NonFic11800

Reading lists

Refresh your mindset in 2026 with these non-fiction books

Image showing some of the best books of 2024, including Think Again, PATRIOT, The City and its Uncertain Walls and An African History of Africa

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Features

Must-read books of 2024: A look back at the year’s most exciting releases

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The best books about AI

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What to read if you loved Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

Yuval Harari: Are politicians doing enough to prepare the world for the 21st Century?

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Interviews

Yuval Noah Harari: 'In a world deluged by irrelevant information, clarity is power.'

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Yuval Noah Harari: ‘In a world deluged by irrelevant information, clarity is power’

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Sapiens: a book club reading guide

How Enemies Become Friends

Unstoppable Us Volume 3

From the author of the multi-million bestselling Sapiens comes the next volume in the incredible story of the human race, for younger readers. 
 
Why is the world not always a peaceful place? 
Why do we have wars? 
And why do we sometimes . . . not? 
 
The answer to these questions can be found in one of the strangest tales you'll ever hear. And it's a true story. 
 
Find out about what exactly happened, thousands of years ago, when people from different tribes met. How they sometimes fought. But were sometimes able to live happily together. 
 
You’ll discover how we were able to agree on rules and ideas for how life should go. Why wars were (and still are) often fought, and what we can learn from the past to make a more peaceful future. 
 
From Ancient Rome to the Mongol Khans, from Carthage to Mongolia, travel deep into the past, and around the world, to discover how people became friends and enemies, and built the world as we know it today.

Yuval Noah Harari (Author) 
Prof. Yuval Noah Harari is a historian, philosopher and the global bestselling author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, the graphic adaptation series Sapiens: A Graphic History, and Unstoppable Us, his first series of books for children. His books have sold over 45 million copies in 65 languages, with Sapiens alone selling 25 million copies since it was first published in 2013. A New York Times and Sunday Times #1 bestseller, Sapiens spent an incredible 96 consecutive weeks in the top 3 of the Sunday Times bestseller list. Yuval Noah Harari is also behind Sapienship – an international social impact company focused on education and storytelling, which he co-founded with his husband Itzik Yahav. Harari is considered one of the world’s most influential public intellectuals today.

Why is the world not always a peaceful place? 
Why do we have wars? 
And why do we sometimes . . . not? 
 
The answer to these questions can be found in one of the strangest tales you'll ever hear. And it's a true story. 
 
Find out about what exactly happened, thousands of years ago, when people from different tribes met. How they sometimes fought. But were sometimes able to live happily together. 
 
You’ll discover how we were able to agree on rules and ideas for how life should go. Why wars were (and still are) often fought, and what we can learn from the past to make a more peaceful future. 
 
From Ancient Rome to the Mongol Khans, from Carthage to Mongolia, travel deep into the past, and around the world, to discover how people became friends and enemies, and built the world as we know it today.

Why the World Isn't Fair

Unstoppable Us Volume 2

*From the author of the multi-million bestselling Sapiens comes the next volume in the incredible story of the human race, for younger readers.* 
 
 
Something really strange happened 10,000 years ago, and it changed everything. 
 
Why did millions of people agree to obey a few leaders? Where did kings and kingdoms come from? 
 
The answer to that is one of the strangest tales you'll ever hear. And it's a true story. 
 
Have you ever wondered how we got here? From gathering berries and hunting mammoths, to shopping at supermarkets and letting people tell us what to do? 
 
You might hear a lot of people say 'the world isn't fair'. But why isn't it? And how did it become so? 
 
In Unstoppable Us: Volume 1, we learned how humans told stories to become rulers of the world - for good and bad. Now, in this next chapter of the incredible true tale of the Unstoppables, find out how we learned to control animals like dogs, chicken and cows . . . 
 
And how a handful of humans learned to control everyone else. 
 
With full-colour illustrations showing the relentless rise and rise of the human race, this is history like you've never experienced it before.

Yuval Noah Harari (Author) 
Prof Yuval Noah Harari has a PhD in History from the University of Oxford and now lectures at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specialising in World History. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind has become an international phenomenon attracting a legion of fans from Bill Gates and Barack Obama to Chris Evans and Jarvis Cocker, and is published in 65 languages worldwide. It was a Sunday Times Number One bestseller and was in the Top Ten for over nine months in paperback. His follow-up to Sapiens, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow was also a Top Ten Bestseller and was described by the Guardian as 'even more readable, even more important, than his excellent Sapiens'. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, was a Number One Bestseller and was described by Bill Gates as 'fascinating' and 'crucial'. Harari worked closely with renowned comics illustrator Daniel Casanave and co-writer David Vandermeulen to create his latest book, an adaptation of his first bestseller, Sapiens Graphic Novel: Volume 1.

Something really strange happened 10,000 years ago, and it changed everything. 
 
Why did millions of people agree to obey a few leaders? Where did kings and kingdoms come from? 
 
The answer to that is one of the strangest tales you'll ever hear. And it's a true story. 
 
Have you ever wondered how we got here? From gathering berries and hunting mammoths, to shopping at supermarkets and letting people tell us what to do? 
 
You might hear a lot of people say 'the world isn't fair'. But why isn't it? And how did it become so? 
 
