It has been popular all over the world for 10 years, and 170,000 people have 9.1 high praises.

In 2012, "A Brief History of Humanity" came out, was translated into more than 60 languages, and sold 16 million copies worldwide, becoming a phenomenal bestseller.

Obama, Bill Gates, Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs and Steel, and scholar Chen Jiaying, etc., from politics to business to academia, many celebrities are his loyal readers.

Ridley Scott, the director who made the Alien series, is even going to make it into a movie.

Bill Gates said: "Harari tells our history in an approachable way that is hard to put down when you read it, and I recommend this book to anyone interested in the history and future of our species."

In 2014, since the Chinese version of "A Brief History of Humanity" was published, more than 170,000 readers have scored a high score of 9.1, and more than 30w+ friends have marked "want to read", ranking 25th on the top 250 list of Douban Books.

The word "Brief History" has since become a reading phenomenon.

Although it is a history book, its influence has already broken through the dimensional wall, providing philosophical inspiration for cutting-edge science, and is regarded as the "science and technology bible".

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in 2015 that his New Year's resolution must be to read "A Brief History of Humanity".

Some words created by the author Professor Yuval Harari, such as "cognitive revolution", "cognitive upgrading", "autonomous evolution", "data worship", "algorithmic hegemony", etc., have also become our frequently used technologies. Full of advanced vocabulary.

With the profound historical insights on "epidemics" embodied in the trilogy of "A Brief History of Humanity", Yuval Harari has frequently appeared in the international mainstream media in recent years. We should be united and put forward suggestions on the direction of the "post-epidemic world"...

On the occasion of this 10th anniversary, Ashin specially launched a new version of the "A Brief History of Humanity" trilogy - "A Brief History of Humanity", "A Brief History of the Future" and "A Brief History of Today".

For those who haven't collected it yet, don't miss it this time!

Published for 10 years, "A Brief History of Humanity" trilogy

Why is it worth re-reading?

Readings with profound ideological tension will never be out of date due to the limitations of the times.

Although it has been 10 years since the first book of the trilogy, A Brief History of Mankind, the insights contained therein are still important thinking tools for our understanding of the present and the future:

Looking back, how did we reach the top of the food chain and become the spirit of all things in the long 100,000 years?

Going forward, will artificial intelligence, biotechnology and more advanced economic growth surpass human intelligence? Where will it ultimately lead humanity?

In contrast, at the moment, technological subversion, ecological collapse and nuclear war are imminent. What transformational changes will our civilization undergo?

If you've ever thought about these grand issues and couldn't understand them, it's time to read through the three books "A Brief History of Humanity", "A Brief History of Today" and "A Brief History of the Future".

From the moment of the Big Bang 14 billion years ago to the present day of human beings, author Yuval Harari observes the origin and development of human beings from a new perspective, combining biology, anthropology, ecology, physics, politics, psychology The history of Homo sapiens and the entire human society is clearly told from multiple perspectives such as learning.

Later, while "A Brief History of Humanity" was highly praised and loved, Yuval Harari expanded his brushstrokes to a more grand and panoramic angle, and successively launched "A Brief History of the Future" and "A Brief History of Today", these three The works form a complete trilogy.

In 2022, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the publication of "A Brief History of Humanity", CITIC Publishing House launched the "10th Anniversary Best-Selling Commemorative Edition" of "A Brief History of Humanity Trilogy".

The new edition not only has new revisions in content, but also invited Mr. Lu Zhichang, a well-known designer, to design a simple and elegant new cover. It is especially worth mentioning that the author Yuval Harari wrote a preface for this purpose. , to share with readers his original intention of writing "A Brief History of Humanity" and his latest ideological achievements.

Yuval Harari

What is "A Brief History of Humanity" about?

There is only one kind of human being on earth today, and that is us Homo sapiens.

Don't take it for granted that this is a "nonsense". The entire work of "A Brief History of Humanity" is to tell the complete story of the history of Homo sapiens from the Big Bang to the present.

In fact, 100,000 years ago, there were at least 6 different human species on earth, besides Homo sapiens, there were Neanderthals, Homo erectus, Thoreaus, Flores, Denisovans, etc. , are our "brothers".

About 150,000 years ago, humans were still insignificant to the overall ecology, and although they could occasionally scare away lions and burn down forests, even if all species were added together, from the Indonesian archipelago to the Iberian Peninsula, all The number of people combined is still less than one million.

At this time, our species has appeared on the world stage, but it is only a small corner of Africa on its own.

However, something unexpected happened. About 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens, who had been active in East Africa, suddenly and rapidly expanded into the Arabian Peninsula, and soon swept the entire Eurasian continent.

How could Homo sapiens be able to quickly defeat other human species and climb to the top of the food chain like a "plug-in"?

Yuval Harari believes that in the long evolutionary history of Homo sapiens from an inconspicuous animal to the master of the earth, three key revolutions occurred: the cognitive revolution, the agricultural revolution and the scientific revolution.

One of the most acclaimed core theories, the cognitive revolution, has also become a key factor in the conquest of the world by Homo sapiens.

About 70,000 to 30,000 years ago, an accidental genetic mutation changed the internal connections of the brains of Homo sapiens, allowing them to think in unprecedented ways and communicate in a completely new language.

