SAPIENS by Yuval Noah Harari (Vintage Books, 2014)
History is full of big mistakes and there’s a common notion that we should study it to avoid repeating the errors of the past.
However, Yuval Noah Harari explains one of the key problems with taking lessons from previous cultures and generations is that “History cannot be explained deterministically and it cannot be predicted because it is chaotic”.
Such a view could give credence to the belief that “History is just one damn thing after another”.
Harari’s populist approach to the subject is a breath of fresh air. He has been criticized for his lack of scholarly rigor but his non-elitist position is that historians cannot and should not assume an objective, dispassionate position. Continue reading
Archdrude Julian H. Cope will be 50 next month – just 6 months my senior and raised in Tamworth, Staffordshire just a few miles from where I grew up. Sadly our paths never crossed but he has always been an inspirational figure. A great example of how to grow old disgracefully! I love his passion and righteous anger which is increasingly levelled at the montrous tunnel vision of organised religion. The question of whose made-up God is best inflames world conflicts and breeds intolerance.
