Review: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari is not at all what I was expecting. Instead of an analysis or description of early Homo sapiens and an explanation of recent DNA findings, Harari focuses on a brief (under 400 pages) historical overview of human history. The first few chapters are interesting and discuss the early ancestors of humans with little evidence to back up Harari's conclusions, which is excusable since there is not much concrete information available; however, Harari continues with this approach throughout the entire book, even in sections where there is information available - much of which would contradict his findings and is probably the reason he did not bother with actual facts. Perhaps this was on purpose since Sapiens is intended for a general audience. Whatever the case, such generalizations rob the reader of an accurate representation of the historical periods and to those who lived through them. What is contained within the pages of Sapiens is not the whole story and should not be confused as such.

Yuval Noah Harari, a lecturer who earned a Ph.D. in history from Oxford, does not have a clear understanding of how to write a scholarly book. There is no clear focus and each chapter is full of commentary and ideological statements that cannot be backed up with evidence. This problem could be because Sapiens does not contain a thesis. The reader has no idea why the book has been written until they read the last chapter, where cyborgs and artificial life is briefly commented on with philosophical overtones.

Surprisingly, Harari does not seem to understand that history itself does not cause or allow for things to happen. Neither can the Agriculture Revolution or any other philosophy or idea. Sapiens is full of phrases like "The Agricultural Revolution enlarged the sum total of food at the disposal of humankind..." (79) and "Culture tends to argue.." (147), which any scholar, especially a historian, knows is not correct. It should be "the people of the Agricultural Revolution..." or "the [evidence] shows that their culture is...". The Agricultural Revolution can do nothing and culture cannot argue. These flaws in writing could easily be dismissed if the book was not full of such phrases.
I would not recommend this book to anyone with a serious curiosity about history and early humans, and I'm quite perplexed as to why Sapiens made the New York Times' list and has received so many stellar reviews. The book should be placed on the fiction shelf.

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Review: Exploring Exodus

Exploring Exodus by Nahum M. Sarna
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Beginning with the birth of Moses to the construction of the Tabernacle, Nahum M. Sarna gives a convincing literary interpretation of Exodus in Exploring Exodus. Sarna, a Professor of Biblical Studies at Brandeis University, gives a full account of the events found in the Book of Exodus and compares the culture and literature with those found in ancient Canaan and Egypt, which adds greatly to the understanding of the philosophy and religion that is developed by Moses and the Israelites.

Much of what Sarna has interpreted about the Book of Exodus is sound with convincing evidence to back up his statements; however, his assumptions about the timeline of events occurring during the Hyksos rule over Egypt was not convincing. Sarna mistakenly assumes that the event of the Exodus happened during the reign of Ramses II because of the listing of the cities of Pi-Ramses and Pithom being built by the Israelites, which is obviously anachronistic. Plus, Sarna's exposition about dating the events of the Exodus based on the genealogical record did not add up, especially when he does not include that some of the ancestors of the Israelites were not born in Egypt but in Canaan. For example, Judah's children were born before the famine, placing at least two generations in Egypt; another example is that Moses' mother is much older than his father who was actually her nephew - with these considerations, it is conceivable that four generations of Israelites lived in Egypt before the Exodus event.

Another troubling issue is the lack of historical record and archaeological data that could be used to better hone his arguments.  For example, Sarna states that state slavery was forced upon the male population, which is not true because there are Egyptian documents containing lists of the names of slaves in which women were among the names.

Outside of the above issues, Sarna brings to light the meaning behind the place names and the people for a more in-depth interpretation. In fact, his interpretation of the Burning Bush and why it was a sacred place is pure genius, and the discussion about the name of God gave me much to ponder about. The comparison of the plague account with the story of Creation is another example of why Exploring Exodus is a treasure. The explanation of the evolution of the Hebrew calendar is of great value as is the interpretation of the creation of the Tabernacle and its sacred object. Exploring Exodus is a literary interpretation that should be on the bookshelf of any serious biblical scholar interested in unraveling the philosophy and literary background of the Book of Exodus.


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