Sounding The Alarm
New Zealand Listener|September 8-14 2018

Our free will is at stake as we merrily travel “the highway to digital dictatorship”, says the author of worldwide bestsellers Sapiens and Homo Deus, and now new book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century.

Andrew Anthony
Sounding The Alarm

Here’s a little party game to play at cultured gatherings. Ask your cleverest friend, who was it who wrote Renaissance Military Memoirs? If you get a blank look, try the same question with Special Operations in the Age of Chivalry. If the vacant expression turns into head-shaking bafflement, then add The Ultimate Experience: Battlefield Revelations and the Making of Modern War Culture. You can be confident it won’t help.

The answer in all the above cases is Yuval Noah Harari, a name that five years ago was known in the English-speaking world only to a handful of fellow academics. Then, in 2014, the English translation of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind was published and quickly became an international bestseller that has been translated into 45 languages. The book emerged from a course on world history at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University that Harari helped teach as a junior academic because no senior professor wanted to take part. It was originally turned down by four publishers in Israel because, apparently, history doesn’t sell well in that most history-laden of lands.

Sapiens was one of those rare books that combined scholarly erudition with immense popular appeal. It outlined the distant history of early human life, and how much of what and who we are today is determined by the evolutionary demands of being hunter-gatherers on the African plains. In particular, it focused on our ability to disseminate fictions or unifying myths – like religion, tribalism, even money – that enabled humans to co-operate on a mass scale unmatched by any other animals.

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM NEW ZEALAND LISTENERView all
First-world problem
New Zealand Listener

First-world problem

Harrowing tales of migrants attempting to enter the US highlight the political failure to fully tackle the problem.

time-read
3 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Applying intelligence to AI
New Zealand Listener

Applying intelligence to AI

I call it the 'Terminator Effect', based on the premise that thinking machines took over the world.

time-read
2 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Nazism rears its head
New Zealand Listener

Nazism rears its head

Smirky Höcke, with his penchant for waving with a suspiciously straight elbow and an open palm, won't get to be boss of either state.

time-read
2 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Staying ahead of the game
New Zealand Listener

Staying ahead of the game

Will the brave new world of bipartisanship that seems to be on offer with an Infrastructure Commission come to fruition?

time-read
4 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Grasping the nettle
New Zealand Listener

Grasping the nettle

Broccoli is horrible. It smells, when being cooked, like cat pee.

time-read
3 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Hangry? Eat breakfast
New Zealand Listener

Hangry? Eat breakfast

People who don't break their fast first thing in the morning report the least life satisfaction.

time-read
3 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Chemical reaction
New Zealand Listener

Chemical reaction

Nitrates in processed meats are well known to cause harm, but consumed from plant sources, their effect is quite different.

time-read
4 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Me and my guitar
New Zealand Listener

Me and my guitar

Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp sticks to the familiar for her Dunedin concerts.

time-read
2 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Time is on my side
New Zealand Listener

Time is on my side

Age does not weary some of our much-loved musicians but what keeps them on the road?

time-read
7 mins  |
September 9, 2024
The kids are not alright
New Zealand Listener

The kids are not alright

Nuanced account details how China's blessed generation has been replaced by one consumed by fear and hopelessness.

time-read
4 mins  |
September 9, 2024