appreciate the efforts taken to deal with hierarchies, Slavery, racism and discrimination. However I feel the arguments proposed regarding slavery and how they bolstered hierarchies are some what halfbaked.
In a nutshell the three arguments are. Europeans established the transatlantic slave trade because Arabs and Africans were participating in the slavery already. Since they were participating in the slavery already it was (Convenient) not the word he used, to follow suit for economic prosperity.
The second argument which bolsters the first argument is that, European explorers, so-called explorers had already established safe navigable routes. So It follows that the path was laid out as it was closer to transport African slaves from the coast of Africa to New lands in Brazil and the Americas.
The last argument states that, Africans had proven immune to tropical diseases, So (conveniently) not the word used, would prove to be the suitable tools for their new Prosperous nations.
Now I don’t know whether this was a objective fact or subjective opinion, or some what in the middle as the previous chapter myths of men introduced a new keyword - intersubjective reality. If so, In conclusion why we have slavery and racism is because of fiction – stories that white Europeans created. I feel this is below satisfactory to say the very least as an argument.


