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Sapiens
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins
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Editorial reviews
Our species has only roamed the Earth for 200,000 years — but in that time, we’ve done more to change the face of the planet than any other creature in existence. In his provocative best-selling work Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari takes listeners on a journey through the history of mankind, from the Stone Age to today.
Over the course of this un-pausable audiobook, Harari examines how each generation of humanity left its mark on the planet - and how we’re still changing our world as each day passes.
Audie Award-winning English voice actor Derek Perkins skilfully navigates this thorough, research-driven work, setting the perfect tone for this riveting audiobook with his deep, intellectual delivery.
To put it simply in the words of one listener: 'Prepare to have your mind blown'.
Publisher's summary
The Sunday Times best seller.
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 audiobook, 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. For more, visit www.ynharari.com.
Critic reviews
"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)
"Sweeps the cobwebs out of your brain.... Radiates power and clarity." (Sunday Times)
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Story
Ankur Warikoo is an entrepreneur and content creator whose deep, witty, and brutally honest thoughts on success and failure, money and investing, self-awareness and personal relationships have made him one of India’s top personal brands. In his first book, Ankur puts together the key ideas that have fuelled his journey—one that began with him wanting to be a space engineer and ended with him creating content that has been seen and read and heard by millions. His thoughts range from the importance of creating habits for long-term success to the foundations of money management.
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Epicly Sh*t
- By Anonymous User on 09-30-22
By: Ankur Warikoo
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Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
- By: Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Narrated by: Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Length: 3 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There's no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson. But today, few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. So Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in digestible chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day.
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Disappointing - not much physics
- By Rob Hahn on 07-15-17
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Nexus
- A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
- By: Yuval Noah Harari
- Length: 14 hrs
- Unabridged
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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. For all that we have accomplished, why are we so self-destructive? Nexus looks through the long lens of human history to consider how the flow of information has shaped us, and our world.
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Meditations
- By: Marcus Aurelius, George Long - translator, Duncan Steen - translator
- Narrated by: Duncan Steen
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the most significant books ever written by a head of state, the Meditations are a collection of philosophical thoughts by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121 - 180 ce). Covering issues such as duty, forgiveness, brotherhood, strength in adversity and the best way to approach life and death, the Meditations have inspired thinkers, poets and politicians since their first publication more than 500 years ago. Today, the book stands as one of the great guides and companions - a cornerstone of Western thought.
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Excelent reading of an excellent classic
- By David on 10-22-16
By: Marcus Aurelius, and others
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The Theory of Everything
- The Origin and Fate of the Universe
- By: Stephen Hawking
- Narrated by: Michael York
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Hawking takes us on a fascinating journey through the telescopic lens of modern physics to gain a new glimpse of the universe--the nature of black holes, the space-time continuum, and new information about the origin of the universe. He uses this scientific basis to come up with a "unified theory of everything" that the author claims will be "the ultimate triumph of human reason."
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Shares a lot of text with a Brief History of Time.
- By Roc Myers on 01-07-15
By: Stephen Hawking
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Existential Physics
- A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions
- By: Sabine Hossenfelder
- Narrated by: Gina Daniels
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Not only can we not currently explain the origin of the universe, it is questionable we will ever be able to explain it. The notion that there are universes within particles, or that particles are conscious, is ascientific, as is the hypothesis that our universe is a computer simulation. On the other hand, the idea that the universe itself is conscious is difficult to rule out entirely.
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Separating the Science from the Nonsense
- By SelfishWizard on 08-16-22
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The Signal and the Noise
- Why So Many Predictions Fail - but Some Don't
- By: Nate Silver
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Nate Silver built an innovative system for predicting baseball performance, predicted the 2008 election within a hair’s breadth, and became a national sensation as a blogger - all by the time he was 30. He solidified his standing as the nation's foremost political forecaster with his near perfect prediction of the 2012 election. Silver is the founder and editor in chief of the website FiveThirtyEight. Drawing on his own groundbreaking work, Silver examines the world of prediction, investigating how we can distinguish a true signal from a universe of noisy data.
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Learn About Statistics Without All The Math
- By Scott Fabel on 03-09-13
By: Nate Silver
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How Science Shapes Science Fiction
- By: Charles L. Adler, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Professor Charles L. Adler
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Original Recording
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Science fiction can often seem to be pure imaginative fantasy, but many authors are more fluent in real science than many readers and viewers may realize. Professor Charles L. Adler of St. Mary’s College of Maryland was the perfect choice for this subject, as he is both a longtime science-fiction fan and a real-world scientist. Professor Adler’s talent for using literature to shine a light on science - both the accurate and not-so-accurate versions employed by creators, spanning two centuries - makes this course a great survey for fans of both science fact and science fiction.
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A+ Science behind Sci-Fi lecture series
- By Annabells on 11-19-20
By: Charles L. Adler, and others
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The Evidence for Modern Physics
- How We Know What We Know
- By: Professor Don Lincoln, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Professor Don Lincoln
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Original Recording
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In this 24-lesson course aimed at non-scientists, noted particle physicist Dr. Don Lincoln of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory covers more than a century of progress in physics, describing exactly how scientists reach the conclusions they do. He starts with the atom, which was long hypothesized but wasn’t definitively proven until a paper by Albert Einstein in 1905. That was just the beginning, as researchers probed ever deeper into the atom’s complex structure, leading to the weird findings of quantum mechanics.
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Strongly Recommend for Everyone
- By Liam A on 05-23-21
By: Professor Don Lincoln, and others
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Algorithms to Live By
- The Computer Science of Human Decisions
- By: Brian Christian, Tom Griffiths
- Narrated by: Brian Christian
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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From finding a spouse to finding a parking spot, from organizing one's inbox to understanding the workings of human memory, Algorithms to Live By transforms the wisdom of computer science into strategies for human living.
