Sapiens

When I was in Fresno recently, my stepmother gave me a copy of Yuval Noah Harari's book Sapiens; A Brief History of Humankind. 

It has been around for a while, thirteen years to be exact and I am not sure why it took me so long to find it. But I am glad I did.

It is chock full of interesting knowledge and I recommend picking it up.  

Harari sees the world of man as going through three revolutions; the cognitive revolution 70,000 years ago, the agricultural revolution 12kya and the scientific about 500 years ago. 

How did we separate ourselves and dominate the six other hominid species that we lived with at the same time?

Through our ability to create language. What comes next is anybody's guess. 

But Homo Sapiens have not been the dominant home species on this earth, not by a long shot, that is reserved for Homo Erectus, who wandered our planet in an upright fashion for roughly two million years, he terms them the most durable human species ever. 

We are actually a Johnny come lately species, only about 200,000 years old and with a brain much smaller than a neanderthal. 

And about six million years ago, we split off from chimpanzees from a common ancestor. He ends the book with an interesting warning. How long we got is anybody's guess, not sure I would put money on it.

Book is fascinating. Pick it up.