{"id":2180,"date":"2020-04-24T16:04:07","date_gmt":"2020-04-24T16:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/?p=2180"},"modified":"2023-10-11T18:21:24","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T18:21:24","slug":"from-humans-to-gods-a-trip-through-the-history-of-humankind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/from-humans-to-gods-a-trip-through-the-history-of-humankind\/","title":{"rendered":"From Humans to Gods: a Trip Through the History of Humankind"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;This storm will pass. But the choices we make now could change our lives for years to come&#8221; &#8211; Yuval Noah Harari, <em>Financial Times<\/em>, March 20, 2020.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Following the trend of escaping the coronavirus information overload and trying against all the odds to avoid falling into &#8220;Cabin Fever,&#8221; we bring this proposal: If you, like Yuval Noah Harari and I, are intrigued by humankind, these may be the books to read to keep our hopes up by exploring the past, present, and future of humanity.<\/p>\n<p>Harari, a historian at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, published his first book in 2008, exploring the evolution of humankind through the cognitive, agricultural, and scientific revolutions. His style appeals to a broad public, being a general and refreshing approach than a dense history lesson.<\/p>\n<p><b>Sapiens<\/b><\/p>\n<p><i><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Sapiens-Brief-History-Humankind\/dp\/B0741F3M7C\/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=Sapiens%3A+A+Brief+History+of+Humankind&amp;qid=1587730452&amp;s=audible&amp;sr=1-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"n3VNCb alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51Sn8PEXwcL.jpg\" alt=\"Amazon.com: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind eBook: Harari ...\" width=\"113\" height=\"171\" data-noaft=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/b>Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,<\/i><b>\u00a0<\/b>is a guided tour of events that have shaped humanity from the very beginning of the species. It also encourages readers to ponder philosophical questions (a trend that he maintains throughout his later published books), keeping them engaged and reflective throughout. It is not a traditional history book; hence, it doesn&#8217;t have a lot of details or a full-fledged scholarly apparatus &#8212; if what you are looking for is a history textbook, this may not be your cup of tea. This book has been compared to a novelization of the history of humankind: easy to read, compelling, and thoughtful.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcat.org\/oclc\/904576078\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Worldcat permalink<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/Sapiens_201804\/Sapiens+01.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">BBC Radio Reading from Internet Archive<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Homo Deus<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Homo-Deus-Brief-History-Tomorrow\/dp\/B01MYZ4OUW\/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=Homo+Deus&amp;qid=1587730335&amp;s=audible&amp;sr=1-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41MJoxwmKfL._SX327_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"110\" height=\"167\" \/><\/a><\/strong>In 2017, continuing the story of <i>Sapiens<\/i>, Harari published\u00a0<i>Homo Deus<\/i>,<span id=\"productTitle\"><em> A Brief History of Tomorrow,<\/em><\/span><span id=\"productLogo\"> <\/span>an innovative vision of humanity&#8217;s future. He touches the provocative topic of the transformation of humans into gods, inviting readers to reflect upon society today and the course of humanity. With new innovations expanding (or potentially supplanting) human consciousness, Harari makes us wonder: where will we, as self-proclaimed \u201cgods\u201d, take the world after the famine, plague, and war?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcat.org\/oclc\/963736573\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Worldcat permalink<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>21 Questions for the 21st Century<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/21-Lessons-21st-Century\/dp\/B07DHSPZT2\/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/811iZOA9%2B8L.jpg\" alt=\"21 Lessons for the 21st Century: Harari, Yuval Noah: 9780525512172 ...\" width=\"116\" height=\"174\" \/><\/a><\/strong>Harari\u2019s most recent book is\u00a0<i>21 Questions for the 21st Century<\/i>\u00a0(my personal favorite), which examines the most pressing matters of our time such as why is liberal democracy in crisis? What can we do about the epidemic of fake news? And what does nationalism and the rise of a certain line of politicians mean? He emphasizes the uncertainty of these matters and the possibility of taking different paths to change our destiny. It is definitely a book to make us reflect upon the times we are living, and hopefully gives us some reassurance for the days to come.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcat.org\/oclc\/1100773438\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Worldcat permalink<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/21-lessons-for-the-21st-century-yuval-noah-harari\/mode\/2up\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">eBook from Internet Archive<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>His whole collection reminds us that this, too, shall pass. After all, isn&#8217;t that what this moment is? A minimal point in the immensity of the universe.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Read *<a style=\"font-size: 1rem\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/19d90308-6858-11ea-a3c9-1fe6fedcca75\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yuval Noah Harari: the world after coronavirus <\/a>(Free from the Financial Times, March 20, 2020).<\/p>\n<p>See more on <a href=\"http:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/newspapers-at-rutgers\/\">how to read current, subscription-only newspaper articles<\/a> with your Rutgers NetID.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;This storm will pass. But the choices we make now could change our lives for years to come&#8221; &#8211; Yuval Noah Harari, Financial Times, March 20, 2020. Following the trend &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/from-humans-to-gods-a-trip-through-the-history-of-humankind\/\" class=\"\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1008,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,32,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cookreads","category-rugrat","category-staff-picks"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>From Humans to Gods: a Trip Through the History of Humankind - Books We Read<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/books-we-read\/from-humans-to-gods-a-trip-through-the-history-of-humankind\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From Humans to Gods: a Trip Through the History of Humankind - Books We Read\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#8220;This storm will pass. 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