Q&A: A Brief History of Humankind
A Brief History of Humankind
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Someone told me that the best answers for young people who read Yuval Noah Harari's A Brief History of Humankind and get confused can be found אצלך. Could you recommend which of your writings are relevant for that?
Answer
Hello,
I hardly address his claims in his book specifically anywhere. In my view, it is a weak book that contains quite a few basic logical errors. But throughout the site there are answers to many questions, and I assume that in one way or another this covers the main points of his claims.
If you want material that addresses him directly, you can search for "Yuval Noah Harari" on the site. But as I said, you will hardly find any detailed responses there specifically about the book.
If you would like to raise a specific question for discussion, you are of course welcome.
I collected here a few response and critique articles from around the web. There are of course more.
Moshe Ratt here: https://www.knowingfaith.co.il/%D7%99%D7%94%D7%93%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%95%D7%97%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%93%D7%A8%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%9E%D7%97%D7%A9%D7%91%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%9C%D7%91-%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%A8%D7%99
Nadav Shnerb: https://hashiloach.org.il/%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%A5-%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%93%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/
Even the charlatan Shlomo Sand criticizes him: https://www.haaretz.co.il/gallery/literature/.premium-1.7574632
And Tomer Persico: https://tomerpersico.com/2012/11/26/harari_brief_history/
And another one on his second book: https://tomerpersico.com/2015/05/10/harari_critique/
And Ratio: https://rationalbelief.org.il/%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%A8-%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%93%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%90%D7%95-%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%A3-%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%93%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%94-2/
Thank you very much