In Unstoppable Us: Volume 1, we learned how humans told stories to become rulers of the world - for good and bad. Now, in this next chapter of the incredible true tale of the Unstoppables, find out how humans learned to control animals like dogs, chicken and cows . . . 
 
And how a handful of humans learned to control everyone else. 
 
With full-colour illustrations showing the relentless rise and rise of the human race, this is history like you've never experienced it before.

The Masters of History

Sapiens A Graphic History, Volume 3

Sometimes history seems like a laundry list of malevolent monarchs, pompous presidents and dastardly dictators. But are they really the ones in the driving seat? 
 
Sapiens: A Graphic History Volume 3 – The Masters of History takes us on a hilarious ride through the past to discover the forces that change our world, bring us together, and – just as often – tear us apart. 
 
Grab a front-row seat to the greatest show on earth and explore the rise of money, religion and empire. Join our fabulous host Heroda Tush, as she wonders: which historical superhero will display the power to make civilisations rise and fall? Will Mr Random prove that luck and circumstance prevail? Will Lady Empire convince us of the irrefutable shaping force of conquerors? Or will Clashwoman beat them all to greatness by reminding us of the endless confrontations that seem to forever plague our species? 
 
This third instalment in the Sapiens: A Graphic History series is an engaging, insightful, and colourful retelling of the story of humankind. 
 
Praise for Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens: 
 
'I would recommend Sapiens to anyone who's interested in the history and future of our species.' Bill Gates 
 
'Interesting and provocative . . . It gives you a sense of how briefly we've been on this Earth' Barack Obama 
 
'Jaw-dropping from the first word to the last . . . It may be the best book I've ever read' Chris Evans

Sometimes history seems like a laundry list of malevolent monarchs, pompous presidents and dastardly dictators. But are they really the ones in the driving seat? Sapiens: A Graphic History – The Masters of History takes us on an immersive and hilarious ride through the human past to discover the forces that change our world, bring us together, and – just as often – tear us apart. 
 
Grab a front-row seat to the greatest show on earth and explore the rise of money, religion and empire. Join our fabulous host Heroda Tush, as she wonders: which historical superhero will display the power to make civilisations rise and fall? Will Mr Random prove that luck and circumstance prevail? Will Lady Empire convince us of the irrefutable shaping force of conquerors? Or will Clashwoman beat them all to greatness by reminding us of the endless confrontations that seem to forever plague our species? 
 
In this next volume of the bestselling graphic series, Yuval Noah Harari, David Vandermeulen and Daniel Casanave continue to present the complicated story of humankind with wit, empathy and originality. Alongside the unlikely cast of new characters, we are rejoined by the familiar faces of Yuval, Zoe, Professor Saraswati, Bill and Cindy (now Romans), Skyman and Captain Dollar. As they travel through time, space and human drama in search of truth, it's impossible not to wonder: why can’t we all just get along? 
 
This third instalment in the Sapiens: A Graphic History series is an engaging, insightful, and colourful retelling of the story of humankind for curious minds of all ages, and can be browsed through on its own or read in sequence with Volumes One and Two. 
 
Praise for Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens: 
 
'I would recommend Sapiens to anyone who's interested in the history and future of our species.' Bill Gates 
 
'Interesting and provocative . . . It gives you a sense of how briefly we've been on this Earth' Barack Obama 
 
'Jaw-dropping from the first word to the last . . . It may be the best book I've ever read' Chris Evans 
 
'Contains a remarkable piece of information on almost every page and reminds us that we should be grateful to be human.' Matt Haig 
 
'Sweeps the cobwebs out of your brain . . . Radiates power and clarity, making the world strange and new' Sunday Times 'Provocative and fascinating and opinionated...it makes the familiar seem unfamiliar. It altered how I view our species and our world.' Guardian

How Humans Took Over the World, from the author of the multi-million bestselling Sapiens

Unstoppable Us, Volume 1

*From the author of the multi-million bestselling Sapiens comes an incredible new story of the human race, for younger readers.* 
 
We humans aren't strong like lions, we don't swim as well as dolphins, and we definitely don't have wings! So how did we end up ruling the world? 
 
The answer to that is one of the strangest tales you'll ever hear. And it's a true story . . . 
 
Have you ever wondered how we got here? From hunting mammoths, to flying to the moon? 
 
It is because we are unstoppable. But what made us so? Well, we have the most amazing superpower: the ability to tell stories. Fairy tales have led us from imagining ghosts and spirits to being able to create money (yes, really!). 
 
And this has made us very powerful . . . but very deadly. Nothing stands in our way, and we always want more. 
 
So get ready for the most amazing story there ever was - the incredible true tale of the Unstoppables. Find out how fire shrank our stomachs, how our ancestors spoke to animals, what football can tell us about being human, how we used our superpower for good and bad . . . and how YOU have the superpower to change the world. 
 
With full-colour illustrations showing the relentless rise and rise of the human race, this is history like you've never experienced it before.

We humans aren't strong like lions, we don't swim as well as dolphins, and we definitely don't have wings! So how did we end up ruling the world? 
 
The answer to that is one of the strangest tales you'll ever hear. And it's a true story . . . 
 
Have you ever wondered how we got here? From hunting mammoths, to flying to the moon? 
 
