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    Summary & Study Guide - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
    Summary & Study Guide - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
    Summary & Study Guide - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
    Ebook117 pages1 hour

    Summary & Study Guide - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

    By Lee Tang

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    About this ebook

    How Humans Evolve from Insignificant Apes to Become the Rulers of the World

    This book is a summary of “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,” by Yuval Noah Harari.

    In Sapiens, Professor Yuval Noah Harari focuses on the three great revolutions of human history: Cognitive, Agricultural, and Scientific. He presents a hypothesis about how Homo sapiens transforms from an animal of no significance 70,000 years ago to become the rulers of the Earth.

    Earlier human species such as Homo neanderthalensis in Europe and Homo erectus in Asia had climate and environmental adaptations that sapiens did not have. The Cognitive Revolution between 70,000 and 30,000 years ago enabled the sapiens to form elaborate cultures and communicate in fiction. Myths, religions, moral codes, nations, corporations, and money are fiction that shapes human societies, allowing them to speak the same language and share the same customs, beliefs, rituals, and dreams. Fiction also allowed them to cooperate in groups, giving them a military and security advantage and encouraging specialization which eventually gave them a technological advantage.

    This book tells the story of how these three revolutions have affected humans since the start of the Cognitive Revolution. It challenges everything we thought we knew about being human.

    This guide includes:
    * Book Summary—helps you understand the key concepts.
    * Online Videos—cover the concepts in more depth.
    Value-added from this guide:
    * Save time
    * Understand key concepts
    * Expand your knowledge
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLMT Press
    Release dateJun 15, 2018
    ISBN9781988970110
    Summary & Study Guide - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
    Author

    Lee Tang

    Lee Tang is a retired executive of a major global insurance company. Prior to his retirement, he has worked as an actuary, a risk officer and a chief financial officer for several major insurance organizations in the United States, Canada, and Taiwan. To learn more about Lee and his work, visit his website and blog at https://lmtpress.wordpress.com. You can reach him by email at leetang888@gmail.com.

    Read more from Lee Tang

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      Book preview

      Summary & Study Guide - Sapiens - Lee Tang

      How Humans Evolve from Insignificant Apes to Become the Rulers of the World

      This book is a summary of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, by Yuval Noah Harari.

      In Sapiens, Professor Yuval Noah Harari focuses on the three great revolutions of human history: Cognitive, Agricultural, and Scientific. He presents a hypothesis about how Homo sapiens transforms from an animal of no significance 70,000 years ago to become the rulers of the Earth.

      Earlier human species such as Homo neanderthalensis in Europe and Homo erectus in Asia had climate and environmental adaptations that sapiens did not have. The Cognitive Revolution between 70,000 and 30,000 years ago enabled the sapiens to form elaborate cultures and communicate in fiction. Myths, religions, moral codes, nations, corporations, and money are fiction that shapes human societies, allowing them to speak the same language and share the same customs, beliefs, rituals, and dreams. Fiction also allowed them to cooperate in groups, giving them a military and security advantage and encouraging specialization which eventually gave them a technological advantage.

      This book tells the story of how these three revolutions have affected humans since the start of the Cognitive Revolution.

      This guide includes:

      Book Summary—helps you understand the key concepts.

      Online Videos—cover the concepts in more depth.

      Value-added from this guide:

      Save time

      Understand key concepts

      Expand your knowledge

      Important Note About This Guide

      This guide is a summary and not a critique/review of the book. The summary may not be organized chapter-wise but summarizes the book’s main ideas, viewpoints, and arguments. It is NOT meant to be a replacement, but a supplement to help you understand the book’s key ideas and recommendations.

      Title: Summary & Study Guide - Sapiens

      Subtitle: A Brief History of Humankind

      Author: Lee Tang

      Publisher: LMT Press (lmtpress.wordpress.com)

      Copyright © 2018 by Lee Tang

      All rights reserved. Aside from brief quotations for media coverage and reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form without the author’s permission. Thank you for supporting authors and a diverse, creative culture by purchasing this book and complying with copyright laws.

      First Edition: June 2018

      Issued in print and electronic formats.

      ISBN 9781988970110 (ebook)

      ISBN 9781720438083 (paperback)

      ISBN 9781987063790 (paperback)

      Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and author make no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of these contents and disclaim all warranties such as warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. The website addresses in the book were correct at the time going to print. However, the publisher and author are not responsible for the content of third-party websites, which are subject to change.

      To my wife, Lillian, who is the source of energy and love for everything I do, and to Andrew and Amanda: watching you grow up has been a privilege.

      Table of Contents

      Title Page

      Copyright

      Dedication

      Timeline of History

      Part One: The Cognitive Revolution

      1. An Animal of No Significance

      2. The Tree of Knowledge

      3. A Day in the Life of Adam and Eve

      4. The Flood

      Part Two: The Agricultural Revolution

      5. History’s Biggest Fraud

      6. Building Pyramids

      7. Memory Overload

      8. There Is No Justice in History

      Part Three: The Unification of Humankind

      9. The Arrow of History

      10. The Scent of Money

      11. Imperial Visions

      12. The Law of Religion

      13. The Secret of Success

      Part Four: The Scientific Revolution

      14. Discovery of Ignorance

      15. The Marriage of Science and Empire

      16. The Capitalist Creed

      17. The Wheels of Industry

      18. A Permanent Revolution

      19. And They Lived Happily Ever After

      20. The End of Homo Sapiens

      Afterword

      Index

      About the Author

      Timeline of History

      Source: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

      Part One

      The

      Cognitive

      Revolution

      Chapter 1

      An Animal of No Significance

      Matter, energy, space and time came into being 13.5 billion years ago after the Big Bang. Planet Earth came into being 4.5 billion years ago. Organisms emerged on planet Earth 3.8 billion years ago.

      Biologists classify organisms into species. A species is the largest group of organisms in which two individuals can produce fertile offspring. If two individuals of different species mate, many factors can prevent successful fertilization or successful birth. Sometimes, the offspring might be sterile, as when a donkey and a mare mate and produce a mule which is sterile.

      Homo sapiens belongs to a large and noisy family called the great apes. Sapiens and chimpanzees evolved from a common ancestor 6 million years ago. Our closest living relatives

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