“Every day millions of people decide to grant their smartphone a bit more control over their lives or try a new and more effective antidepressant drug. In pursuit of health, happiness and power, humans will gradually change first one of their features and then another, and another, until they will no longer be human.” ― Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus: A Brief History of TomorrowHarari takes us, with this continuation to his blockbuster book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, from the past to t...

Obviously I need to get a copy of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind because I loved this book. I can't claim to be well-read in the topic of Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, so I'm definitely biased in my opinion that Harari is a genius. Every few pages my copy has lengthy passages highlighted, brilliant bits I just knew I would want to reference when I pitched this book to family and friends later on. In Homo Deus, Harari holds that now that humanity has all but solved the mammoth pr...

Certainly a disappointment when compared to Sapiens. The insights were generally already well presented in the earlier book. The section on animal lives is not convincingly warranted for inclusion but more obviously just a passion for the author leading me to feel I was being preached too. His criticism of Dawkins et al although correct could be equally pointed at himself. The universe will move from hot to cold regardless of quantum mechanical randomness at the quanta scale and equally at our b...

We are not so taken aback when we hear computer programs can beat human chess masters. After all, computers are far more efficient calculators than humans, and chess can be broken down to calculations (In fact, nowadays chess masters don't stand a chance against present day computer Chessmaster programs. It's simply not possible for a human mind to beat them). And we're also not at all shocked when Google and Tesla present us automated cars driven by computer programs. Nevertheless, we reason,co...

Where do you start reviewing a colossal piece of work such as Homo Deus – A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari? Last year I read another work by this author Sapiens, I was so taken by that work I could have and should have given it 6 stars (rule breaker, I am – yes I live on the edge). Sapiens discussed how we got to where we are now, Homo Deus discusses where we could be heading. To be honest it isn’t pretty – not to me anyway.Professor Harari explains how Homo Sapiens have conquere...

Homo ObsoletusThe audacious first act, Sapiens, ended with a wild and apocalyptic prophesy - that the Sapiens were cooking up the next epochal revolution that will overshadow the previous three: the cognitive, agricultural and scientific/industrial revolutions. Home Deus, the second act, is the full exploration of that prophesy. Both Sapiens and Homo Deus are compulsory reading in my book, even though the macro-history presented is plenty vulnerable to all sorts of attacks. But then, it might be...

Mind-blowing! What an interesting, compelling, thought-provoking and, yeah, kind of scary book. After finishing it, I'm both elated and anxious.Homo Deus (what a perfect title) was complex and it covered a lot of things, but it is especially trying to decipher where the humanity is going.Consciousness, the individual, intelligence, and the very important ability to organise are thoroughly analysed.I was very surprised to have my native country mentioned and analysed briefly but comprehensively.

This is a profoundly shocking piece of writing- a tactic which Yuval Noah Harari uses to great effect- aimed at getting readers to think about the now, not just what comes next. Harari’s second book claims to be about the future of mankind, but works more as a means of discussing the state of current trends in science, tech, and human ‘progress’. While he offers suggestions about how things may proceed, the more significant aspect of the book is the way his arguments make us think about how we w...

Homo Deus is not quite as factual and cohesive as Sapiens. It falls into the realm of speculation rather than trying to organise and make sense of the world. Sapiens was fantastic because it was almost like a novelisation of human history. It was dramatic and loaded with exciting revelations about what makes us human. It discussed where we came from and where we are now. It was a thought provoking, an exceedingly intelligent piece of writing. With this book Harari looks to the future, to where w...

The book is hugely disappointing. A year or so ago I read an interview with Harari on this book, which was still work in progress, and I found his views on biological inequality (and, to a lesser extent, the decoupling of intelligence from consciousness) very insightful. Actually, it was that interview that inspired me to read Sapiens, which, despite certain flaws, unfortunately amplified in Deus, is a book definitely worth reading. Meanwhile, Deus is wordy, chaotic and repetitive; most of the b...

The title and the premise of Yuval Noah Harari’s Home Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow sounds intriguing; however, not much felt new. I feel like I’ve already heard much of the author’s arguments in other places. So while the various topics discussed are interesting and thought-provoking, Homo Deus is mostly provocative because of the way it is packaged. Advancements in a number of fields, especially in relation to data and an increase in our longevity, are examined to make the point that we ar...

This book reads like the author read a number of popular science articles, watched some sci-fi movies, attended a transhumanist meetup, got just a bit high on weed and then started writing.

Harari is a fantastic historian: he writes effortlessly and fascinatingly about historic trends, and has a great big picture perspective of the revolutions and contexts of historical progression.Harari, however, is not a good futurologist and an absolutely terrible cognitive scientist. Being educated in Cognitive Science and technology myself, all I can say, with the utmost respect I can offer to a fellow Israeli, is that he's full of shit.Homo Deus is an attempt to make a sequel to the wildly p...

This is a powerful book by a truly insightful author. I recently read Harari's previous great book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, and I enjoyed this one just as much. There is so much packed into Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, that it is hard to do justice to the book in a review. Yuval Harari has such a unique insight into how the world turns. He is sometimes very blunt, but he "tells it like he sees it." The first two-thirds of the book is devoted to a description of how the

3.5/5 starsNot as good as Homo Sapiens but Homo Deus did provide me with additional informative knowledge and intriguing speculations told in an engaging and thought-provoking style. “People are usually afraid of change because they fear the unknown. But the single greatest constant of history is that everything changes.” I will first say that Harari is a good writer, he really knows how to make interesting topics more compelling and he also kept me focused on information that would’ve...

Excellent again. Harari is fast becoming one of my favourite writers.I didn't love Homo Deus quite as much as Sapiens, but I think that's because the history Harari takes us through in the latter really does read like a very compelling novel. This book explores different themes and theories about the future of humanity - relating to aging, technological advancements, etc. - which makes it not as cohesive. Still, though, very interesting. He really knows how to break down complex concepts so ev...

(Regular Review) This is a book focusing on the future of humanity. Harari focuses on many exciting topics like whether human beings will be able to overcome death. He also discusses the future of medical science and how AI will alter medical science. He touches the future of almost all spheres of life in this book. What I learned from this book 1) Why poor are following Marie-Antoinette's advice today? In 1789 Marie-Antoinette (bride of France's King Louis XVI) told, "Qu'ils mangent

Thought provoking and sweepingHistorians study the past not in order to repeat it but in order to be liberated from it.General observationsWe become satisfied when reality confirms with our expectationsYuval Noah Harari is on par with the best SF writers in painting a broad picture of long term trends and their impact. He posits that human development is pivoting from fighting famine, plague and war and that the big narrative and goals of the 21st century are to "upgrade" humanity into immortali...

Tongue Firmly in CheekOrThe Mormons Are RightOrEvolution Is So YesterdayOrThe Problems of Prayers AnsweredOrToo Much Good News Is Hard to TakeOrIt Could have Turned Out So Different; But It Didn’t OrAll Thoughts and Feelings Are Algorithms; Except This OneOrFiction Is Our Fundamental Technology; Just Ask Donald TrumpOr The Vital Uncertainty: We Can Have Meaning Or Power in Life But Not Both TogetherAs with his previous book Sapiens, Harari tells a story in Homo Deus that is too disconcerting to

I was a HUGE fan of Harari's previous smash hit Sapiens, and as such I came into this book with high expectations. Those expectations were met in some areas, and not in others: overall the book is engaging but a shadow of its predecessor.First, the good stuff. Harari's prose is as readable and clear as ever in Homo Deus, and he paces himself excellently. Too often in popular science books I find that either the author drags their feet getting to the interesting stuff or rockets over important se...