It is because we are unstoppable. But what made us so? Well, we have the most amazing superpower: the ability to tell stories. Fairy tales have led us from imagining ghosts and spirits to being able to create money (yes, really!). 
 
And this has made us very powerful . . . but very deadly. Nothing stands in our way, and we always want more. 
 
So get ready for the most amazing story there ever was - the incredible true tale of the Unstoppables. Find out how fire shrank our stomachs, how our ancestors spoke to animals, what football can tell us about being human, how we used our superpower for good and bad . . . and how YOU have the superpower to change the world. 
 
With full-colour illustrations showing the relentless rise and rise of the human race, this is history like you've never experienced it before.

A Brief History of Humankind

Sapiens

THE MULTI-MILLION COPY BESTSELLER

A Brief History of Humankind (10 Year Anniversary Edition)

Sapiens is a starburst of a book, as enjoyable as it is stimulating

Unforgettably vivid language. I urge everyone to read it

A fantastic book about how homo sapiens came to conquer the world

A beautiful new hardback anniversary edition of the multi-million copy sensation 
 
INCLUDES A NEW AFTERWORD FROM YUVAL NOAH HARARI 
 
What makes us brilliant? What makes us deadly? What makes us Sapiens? 
 
One of the world's preeminent historians and thinkers, Yuval Noah Harari challenges everything we know about being human. Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has conquered it: us. 
 
In this bold and provocative book, Yuval Noah Harari explores who we are, how we got here and where we're going. 
 
PRAISE FOR SAPIENS: 
 
'Interesting and provocative... It gives you a sense of how briefly we've been on this Earth' Barack Obama 
 
'Jaw-dropping from the first word to the last... It may be the best book I've ever read' Chris Evans 
 
'Startling... It changes the way you look at the world' Simon Mayo 
 
'I would recommend Sapiens to anyone who's interested in the history and future of our species' Bill Gates 
 
 
Yuval Noah Harari's books have sold over 2 million copies sold since publication [Nielsen BookScan UK, Circana BookScan US, April 2024]

The Pillars of Civilization

Sapiens A Graphic History, Volume 2

An epic, illustrated graphic history of how the Agricultural Revolution reshaped humanity. 
 
When nomadic Homo sapiens settled to live in one place, they started working harder and harder. But why didn't they get a better life in return? 
 
In The Pillars of Civilization, Yuval Noah Harari and his companions including Prof. Saraswati and Dr. Fiction travel the length and breadth of human history to investigate how the Agricultural Revolution changed society forever. Discover how wheat took over the world, how war, famine, disease and inequality became a part of the human condition, and why we might only have ourselves to blame. 
 
Adapted from Yuval Noah Harari's bestselling phenomenon Sapiens, this graphic history is a radical, witty and colourful retelling of the story of humankind. 
 
Praise for Sapiens: 
 
‘I would recommend Sapiens to anyone who's interested in the history and future of our species’ Bill Gates 
 
‘Interesting and provocative . . . It gives you a sense of how briefly we’ve been on this Earth’ Barack Obama

The Birth of Humankind

Sapiens A Graphic History, Volume 1

The first volume of the graphic adaptation of Yuval Noah Harari's global phenomenon and smash SUNDAY TIMES #1 BESTSELLER. Featuring 256 pages of gorgeous full-colour illustrations and wrapped in a beautiful package. 
 
 One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one-homo sapiens. 
 
 What happened to the others? 
 
And what may happen to us? 
 
 In this first volume of the adaptation of his ground-breaking book, renowned historian Yuval Harari tells the story of humankind's creation and evolution, exploring the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be "human". From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens challenges us to reconsider accepted beliefs, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and view specific events within the context of larger ideas. 
 
 Featuring easy-to-understand text covering the first part of the original edition, this adaptation of the mind-expanding book furthers the ongoing conversation as it introduces Harari's ideas to a wider new readership. 
 
 '[A] wonderful graphic novel... Smart, funny and dipped deep in the reality of what we as a species are...' Big Issue *Books of the Year*

[A] wonderful graphic novel... Smart, funny and dipped deep in the reality of what we as a species are... Crammed with the details that made the original so jaw-dropping and essential.

The best-selling book by Yuval Noah Harari has been beautifully adapted into a graphic novel just in time for Christmas. The story of humankind is told through the delicate illustrations, bringing science and history together to help us understand how Homo sapiens came to inhabit the Earth.

In case there's any household in the nation that doesn't yet own a copy of Yuval Noah Harari's zillion-selling Sapiens...there's now a zippy new digest of the book in comics form... An imaginative and prankish gallop through human prehistory.

Fantastic... Even more approachable than the original book.

Bringing that fascinating story of our collective history to life in an entirely new way... [Sapiens Graphic Novel is] action-packed... Brilliantly funny.

Lively, engaging... Transforms humanity's complex evolutionary story into something accessible enough for anyone to enjoy.

Shortly before the pandemic, I read Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. It's not an exaggeration to say I've thought of it every day since.

[Sapiens] has been one of the most spectacular publishing successes of the past decade.

Harari's out-of-the-box thinking is arguably his greatest strength... These theories are what moves history forward, and what makes the book so engaging for an astonishing number of people.

Sapiens is an epic history of humankind, at once readable and wise and compelling and thought-provoking... A breath of fresh air.

