hello readers it's
wonderful to see you again
and thanks so much for tuning in and for
watching my channel
I'm Reuben Heppelthwaite and welcome or
welcome back
to keep reading your channel for great
book recommendations
now I'm currently concentrating
on a series of great non-fiction books
and this week I'm recommending an
ultra-topical
and very compelling book written by an
author that's been labeled by some
as a guru for our times it's Yuval Noah
Harari
and the book is 21 lessons for the 21st
century
and it's the third in a series of books
by Harari that includes
the bestsellers sapiens a brief history
of humankind
and homo deus a brief history of
tomorrow
the author he's an israeli historian
and a professor at the hebrew university
of jerusalem
and his thought-provoking writings
examine
a vast array of topics that center
around free will consciousness
intelligence
and happiness humankind is losing
faith in the liberal story that
dominated global politics in recent
decades
exactly when the merger of biotech and
infotech confronts us
with the biggest challenges humankind
has ever encountered
I've read all three of the books in the
series
and they are all very good and all worth
a read
homo deus did overlap somewhat with the
ideas that were explored in sapiens
as does this book but in 21 lessons
Harari turns his attention to the
present
I mean you could call it a self-help
guide that focuses on
protecting the human race and preparing
our children for the future
the book is split into five parts and
this mind-expanding book covers many
topics
which aims to take stock of where
humanity has reached and where it might
be going
including but not limited to the threat
of nuclear war ecological catastrophe
fake news terrorism nationalism
religion immigration secularism and
meditation which we learn happens to be
the author's favourite leisure activity
on the back cover it says that
21 lessons shows us how to be human
in an age of bewilderment has that got
you intrigued?
I think it probably should
the merger of infotech and biotech
threatens the core modern values of
liberty and equality
any solution to the technological
challenge has to involve global
cooperation
but nationalism religion and culture
divide humankind
into hostile camps and make it very
difficult
to cooperate on a global level
Harari starts this book by discussing
disillusionment
and how humankind is losing faith in the
liberal story that has dominated global
politics
for the last few decades citing brexit
in the uk
and the rise of donald trump in the usa
that has signaled a tidal wave of
disillusionment
saying that many people in the uk and
the usa see the liberal
vision as being either undesirable or
unattainable
harare does actually give trump a
particularly good bashing throughout
this book
and there are also edifying sections on
whether brexit
should have happened at all whether the
vote should have happened and
it includes a quote from the eminent
biologist richard dawkins
that says that the uk might as well have
called a nationwide plebiscite
to decide whether einstein got his
algebra right
or let passengers vote on which runway
the pilot should land
though the challenges are unprecedented
and though the disagreements are intense
humankind can rise to the occasion if we
keep our fears under control
and be a bit more humble about our views
my favourite section in the book is part
5 that's the last
and it's entitled resilience
and Harari's main question is spelled
out in the
section heading he says how do you live
in an age of bewilderment when the old
stories have collapsed
and no new story has yet emerged to
replace them
here the author argues that human myths
as he calls them
such as money laws and corporations
have allowed humanity to build vast
complex
societies far beyond our biological
limitations
and in our globalised world the idea of
a coherent national state
is being threatened as religion is
fading from
public life in the secular west he says
what do we have left to believe in
Harari provides some tongue-in-cheek
notions on this question in chapter 20
entitled meaning which include the
circle of life
and a being's unique dharma as told
by a hindu text and in more popular
culture
disney's lion king
if you feel overwhelmed and confused by
the global predicament
you are on the right track global
processes have become too complicated
for any single person to understand how
then
can you know the truth about the world
and avoid falling victim
to propaganda and misinformation
Yuval Noah Harari certainly has a
unique way
of explaining the world and this book
offers
plenty of provocations together with
unexpected
ideas and observations it takes you
on a journey through today's most
important issues
and asks if we are still capable of
understanding the world we have created
21 lessons is highly readable and
a little sobering actually at times but
for anyone interested in how
humanity arrived where we are how we can
make things better
and what might be in store for the
future then this
is the book for you
how do you live in an age of
bewilderment when the old stories are
collapsed
and no news story has yet emerged to
replace them
so that's another book recommendation
and another coffee done
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I'll be back with another non-fiction
recommendation next thursday
in the meantime stay safe stay healthy
stay positive
and keep reading
