Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Part 1

Reading Check

1. 2.5 million years (Part 1, Chapter 1, “An Animal of No Significance”)

2. Language (Part 1, Chapter 2, “The Tree of Knowledge”)

3. 15,000 years (Part 1, Chapter 3, “A Day in the Life of Adam and Eve”)

4. The Afro-Asian landmass (Part 1, Chapter 4, “The Flood”)

5. The Third Wave Extinction (Part 1, Chapter 4, “The Flood”)

Short Answer

1. The various species of humans were in the middle of the food chain for most of human existence. It is only in the past 100,000 years that humans have been at the top of the food chain. (Part 1, Chapter 1, “An Animal of No Significance”)

2. Once humans had fire, they could cook food. Our species evolved shorter digestive tracts and larger brains because of the more efficient energy absorption of cooked food. (Part 1, Chapter 1, “An Animal of No Significance”)

3. Imagined realities are a shared set of beliefs and constructs. These allow larger groups to cooperate without personal communication between all group members. (Part 1, Chapter 2, “The Tree of Knowledge”)

4. Before the Agricultural Revolution, humans were generalists, with each person needing to know how to raise food, create shelter, and so on. In modern times, we rely on the collective knowledge of our societies to provide these things, as humans have become much more specialized. (Part 1, Chapter 3, “A Day in the Life of Adam and Eve”)

5. The incursion of humans into Australia and North America led to the extinction of large numbers of megafauna, decreasing the diversity of global species. (Part 1, Chapter 4, “The Flood”)

Part 2

Reading Check

1. Wheat (Part 2, Chapter 5, “History’s Biggest Fraud”)

2. Domesticated animals (Part 2, Chapter 5, “History’s Biggest Fraud”)

3. The pyramid (Part 2, Chapter 6, “Building Pyramids”)

4. Record keeping/recording numbers (Part 2, Chapter 7, “Memory Overload”)

5. Gender (Part 2, Chapter 8, “There Is No Justice in History”)

Short Answer

1. Although the Agricultural Revolution led to an explosion in the human population, it paradoxically did not lead to improvements in quality of life, as agriculture required more work than the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, and a settled lifestyle dependent on crops decreased nutritional variety and increased communicable diseases. (Part 2, Chapter 5, “History’s Biggest Fraud”)

2. People had to anticipate and plan ahead for weather, crop yields, and crop storage. (Part 2, Chapter 6, “Building Pyramids”)

3. The ancient Incans used a system of colored string and knots to record information. (Part 2, Chapter 7, “Memory Overload”)

4. Social hierarchies are imagined realities and have no basis in “natural” reality. (Part 2, Chapter 8, “There Is No Justice in History”)

5. Social hierarchies are often put into place by conquerors trying to justify their rule of a subjugated population. (Part 2, Chapter 8, “There Is No Justice in History”)

Part 3

Reading Check

1. A single global culture (Part 3, Chapter 9, “The Arrow of History”)

2. Cloth and beans (Part 3, Chapter 10, “The Scent of Money”)

3. About 2,500 years (Part 3, Chapter 11, “Imperial Visions”)

4. Religion (Part 3, Chapter 12, “The Law of Religion”)

5. Causal (Part 3, Chapter 13, “The Secret of Success”)

Short Answer

1. Social standards allow even people who do not know one another to rely on inculcated rules to understand each other and cooperate. (Part 3, Chapter 9, “The Arrow of History”)

2. Items used as currency generally have little intrinsic value, especially in modern times. Money’s value comes from our collective belief in it. (Part 3, Chapter 10, “The Scent of Money”)

3. Most empires have risen and fallen because of divisions within the ruling class. (Part 3, Chapter 11, “Imperial Visions”)

4. Harari refers to ideological systems such as capitalism and Nazism as “natural law” religions because they are systems of norms and beliefs. (Part 3, Chapter 12, “The Law of Religion”)

5. Harari divides chaos into “level one systems,” which do not react to predictions, and “level two systems,” which do. (Part 3, Chapter 13, “The Secret of Success”)

Part 4

Reading Check

1. 500 years (Part 4, Chapter 14, “The Discovery of Ignorance”)

2. Credit (Part 4, Chapter 16, “The Capitalist Creed”)

3. New energy sources (Part 4, Chapter 17, “The Wheels of Industry”)

4. Large-scale, international warfare (Part 4, Chapter 18, “A Permanent Revolution”)

5. Natural selection (Part 4, Chapter 20, “The End of Homo Sapiens”)

Short Answer

1. Religious traditions do not make room for the idea of human ignorance, while science is predicated on the idea that we do not know everything. This means that after science became a widespread tool during the Scientific Revolution, people began to actively question their understanding of the world and work to improve it. (Part 4, Chapter 14, “The Discovery of Ignorance”)

2. Although many world cultures had equivalent technology and knowledge during the early years of the Scientific Revolution, capitalist economic systems and pro-exploration and discovery ideology in Europe combined to spur European conquest of much of the globe. (Part 4, Chapter 15, “The Marriage of Science and Empire”)

3. Harari says that a core tenet of capitalism is that economic growth is necessary to secure freedom, justice, and happiness. These, in turn, spur further economic growth. (Part 4, Chapter 16, “The Capitalist Creed”)

4. He is demonstrating how urges that arise from the long process of genetic evolution cannot be easily overridden during rapidly changing circumstances. (Part 4, Chapter 17, “The Wheels of Industry”)

5. Harari suggests that happiness can be defined either as feelings of pleasure or as a sense of meaning and purpose. (Part 4, Chapter 19, “And They Lived Happily Ever After”)