Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

by Yuval Noah Harari

Prologue: An Animal of No Significance

About 13.5 billion years ago, matter, energy, time and space came into being in what is known as the Big Bang. The story of these fundamental features of our universe is called physics.

About 3.8 billion years ago, molecules combined to form very large and intricate structures called organisms. The story of organisms is called biology.

About 70,000 years ago, organisms belonging to the species Homo sapiens started to form even more elaborate structures called cultures. The subsequent development of these human cultures is called history.

Three Important Revolutions

1. The Cognitive Revolution (c. 70,000 years ago) — ignited history
2. The Agricultural Revolution (c. 12,000 years ago) — accelerated it
3. The Scientific Revolution (c. 500 years ago) — may end history and start something else entirely