Perfect for younger readers... [and] filled with lively characters.

Prof Yuval Noah Harari has a PhD in History from the University of Oxford and now lectures at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specialising in World History. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind has become an international phenomenon attracting a legion of fans from Bill Gates and Barack Obama to Chris Evans and Jarvis Cocker, and is published in sixty languages worldwide. It was a Sunday Times Number One bestseller and was in the Top Ten for over nine months in paperback. His follow-up to Sapiens, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow was also a Top Ten Bestseller and was described by the Guardian as 'even more readable, even more important, than his excellent Sapiens'. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, was a Number One Bestseller and was described by Bill Gates as 'fascinating' and 'crucial'. Harari worked closely with renowned comics illustrator Daniel Casanave and co-writer David Vandermeulen to create his latest book, an adaptation of his first bestseller, Sapiens Graphic Novel: Volume 1.

The first volume of the graphic adaptation of Yuval Noah Harari's global phenomenon and smash Sunday Times #1 bestseller, with gorgeous full-colour illustrations and a beautiful package - the perfect gift for the curious beings in your life. 
 
One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one-homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us? 
 
In this first volume of the full-colour illustrated adaptation of his groundbreaking book, renowned historian Yuval Harari tells the story of humankind's creation and evolution, exploring the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be "human". From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens challenges us to reconsider accepted beliefs, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and view specific events within the context of larger ideas. 
 
Featuring 256 pages of full-colour illustrations and easy-to-understand text covering the first part of the full-length original edition, this adaptation of the mind-expanding book furthers the ongoing conversation as it introduces Harari's ideas to a wider new readership.

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

The bestselling phenomenon returns with 21 bite-sized lessons to help us understand our troubled times.

**THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER** 
 
In twenty-one bite-sized lessons, Yuval Noah Harari explores what it means to be human in an age of bewilderment. 
 
How can we protect ourselves from nuclear war, ecological cataclysms and technological disruptions? What can we do about the epidemic of fake news or the threat of terrorism? What should we teach our children? 
 
The world-renowned historian and intellectual Yuval Noah Harari takes us on a thrilling journey through today's most urgent issues. The golden thread running through his exhilarating new book is the challenge of maintaining our collective and individual focus in the face of constant and disorienting change. 
 
Faced with a litany of existential and real crises, are we still capable of understanding the world we have created? 
 
'[Harari] has teed up a crucial global conversation about how to take on the problems of the 21st century' Bill Gates, New York Times 
 
'21 Lessons is, simply put, a crucial book' Adam Kay, author of Undoctored

Truly mind-expanding… Ultra-topical… Harari’s big selling point [is] the ambition and breadth of his work, smashing together unexpected ideas into dazzling observations.

There is surely no one alive who is better at explaining our world than Yuval Noah Harari - he is the lecturer we all wish we’d had at university. Reading this book, I must have interrupted my partner a hundred times to pass on fascinating things I’d just read. Harari has done it again - 21 Lessons is, simply put, a crucial book.

Erudite, illuminating, vivid. [Harari’s] lessons suggest new ways of thinking about current problems… a splendid, sobering, stirring call to arms.

Fascinating… compelling… [Harari] has teed up a crucial global conversation about how to take on the problems of the 21st century.

Harari… is a rare voice of calm reassurance, slicing through the chaos and uncertainty of the modern age.

Harari thrills his readers because he addresses the biggest possible topics with confidence and brio. Compared with the subjects he tackles, anything else we might read looks piffling and parochial.

Harari’s genius at weaving together insights from different disciplines, ranging from ancient history to neuroscience to philosophy to artificial intelligence, has enabled him to respond to the clamour to understand where we have come from and where we might be heading… 21 Lessons is lit up by flashes of intellectual adventure and literary verve.

Modern life can seem overwhelming. Fortunately, Yuval Noah Harari's new book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, is on hand to guide us through it. Poolside reading with purpose.

[Harari’s] purpose is to reveal the hard-learned lessons we have all already encountered this century… the persuasiveness of Harari’s philosophical analysis, and the engaging quality of his writing, is hard to deny.

More comprehensible [than Sapiens and Homo Deus]... showing you things you thought you knew about in a completely new way… I find Harari’s writing exhilarating.

Written in the author’s trademark lucid prose, the book makes difficult concept comprehensible, and is very much a work for our times… 21 Lessons absorbs from start to finish.

A terrific primer on where we are now and where we might be heading… Harari is a superb global cartographer, and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a lucid and essential read.

Bound to be one of the biggest books of the autumn... Exhilarating… compulsively readable and with almost every page providing something juicy to chew on.

Intelligent, lucid and refreshingly unpretentious.

The book contains many gems… compelling… accompany the author as he peers fascinatingly into the future.

Harari’s purpose is admirable. He wishes to empower ordinary people with his clear thinking.

It feels urgent and necessary, as though it is capturing a crucial moment in time… It is a direct call to action and probably the most genuinely impactful of all three Harari books.

I’m predicting that 21 Lessons for the 21st Century will complete a Harari hat-trick of classics… The clarity of Harari's vision is astonishing... thanks to him, the world makes better sense to many more of us.