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Great listen, just don't expect tips!
- By Adam Hosman on 08-07-17
By: Brian Christian, and others
What listeners say about Sapiens
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Bradley Janse van Rensburg
- 06-13-17
Life changing book
It's hard to clearly articulate how profoundly this book (and it's sequel, Homo Deus) has changed my life. I have a much firmer understanding of the history of our species, the origins of our religions and our belief systems, and our possible futures. Anyone who wants to think deeply about life's important questions and be involved in our destiny should read or listen to this book.
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16 people found this helpful
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- Shyam
- 06-13-17
Brilliant Macrohistory
A sweeping narrative of the history of mankind. The author perches himself in a vantage that summarises millennia of biological and historical evolution. The concept that everything is a product of human imagination was dealt with convincingly. The enquiry into happiness and the role of biochemistry in the evolution of man was valuable. An objective analysis of various forces that have and are shaping the world.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Kumoyo
- 07-28-17
A must read!!!!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Absolutely!! It is extremely well written and narrated. This book summarizes the answers to how we (Sapiens) have arrived at this point in time, ability and culture and goes beyond by asking the questions of where we are headed to, whether by our own devices or through circumstance. I definitely recommend spending a minimum of 15 hours of your time to read every bit of this book, I know I'll be scheduling another 15 to 20 hours for another read (more synoptic) to get into the guts of the matter and read alongside other such works
What was one of the most memorable moments of Sapiens?
There were so many great moments but I'll mention a few:
- The realization that we are probably not as special (when compared to other species) as we might want to believe.
- The realization that while we generally view ourselves as the one and only true humans, there have been other types of humans with their own strengths and quirks
- Our future and the implications of advancements we are making (such as AI, etc)
- A reinforcement of the realization that many things we consciously believe as real are either figments of our imagination or simply our own perspectives based on our beliefs, norms and values as well as the accuracy of our individual & collective apparatus i.e. eyes, ears, nostrils, etc.
What about Derek Perkins’s performance did you like?
A solid performance by Derek Perkins. His narration style was perfect for the content and while I reading I thought he was the author (I think it reminded me of Neil degrasse Tyson's narration of his own book, Astrophysics for people in a hurry, where you could tell that he was more than a master of the content in the book)....his delivery was awesome!
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
I was left with many questions with one powerful question being whether the point to life was for the well-being of the individual or for the well-being of the species over time or maybe it's not a zero-sum game but that leads to even more questions than answers
Any additional comments?
Two very minor observations and/or corrections for the author:
- Akhenaten and his adoption of monotheism: I thought the date was more around 1350BC rather than 350BC as narrated in the book (which is rather quite late)
- The insinuation that Ghana (and by extension implying that African states) select dictators as leaders: there is a common misconception that all African states are run by despots. It is true that the systems of government in most African countries are worse than those in Northern and Central Europe (and maybe there is more corruption but I would probably qualify that statement by stating there is more "blantant" corruption in several African states whereas there is more sophisticated corruption in the west and obviously Trump, with his ethical dilemmas, is an exception to this) but many countries like Botswana, Zambia and Ghana have been voting for their leaders in peaceful elections for decades. Unfortunately, the general view presented of Africa is that of the deeply troubled states such as Somalia and Sudan and the success stories are completely ignored. I'm not trying to criticize you (the author) as you are likely just as much a victim of how information about Africa is presented by the media (a mix of fake and real news) but rather that if people like yourself can start to use a different tone and send a different message when talking about Africa, that this could change the attitude of many (including many Africans themselves who are exposed to some of the same fake news) about Africa and its people and facilitate greater cooperation across all sapiens and not just some sapiens.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Lauri
- 03-20-17
One of the best "histories" around
A must read/listen for anyone with a scientific outlook and interest towards history. This book has an exceptionally objective approach towards mankind and its habits, cultures and beliefs. The approach might even offend some people as the book is for example unapologetically atheist
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6 people found this helpful
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- Leo Saumure
- 01-20-16
The subtitle says it all
What did you love best about Sapiens?
I liked that it gave a good foundation of various disciplines when it comes to dealing with humanity: Biology, Sociology, Psychology, History, and even a bit of conjecture.
What did you like best about this story?
I enjoyed the fact that it pretty much covered everything from Darwin's theory of evolution to speculation about where we are heading as a species that can alter our own destiny.
What about Derek Perkins’s performance did you like?
Good reader, and able to convey both the finer points as well as the humour of the book.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Vivek
- 07-07-15
A fresh and unique lens to view the world
It has made me re-evaluate almost everything I thought I knew! And it does so in vivid prose, bringing history to life. Highly recommended!
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3 people found this helpful
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- Andrew Nash
- 05-13-15
Everything we already know, in one story
This book is amazingly easy to follow and enjoyable right through to the end. It has vastly enhanced my big picture view of the world. If you enjoyed it I would also recommend the Coursera free online course. Although maybe, like me, you're here because you're already done that.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Ram Anvesh Reddy
- 03-14-17
A modern masterpiece
This is a modern master piece. Succinct, unbiased, extreme coverage of time and space. Just a marvellous read.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Aurelian Cotuna
- 12-20-20
Just wooow. absolutely amazing book
I think this is the best book I've read so far. The narrator is amazing, the story is mind blowing and the book really makes you think and put human life in perspective.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Vetrici Marius
- 08-23-17
A comprehensive book with surprising angles
The book takes you from early development of humankind up to the nowadays scientific breakthrough.
It is full of insights and explains in very simple terms the development of such concepts as money, religion, empiers, science and the linkage between them.
I truly enjoyed this insightful book full of aha moments.
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1 person found this helpful