I don’t often write book reviews, because it’s not often that this sociologist digests a readable academic book that begs wider discussion. Some books have compelling ideas that deserve promotion, but require too much slogging along the way to commend. Others seem too parochial to promote a wider reading. Still others deal too much in “dialogues,” “diasporas,” and “intersectionalities” ever to merit a second look.
Yuval Harari’s book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind involves little slogging and is anything but narrow. An interview with him, entitled “Death is Optional,” circulated widely in early March, prompting enough curiosity for me to acquire the book. While I prefer two hundred pages to Harari’s 416, it was nevertheless a quick read. Why such praise in this venue for a book by a secular, gay, Jewish professor of history? Because unlike many scholars of human society, Harari seems less committed to wielding his pen to win something than he is to wrestling over gritty realities.
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