21 Lessons is another extremely readable volume [from Harari].

With Harari's incise vision and measured prose this is a book to convert those dormant anxieties and Evening-News-induced insomnia into a deeper, more empowered comprehension.

Harari effortlessly jumps between diverse topics.

A thought-provoking, provocative, informative, terrifying, fact-filled series of essays which get the reader thinking, worrying and hoping.

Harari essentially takes the pulse of society today and worldwide.

[Harari] is a rare voice of calm reassurance, slicing through chaos.

Vividly written and spiked with references to Monty Python and The Lion King, Harari’s essays are thought-provoking and accessible

A rollercoaster philosophical review of where we find ourselves today… 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is an absorbing, realistic, stark, yet hopeful book.

A bold and provocative read that expands one's frame of mind on the present-day world as we know it with the author's unique perceptions.

A Brief History of Humankind: (Patterns of Life)

A series of special editions of the best popular science books to explore the patterns of our planet. Designed by Patternity, the award-winning creative studio and pattern consultancy.

Sapiens is packed with heretical thinking and surprising facts. This riveting, myth-busting book cannot be summarised in any detail; you will simply have to read it

Here is a simple reason why Sapiens has risen explosively to the ranks of an international best-seller. It tackles the biggest questions of history and of the modern world, and it is written in unforgettably vivid language. You will love it!

What’s unique about Harari’s take is that he focuses on the power of stories and myths to bring people together... I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a fun, engaging look at early human history... Harari tells our history in such an approachable way that you’ll have a hard time putting it down

What makes it so interesting and provocative is that because it’s such a condensed sweeping history it talks about some core things that have allowed us to build this extraordinary civilisation that we take for granted, but weren’t a given, and it gives you a sense of perspective in how briefly we’ve been on this Earth

Sapiens is the sort of book that sweeps the cobwebs out of your brain. Its author, Yuval Noah Harari, is a young Israeli academic and an intellectual acrobat whose logical leaps have you gasping with admiration...Harari's writing radiates power and clarity, making the world strange and new

Unbelievably good book. Jaw dropping from the first word to the last.

A rare book...thrilling and breathtaking

Harari is able to be as refreshingly clear in his discussions of biology, of evolutionary anthropology and of economics as he is of historical trends… Stick with him and you learn a lot

Reading it is like having a mental massage, cold shower and brisk workout, and all in the comfort of your own home

Full of shocking and wondrous stories

Consistently engaging…Harari writes prose that leaps from the page. His broad sweep, collating philosophy, science, history and economics, creates moments of eyebrow-raising revelation for a reader from any background

Sapiens is a fast-paced, witty and challenging romp through 70,000 years of human history...I did love it, and if you are interested in the whole story of humankind, I'm confident that you will love it too

Provocative and fascinating and opinionated…it makes the familiar seem unfamiliar. It altered how I view our species and our world.

Harari delivers a boldly synthesized account of Homo sapiens' rise through the hominin ranks...A view of our ascent as nasty, brutish, long - and endlessly fascinating

Harari can write. Not in the sense that most authors can...But really, really write, with wit, clarity, elegance and a wonderful eye for metaphor

Provocative, thrilling erudite… One of the year’s most talked-about books

Its breadth is startling... It changes the way you look at the world and few books tick that box.

Probably the most ambitious history book of the year. Certainly the most thought-provoking

As a writer, Harari is superbly clear. He’s also a formidable polymath and a wonderfully elegant thinker... He is a brilliant analyst with a storyteller’s gift

I have just read Yuval Noah Harari's book Sapiens. It is brilliant. Most likely the best - and I have read very many - on the history of humankind. I have never read anything better

We usually think that we are an outcome of our personal history, where we grew up, the way our parents educated us, etc. In Sapiens, Harari delves deep into our history as a species to help us understand who we are and what made us this way. An engrossing read.

Dan Ariely, New York Times Bestselling author of Predictably Irrational

This is mega-history of the best sort: sweeping but not simplistic, contemporary but not gimmicky, provocative but not contrarian. Almost everyone will want to argue with one part of this book or another, but working out which part and why will do us all good.

For its sheer originality and intellectual stimulation, I was captivated by Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens

Harari’s book is important reading for serious-minded, self-reflective sapiens

Brilliantly done and endlessly fascinating

Vast and intricate... Engaging and informative

A thrilling account of humankind’s extraordinary history

The book is maddeningly opinionated and insanely ambitious. It is also compulsively readable and impossibly learned. It is one of the best accounts by a Homo sapiens of the unlikely story of our violent, accomplished species

An enthusiastic and confident narrative that is relentlessly interesting from the first word to the last

The most exciting book I’ve read this year

One of the most talked about non-fiction bestsellers of the year... Harari is one of the very few thinkers around who’s really looking at what’s happening now. Sapiens is his attempt to tell the story of the past to understand the present: the great technological advances that we are all living through now

A headclutchingly provocative account of our species from the Stone Age to the present... Stunningly ambitious and compellingly written. They call it macro-history. They’re right.

Contains a remarkable piece of information on almost every page and reminds us that we should be grateful to be human.

I would recommend Sapiens to anyone who’s interested in the history and future of our species.

Read with an open mind and you might look at life in a whole new way.

