Book review: Sapiens, a brief history of humankind
One accusation I have heard about Nairobians is that we listen to the same radio stations, dance to the same music- "that’s my jam" is everybody’s jam. We also watch the same movies, read the same clickbait stories, and lack creativity in naming our children. The saddest of them all is that our book recommendations are alike, chances are if you are to ask for top 10 book recommendations from bibliophiles,5 of them would be similar. You would still have the same being sold in the Supermarket book section and competing for space with KCPE and KCSE revision books among book vendors.
One of the book sellers confessed that our love for motivational books is akin to our admiration for News and everything else politics. I am no exception, at one point I had half read copies of inspirational books in my locker before I lost many to acquaintances, colleagues and friends.
Of late I have discovered my love for good stories.I believe time in the land of the living is too limited to yawn your way through a book. The only thing you should labour through is a bad movie at the invite of someone you want to impress or bad food at your inlaws.
I broke the rule of avoiding "books which change my life" when someone recommended Atomic Habits by James Clear, the Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, Outliers by Malcom Gladwell and my current read.
If you struggle to read a long text message , or each time you see a long post alert you cringe I would not recommend this book for you.
So far it is an entertaining read , it is a lovely reminder of my history lessons, an easy explanation of my biology and an unwelcome introspection on the authenticity of my Religious education classes.
The uncomfortable thing about History was the clustering of foreign names on who discovered what. The biology classes were awash with how stuff works and cramming scientific names. Then in Religious studies there was no room left to ask questions.
I don’t believe that there can be one epic account of human history that adequately captures everything. I think we need lots of little jigsaw pieces put together for something good and meaningful.
However,Yuval has approached this subject with a certain amount of creativity and ingenuity. He sees beyond the ancient human tropes and thinks about man as who he is - a complex species with a history full of pride and prejudice and a difficult road ahead to survive the changes he has brought to this world.
One of the challenges with writing is describing something already known to your audience, like describing Ugali to Kenyans. The most intriguing description I came across was: Ugali is a corn-flour food made into a type of dough like a cake that tastes amazing when made right. Cake and Ugali in the same sentence were just repulsive but I gave the post plaudits for not saying Ugali has a bland taste.
Yuval is a wonderful storyteller, he is quite open in his narrative without the pretense of knowing everything. The long read is worth the time thanks to the vivid narrative and entertaining language.
Sapiens: A brief history of humankind is a WHY? book, a commendable attempt in explaining how things are today, and so far it has improved my view of the world.
