Almost forgot to review this one because I didn't add it to my Trello queue! Ah well, luckily I remembered!
In this non-fiction book for younger readers, Yuval Noah Harari takes us on a journey throughout history to show how humans evolved and eventually came to be the dominant species on Earth.
Overall this is a fun look at human evolution for younger readers. It has a lot of information and some fun illustrations to boot. I didn't expect there to be so much info going in, but there's legit a lot of substance to this book despite the younger target audience, so that's definitely a plus.
The book showcases various aspects of humans, such as evolution, development of tools and technology, social behaviors, possible cultural and religious aspects of our ancestors and of course how we came to be the dominant species on the planet. It was written in an accessible and lighthearted way, while also being consistently engaging for the reader.
My one gripe would be that at one point the author is a bit disrespectful to some religions because he refers to things such as hijabs, turbans, yarmulkes, etc. as "weird hats". Which just isn't cool to me, they're an important part of some people's cultures and religions. You can refer to them in a respectful way, it wouldn't take away from the point he's trying to make about these "weird hats" being a part of people's religion. I don't know, this was the only part of the book I didn't really like. You can write about your own beliefs without putting down those of others and referring to those as "weird".
Overall still a good book, though, minus that one part. I do recommend it for younger readers, or even older ones who are curious about the subject of human evolution (though of course I could also refer you to Harari's Sapiens for this, which is a far more mature take on this subject). I don't think I'll be picking up volume two of this series, but I had a good time reading this one nonetheless.
Rating: 4/5
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