Times Literary Supplement, Book of the Year

I have continued to be driven bonkers by my current obsession: Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, an extraordinary tome that charts the plight of the planet’s most destructive species since the dawn of time: us. Every paragraph gives you pause for thought, as it catalogues how nuts human beings really are… It may be the best book I’ve ever read; it’s certainly fascinating.

This doesn’t make you feel clever; it makes you feel included. It’s written so brilliantly… He’s written about the human family as a family.

It's one of the best books I’ve read recently and gives an excellent overview of how our species has developed and helps us understand why and who we are today.

Dr Yuval Noah Harari has a PhD in History from the University of Oxford and now lectures at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specialising in World History. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind has become an international phenomenon attracting a legion of fans from Bill Gates and Barack Obama to Chris Evans and Jarvis Cocker, and is published in nearly forty languages worldwide. It was a Sunday Times number one bestseller and was in the top ten for over six months in paperback. His follow-up to Sapiens, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow was also a top ten bestseller and was described by the Guardian as ‘even more readable, even more important, than his excellent Sapiens’.

Yuval Noah Harari’s bestselling phenomenon now in a beautifully packaged new special edition. 
 
 Planet Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has conquered it. Us. We are the most advanced and most destructive animals ever to have lived. What makes us brilliant? What makes us deadly? What makes us Sapiens? 
 
 In this bold and provocative book, Yuval Noah Harari explores who we are, how we got here and where we’re going. Sapiens is a thrilling account of humankind’s extraordinary history – from the Stone Age to the Silicon Age – and our journey from insignificant apes to rulers of the world. 
 
 'Unbelievably good. Jaw dropping from the first word to the last' Chris Evans, BBC Radio 2 
 
PATTERNS OF LIFE: SPECIAL EDITIONS OF GROUNDBREAKING SCIENCE BOOKS

Vintage Minis

Money

Vintage Minis bring you the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us human – from birth to death and everything in between

Selected from the books Sapiens and Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari 
 
How did money come to be invented? Why does it now have such significance in our lives? Does it make us happier or unhappier? And what does the future hold for it? With brilliant clarity and insight, Yuval Noah Harari takes the reader on a journey from the very first coins through to 21st century economics and shows us how we are all on the brink of a revolution, whether we like it or not. 
 
VINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS. 
 
A series of short books by the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us human 
 
Also in the Vintage Minis series: 
Home by Salman Rushdie 
Babies by Anne Enright 
Eating by Nigella Lawson 
Drinking by John Cheever

A Brief History of Tomorrow

Homo Deus

‘An intoxicating brew of science, philosophy and futurism’ Mail on Sunday

Sapiens showed us where we came from. Homo Deus shows us where we're going.

**THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLER** 
 
Sapiens showed us where we came from. In our increasingly uncertain times, Homo Deus shows us where we're going. 
 
'Spellbinding' Guardian 
 
The world-renowned historian and intellectual Yuval Noah Harari envisions a near future in which we face a new set of challenges. Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century and beyond - from overcoming death to creating artificial life. 
 
It asks the fundamental questions: how can we protect this fragile world from our own destructive power? And what does our future hold? 
 
'Even more readable, even more important, than his excellent Sapiens' Kazuo Ishiguro 
 
'Homo Deus will shock you. It will entertain you. It will make you think in ways you had not thought before' Daniel Kahneman, bestselling author of Thinking, Fast and Slow

Homo Deus will shock you. It will entertain you. Above all, it will make you think in ways you had not thought before.

Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow

Shows us where mankind is headed in an absolutely clear-sighted and accessible manner

Even more readable, even more important, than his excellent Sapiens

An exhilarating book that takes the reader deep into questions of identity, consciousness and intelligence

A brilliantly original, thought-provoking and important study of where mankind is heading.

Spellbinding… a quirky and cool book, with a sliver of ice at its heart

An intoxicating brew of science, philosophy and futurism.

Yuval Noah Harari is the most entertaining and thought-provoking writer of non-fiction at the moment. As with Sapiens, you finish the book feeling much wiser

It is thrilling to watch such a talented author trample so freely across so many disciplines... Harrari's skill lies in the way he tilts the prism in all these fields and looks at the world in different ways, providing fresh angles on what we thought we knew... the result is scintillating

What elevates Harari above many chroniclers of our age is his exceptional clarity and focus.

An exhilarating book that takes the reader deep into questions of identity, consciousness and intelligence… Harari is a naturally gifted explainer, invariably ready with a telling anecdote or memorable analogy. As a result, it’s tempting to see him less as historian than as some kind of all-purpose sage.

Sets out with enviable (and alarming) lucidity the massive challenges now facing our species as genetic technologies, AI and robotics alter forever our relationships with one another and with other species. It’s even more readable, even more important, than his excellent Sapiens.

I think the mark of a great book is that it not only alters the way you see the world after you've read it, it also casts the past in a different light. In Homo Deus, Yuval Noah Harari shows us where mankind is headed in an absolutely clear-sighted &amp; accessible manner. I don't normally ask for autographs but I got a bit starstruck &amp; asked him to sign my copy of his book after we'd had a conversation for my show on BBC 6Music. His inscription reads: 'The future is in your hands' - a good thing to remember when such great changes are afoot.

