21 lessons for the 21st century by Yuval Noah Harari
Book review
No spoilers since it’s a non fiction
Rating 4/5
From the wizard who gave us blockbusters like Homo Sapiens and Homo Deus; here comes another fact filled bounty!
So while Sapiens dealt with the past and Deus with the future, this one deals with the present in theory though it takes ample inputs from both past and future!
The keywords of the present namely, nationalism, religion, immigration and the most scary, Terrorism has been dealt with a neutral viewpoint.
The chapter on immigration was a revelation to me when Yuval placed the inputs of pro and anti immigration lobby. That’s how a debate should go and how!
Yuval also takes on God (as expected!!) And tries to put sense in religion with a scientific rigour!
Then he tells about how what you are learning today may not be relevant in future! How many jobs will be obsolete in the years to come!
He uses most of the holy book like Bible and Quran which is expected but surprisingly he also uses the Gita and the Vedas for making his points which was a refreshing change at least for me!
Yuval is a vegetarian jew and an openly gay atheist historian from Israel!… So being controversial is his middle name!
This of course is not a story but bare fact and that can be tedious to read in a go. It’s of course going to be a reference book of sorts in the coming years.
The coolest thing which he said was how a lie repeated million times over years becomes the truth! With examples to moot! That and many introductions to the chapters may well be the way of the future!
He has discussed things like Humility, war, post-truth (very interesting read!) And God amongst many other relevant topics of the present.
He takes movies like Matrix, inside out, lion king and so many more and gets them to mean somethin!… One major controversy when he compares a book to Harry Potter!!
So from Trump to Putin to Brexit, Yuval mentions about everything which is relevant and makes sense out of it..
In the end he talks about meditation! Which I guess is definitely required after that roller coaster ride!
Read it to enjoy it….I wonder though if past present and future is done!…what would Yuval write about next!!
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