Yuval Harari pointed out: "The best description of Homo sapiens is that he is an animal that can tell stories." This means that only Homo sapiens can express those things that have never been seen, touched, or heard in a serious manner. thing.

This "discussing fiction" is the most unique function of Homo sapiens language and the basis of large-scale human cooperation.

Without this ability to construct fictional stories, effective large-scale collaborations to address rapidly changing challenges and adjust social behavior cannot be achieved.

Neanderthals may use the traditional way to gather 50 people to cooperate to attack Homo sapiens, but Homo sapiens can use the ability of "storytelling" to make 500 people work together, so whoever loses and who wins has long been predetermined.

Source: "A Brief History of Mankind: From Animals to God"

In addition to breaking down the limits on the number of groups, the cognitive revolution made a difference in other ways, such as trade.

When archaeologists excavated 30,000-year-old Homo sapiens sites in inland Europe, they found shells from the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, which are thought to be long-distance trade between different Homo sapiens tribes, as opposed to Neanderthals. There is no evidence of any such trade at the site.

At first glance, does exchanging things also require storytelling? But in fact, since ancient times, all Homo sapiens trade networks have been based on fictional stories. Today, global trade networks are built because we trust virtual entities like currencies, banks, and corporations.

Similarly, the reason why human beings can break through the number threshold of tribes, communities, and social networks, and finally create cities with tens of thousands of people and countries with hundreds of millions of people, and step by step to the 21st century, the secret is also:

Even a large group of people who don't know each other can work together as long as they believe in a certain story, and the effect is more than that. Just changing the stories told can change the way humans cooperate.

After embarking on this "highway", the cooperative ability of Homo sapiens has improved rapidly. Even if the genes and environment have not changed, Homo sapiens can quickly change their behavior and pass on the new behavior to the next generation.

As Harari writes in A Brief History of Mankind, fictional stories are the glue that holds together thousands of individuals, families and groups. This glue makes us the master of all things.

Looking to the future, looking to the present

What should we do?

After clarifying the process of Homo sapiens becoming a god in one step, Yuval Harari mentioned in his next work "A Brief History of the Future" that mankind is about to usher in the second cognitive revolution.

With the development of science and technology, economy and politics, after entering the 21st century, the famine and war that once threatened the survival and development of mankind for a long time have basically been conquered. Homo sapiens are facing new to-do issues: immortality, happiness and becoming a "god" sex" human beings.

Yuval noted:

In the 21st century, humanity will be asking itself an unprecedented question: what are we going to do next?

The whole world is already so healthy, prosperous and harmonious, what should we devote our attention and creativity to?

Because biotechnology and information technology have brought powerful new power to human beings, with these powers in hand, how should we use them?

To answer these questions, Yuval discusses them one by one in A Brief History of the Future.

First, look at the relationship between Homo sapiens and other animals, hoping to understand what makes our species unique. Although Homo sapiens has been trying to forget that he is "still an animal", it is impossible to talk about the nature and future of human beings without starting with the animals around them.

Here, Yuval also proposed a "soul torture": Is Homo sapiens a relatively advanced life form, or is it a gangster who bullies other species?

Standing in the 21st century, we must also understand the dilemma we face and the possible future.

For example, with the penetration of artificial intelligence, big data and algorithms, how will our way of life change? When human beings will face the biggest shock since evolution to Homo sapiens, will you be reduced to a "useless group", or will you be able to evolve into a "super human" whose characteristics have changed?

However, there are still many friends who feel that the future is too far away, and today's world alone is enough to "feel anxious". And "A Brief History of Today", the final work of the "trilogy", can help us deal with the uncertain present in a more peaceful way.

What is happening in the world today? In "A Brief History of Today", Yuval made a series of precise judgments about the present:

We have become a commodity for data giants, not a user; if data has surpassed land and machines as the most important asset of the 21st century, who should own it?

There is also the most poignant prophecy for migrant workers - when you grow up, you may not have a job! Don't say do the same job all your life, you may have to change industries every 5 years...

There's even advice to say goodbye to "involution": for example, when "discontinuity" becomes a defining characteristic and normality of life, teaching children to embrace the unknown and maintain mental balance is sometimes far more important than teaching them equations.

Yuval described:

Unlike the two books "A Brief History of Humanity" and "A Brief History of the Future", "A Brief History of Today" is not a historical narrative, but a series of issues to tell the focus of our attention today.

Rather than telling readers simple answers, these issues hope to spark further thinking and help readers engage in some of the important conversations of our time.

You may ask: In the past ten years, our lives and thinking patterns have changed dramatically. Can this book still resonate with me and solve today’s confusion and confusion?

Yuval Harari wrote in the preface to the new edition of A Brief History of Mankind:

To understand your future, you need to understand the history of the entire world and the challenges facing all of humanity.

I wrote this book to help people see the world more clearly and empower everyone to participate in the most important debates of our time.

The only constant in history is that it is always changing.

We have never been able to grasp the laws of history or make extremely accurate predictions about the future by reading a certain book, but the "Trilogy of A Brief History of Humanity" may change the way you perceive the world from a certain angle, allowing you to feel at ease Travel through the past and the future.

Embrace this changing world at the intersection of "looking up at the stars" and "down to earth".