Spellbinding… This is a very intelligent book, full of sharp insights and mordant wit... It is a quirky and cool book, with a sliver of ice at its heart... It is hard to imagine anyone could read this book without getting an occasional, vertiginous thrill.

Like all great epics, Sapiens demanded a sequel. Homo Deus, in which that likely apocalyptic future is imagined in spooling detail, is that book. It is a highly seductive scenario planner for the numerous ways in which we might overreach ourselves.

Homo Deus is a sweeping, apocalyptic history of the human race, which reads more like a TED-talk on acid.

Harari is an intellectual magpie who has plucked theories and data from many disciplines - including philosophy, theology, computer science and biology - to produce a brilliantly original, thought-provoking and important study of where mankind is heading.

Like its predecessor, which sold in its millions, Homo Deus will have a world audience. Taking over where Sapiens left off, it looks forward to where history, ethics and gargantuan biotech investment might lead us - to the end, Harari thinks, of death, suffering and the very idea of being human.

A remarkable book, full of insights and thoughtful reinterpretations of what we thought we knew about ourselves and our history... One measure of Harari’s achievement is that one has to look a long way back – to 1934, in fact, the year when Lewis Mumford’s Technics and Civilization was published – for a book with comparable ambition and scope.

Harari is an exceptional writer, who seems to have been specially chosen by the muses as a conduit for the zeitgeist… Fascinating reading.

This provocative book analyses our present state – and makes startling predictions about the future.

Sapiens was a paean to humanity’s powers of collective imagination…with darker notes on how these mega-stories might direct our new, transformative, information and biological technologies. “Is there anything more dangerous than dissatisfied and irresponsible gods who don’t know what they want?” was Harari’s closing line. Homo Deus tries to answer that question, with all the pedagogic and encyclopaedic brilliance of its predecessor.

An often thought-provoking and always elegantly written book.

Brilliant, mind-expanding…explores where Homo Sapiens might go from here, via his signature blend of science, history, philosophy and every discipline in between.

His reasoning is laid out with a lucidity that makes it a joy to read.

Yuval Noah Harari is the most entertaining and thought-provoking writer of non-fiction at the moment. In Homo Deus he covers broad terrain, touching on everything from Zen Buddhism to the Second World War to how bats read the frequency of echoes, to explore the largest most difficult and sometimes frightening subject of all: our own future. As with Sapiens you finish the book feeling much wiser, but not having noticed any hard work along the way. I loved this book.

Sapiens showed us where we came from. Homo Deus shows us where we’re going

Challenging, readable and thought-provoking… He has provided a smart look at what may be ahead for humanity.

Prof Yuval Noah Harari has a PhD in History from the University of Oxford and now lectures at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specialising in World History. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind has become an international phenomenon attracting a legion of fans from Bill Gates and Barack Obama to Chris Evans and Jarvis Cocker, and is published in sixty languages worldwide. It was a Sunday Times Number One bestseller and was in the Top Ten for over nine months in paperback. His follow-up to Sapiens, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow was also a Top Ten Bestseller and was described by the Guardian as 'even more readable, even more important, than his excellent Sapiens'. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, was a Number One Bestseller and was described by Bill Gates as 'fascinating' and 'crucial'. Harari worked closely with renowned comics illustrator Daniel Casanave and co-writer David Vandermeulen to create his latest book, an adaptation of his first bestseller, Sapiens Graphic Novel: Volume 1.

**THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLER** 
 
Sapiens showed us where we came from. In uncertain times, Homo Deus shows us where we're going. 
 
'Homo Deus will shock you. It will entertain you. It will make you think in ways you had not thought before' Daniel Kahneman, bestselling author of Thinking, Fast and Slow 
 
Yuval Noah Harari envisions a near future in which we face a new set of challenges. Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century and beyond - from overcoming death to creating artificial life. 
 
It asks the fundamental questions: how can we protect this fragile world from our own destructive power? And what does our future hold?

The Age of Revolutions

Sapiens A Graphic History, Volume 4

The fourth and final volume of the graphic adaptation of Yuval Noah Harari’s global phenomenon and smash Sunday Times number-one bestseller follows the scientific and industrial revolutions, as rapid advances transform society, reshape capitalism and propel us into the technological age and the dawn of AI. 
 
Until 1500 AD, Homo sapiens had reached a plateau in medical, military and economic power, focused on preserving long-standing social orders. So how did we leap from medieval scrolls to ebooks, abacuses to computers, wooden ships to nuclear submarines – and from the Earth to the moon? As Yuval Noah Harari reveals, the spark behind the Scientific Revolution was a radical idea: ignorance. Paired with curiosity, it drove humanity’s relentless pursuit of knowledge. 
 
This pursuit unleashed a powerful feedback loop between science, politics and capitalism, accelerating discovery and reshaping the world. In Sapiens: A Graphic History Volume 4 – The Age of Revolutions, Yuval Noah Harari explore how scientific thinking came to dominate in the sixteenth century, overtaking religion and philosophy and fuelling imperial expansion, colonialism and the Industrial Revolution. Old social and political structures unravelled as new technologies emerged – each invention both a tool and a weapon. 
 
Spanning from the early modern period to the present day, this final volume traces the extraordinary transformations that have defined our species, while also looking ahead. As advances in artificial intelligence gather pace, it asks what the future might hold – and whether a new form of intelligence could surpass humanity itself. 
 
