Reviews for 21 Lessons For The 21st Century

by Yuval Noah Harari

Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Harari's (Sapiens; Homo Deus) latest work doesn't have the same historical narrative flow as his earlier books. Instead, the author identifies various complex issues challenging the world today and unpacks them with foresight and clarity. Artificial intelligence as well as information and biological technologies are just a few of the unremitting forces warping society into a new shape. We need sober and clear analysis of these forces or risk being pulled in frightening directions. The narration is masterfully handled by Derek Perkins, whose voice adds to the overall quality. This work has more personal touches than Harari's previous titles and is the better for it. The analysis of world-altering trends is uneven, particularly his revolutionary views on personhood, which undermines the very rationality he champions as a countervailing dynamism to confront our civilization's challenges. That said, the book is loads of fun. VERDICT If you cherish the life of ideas you owe yourself some time with this audiobook. ["Readers of Harari's previous works will find this volume uniquely engaging in its application of those larger contours of history and future to contemporary society. Highly recommended for general readers and academics alike": LJ 9/1/18 review of the Spiegel & Grau hc.]-Denis Frias, Mississauga Lib. Syst., Ont. © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.


Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Having achieved worldwide success canvasing humanity's past and future, Harari (world history, Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem.; Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind) now turns his insightful gaze to the problems of the present day. In this timely, lucid volume, Harari tackles major global challenges from the conquest of the algorithm and the impending loss of free will to our quest to find political and intellectual stability in a posttruth world. Along the way, the author eschews any bold claim-making in the way of solutions, instead focusing on defining the most pertinent questions humanity faces today. Many of these questions involve the educational and economic response to automation, the political ramifications of the forces of nationalism in the face of immigration, and the continued push of Enlightenment against the imposing wall of ignorance and superstition. However, reiterating previous prognostications for the conquest of liberalism, Harari questions current political arrangements to solve the issues at hand and in our immediate future. VERDICT Readers of Harari's previous works will find this volume uniquely engaging in its application of those larger contours of history and future to contemporary society. Highly recommended for general readers and academics alike.-Brian Odom, Madison, AL © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.


Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

*Starred Review* Convinced that change constitutes the only constant, Harari, author of the award-winning Sapiens (2015), draws from his deep knowledge of the planet's history a wealth of reasons to doubt inherited ways of thinking. What, after all, could customary wisdom ever teach us about how to forge viable twenty-first-century identities in a world where computer algorithms are rendering human skills irrelevant, where political cynicism imperils liberal democracy, and where biotechnology is transforming brain and body? In articulating the 21 lessons he considers essential in facing such unprecedented challenges, Harari focuses on issues likely to frustrate those committed to traditional religious doctrines and conventional political ideologies. In the debates over how much control over their lives humans should cede to artificial intelligence and how many environmental regulations we should accept in devising our modes of transportation, for instance, Harari sees religious orthodoxy Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Islamic only obscuring the key issues. Similarly, Harari finds the usual precepts of democratic liberalism quite inadequate for negotiating the inevitable merger of biotech and infotech. Harari believes that his radical skepticism will clarify readers' vision as they contemplate rapidly mutating dilemmas. But the skepticism runs so deep undermining even stable conceptions of the freely choosing self that some readers may finally feel not enlightened but paralyzed. A sobering and tough-minded perspective on bewildering new vistas.--Bryce Christensen Copyright 2018 Booklist


Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Magnificently combining historical, scientific, political, and philosophical perspectives, Harari (Sapiens and Homo Deus), a Hebrew University of Jerusalem history professor, explores 21 of what he considers to be today's "greatest challenges." Despite the title's reference to "lessons," his tone is not prescriptive but exploratory, seeking to provoke debate without offering definitive solutions. An early chapter is headlined with the lesson, "When You Grow Up, You Might Not Have a Job." Not only will many jobs be lost to machines, but, Harari speculates, humans might not even be necessary to fulfill the role of consumers: "Theoretically, you can have an economy in which a mining corporation produces and sells iron to a robotics corporation, and the robotics corporation produces and sells robots to the mining corporation." A chapter beginning with the lesson "Those Who Own the Data Own the Future" discusses how the improved human understanding of mind and brain, and the ability to manipulate both, raises the threat of control by those with access to one's data, making the regulation of data ownership perhaps "the most important political question of our era." Within this broad construct, Harari discusses many pressing issues, including problems associated with liberal democracy, nationalism, immigration, and religion. This well-informed and searching book is one to be savored and widely discussed. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.


Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A highly instructive exploration of "current affairs andthe immediate future of human societies."Having produced an international bestseller about human origins (Sapiens, 2015, etc.) and avoided the sophomore jinx writing about our destiny (Homo Deus, 2017), Harari (History/Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem) proves that he has not lost his touch, casting a brilliantly insightful eye on today's myriad crises, from Trump to terrorism, Brexit to big data. As the author emphasizes, "humans think in stories rather than in facts, numbers, or equations, and the simpler the story, the better. Every person, group, and nation has its own tales and myths." Three grand stories once predicted the future. World War II eliminated the fascist story but stimulated communism for a few decades until its collapse. The liberal storythink democracy, free markets, and globalismreigned supreme for a decade until the 20th-century nastiesdictators, populists, and nationalistscame back in style. They promote jingoism over international cooperation, vilify the opposition, demonize immigrants and rival nations, and then win elections. "A bit like the Soviet elites in the 1980s," writes Harari, "liberals don't understand how history deviates from its preordained course, and they lack an alternative prism through which to interpret reality." The author certainly understands, and in 21 painfully astute essays, he delivers his take on where our increasingly "post-truth" world is headed. Human ingenuity, which enables us to control the outside world, may soon re-engineer our insides, extend life, and guide our thoughts. Science-fiction movies get the future wrong, if only because they have happy endings. Most readers will find Harari's narrative deliciously reasonable, including his explanation of the stories (not actually true but rational) of those who elect dictators, populists, and nationalists. His remedies for wildly disruptive technology (biotech, infotech) and its consequences (climate change, mass unemployment) ring true, provided nations act with more good sense than they have shown throughout history.Harari delivers yet another tour de force. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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