Like the previous instalments, this is an engaging, insightful and colourful retelling of the human story for curious minds of all ages.

Until 1500 AD, Homo sapiens had reached a plateau in medical, military and economic power, focused on preserving long-standing social orders. So how did we leap from medieval scrolls to ebooks, abacuses to computers, wooden ships to nuclear submarines – and from the Earth to the moon? As Yuval Noah Harari reveals, the spark behind the Scientific Revolution was a radical idea: ignorance. Paired with curiosity, it drove humanity’s relentless pursuit of knowledge. 
 
This pursuit unleashed a powerful feedback loop between science, politics and capitalism, accelerating discovery and reshaping the world. In Sapiens: A Graphic History Volume 4 – The Age of Revolutions, Yuval Noah Harari explore how scientific thinking came to dominate in the sixteenth century, overtaking religion and philosophy and fuelling imperial expansion, colonialism and the Industrial Revolution. Old social and political structures unravelled as new technologies emerged – each invention both a tool and a weapon. 
 
Spanning from the early modern period to the present day, this final volume traces the extraordinary transformations that have defined our species, while also looking ahead. As advances in artificial intelligence gather pace, it asks what the future might hold – and whether a new form of intelligence could surpass humanity itself. 
 
Like the previous instalments, this is an engaging, insightful and colourful retelling of the human story for curious minds of all ages.

Yuval Noah Harari

Vidish Athavale

Yuval Noah Harari is the undisputed maestro of the big idea . . . Nobody can pull of a big theory as suavely as he can

[Harari] sticks the world together in a gleaming shape that inspires and excites

[A] thoughtful book . . . An important perspective at a time when the info-wars seem likely to only get worse

[Harari] makes fun of people like myself who saw more information as always a good thing . . . I would basically say he’s right and I was wrong

If you read only one non-fiction book this year, consider this one, to know more of our history and be aware our choices to come

Engrossing . . . A diagnosis and a call to action . . . If [Nexus] sells anywhere near as well as Sapiens did, we’ll be that bit better equipped as a species to deal with the rise of the machines

A useful, well-informed primer . . . Wise and bold

A historian whose arguments operate on the scale of millennia has managed to capture the zeitgeist perfectly . . . Harari's narrative is engaging, and his framing is strikingly original

One of our foremost big-picture thinkers about the grand sweep of humanity, history and the future

Tremendous, thought-provoking and so very well reasoned. Harari gives us a vision of a rapidly approaching future that is at one and the same time thrilling and chilling. If there is one book that I would urge everyone to read – our political, corporate and cultural leaders most especially – it is Nexus

[Harari] connects past and future in a way that’s both enlightening and a little eerie. Nexus isn’t just a critique of technology; it’s a reflection on how we’ve always been vulnerable to those who control information. It’s a wake-up call in the gentlest, most urgent way

Harari has a unique ability to unite both history’s finest details and its grandest megatrends in a single view. This deeply important book comes at a critical time as we all think through the implications of AI

Harari is one of the most remarkable intellects of our generation – bold, original, erudite, provocative and entrancing. His latest book reimagines everything from literacy to AI and – like all his books – fundamentally shifts one’s view of the world

[An] always rewarding, often alarming book

Nexus is an important book and comes at an important time in human history

Nexus is ambitious, bold and, at times, unsettling . . . For anyone interested in the intersection of history, technology and power, Harari once again provokes deep thought

A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

The story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world from the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Sapiens. 
 
For the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite all our discoveries, inventions and conquests, we now find ourselves in an existential crisis. The world is on the verge of ecological collapse. Misinformation abounds. And we are rushing headlong into the age of AI – a new information network that threatens to annihilate us. If we are so wise, why are we so self-destructive? 
 
NEXUS considers how the flow of information has shaped us, and our world. Taking us from the Stone Age through the Bible, early modern witch-hunts, Stalinism, Nazism and the resurgence of populism today, Yuval Noah Harari asks us to consider the complex relationship between information and truth, bureaucracy and mythology, wisdom and power. He explores how different societies and political systems have wielded information to achieve their goals, for good and ill. And he addresses the urgent choices we face as non-human intelligence threatens our very existence. 
 
Information is not the raw material of truth; neither is it a mere weapon. NEXUS explores the hopeful middle ground between these extremes, and of rediscovering our shared humanity.

Yuval Noah Harari

Praise for Nexus

Yuval Noah Harari is the undisputed maestro of the big idea . . . Nobody can pull of a big theory as suavely as he can

[Harari] sticks the world together in a gleaming shape that inspires and excites

A superb narrative writer

Yuval Noah Harari is the undisputed maestro of the big idea . . . Nobody can pull of a big theory as suavely as he can

[Harari] sticks the world together in a gleaming shape that inspires and excites

A superb narrative writer

Yuval Noah Harari is the undisputed maestro of the big idea . . . Nobody can pull of a big theory as suavely as he can

[Harari] sticks the world together in a gleaming shape that inspires and excites

A superb narrative writer

Books by Yuval Noah Harari

Series by Yuval Noah Harari

SAPIENS: A GRAPHIC HISTORY4 Books

Unstoppable Us3 Books

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