Homo Deus: The million-copy bestseller from the author of Nexus Paperback – 23 Mar. 2017

What a tremendous book this is. Subtitled, ‘A Brief History of Tomorrow’, this follow-up to ‘Sapiens’ confirms the author’s mastery of deep research combined with an intelligence that permits him to see the world as a whole.I selected this book to read now as I’m at the initial editing stage of a science fiction novel and the blurb suggested it might help me consider my imagined future in a broader way. It has done that. And how.Harari displays incredible insight in his analysis of the world we inhabit. His knowledge of science, history, religion and much else brings the reader a comprehensive, and alarming, picture of the state of humanity now and the potential future that lays before us. He manages to combine down-to-earth common sense with a deep understanding of the most abstruse theories surrounding so many areas of human activity and thinking.The book is divided into three sections, preceded by a longish, but eminently readable, introduction to the New Human Agenda. Part two looks at Meaning from a human perspective. Part three looks at Control and who holds the power, who might hold it in the future. Not a book to skim read or even cherry pick, this is a volume that requires your concentration throughout. Dealing, as it does, with complex issues and themes that may be new to some readers, it nevertheless describes these in plain language that everyone should understand. I have learned a lot about the world in which I live whilst perusing these pages.The future, a time I constantly consider in my life and in my writing of fiction, is an unknown land. What Harari does here is to give that strange and alien destination potential shape and form. And I admit that what he reveals is not a world I would wish to inhabit. Having said that, his vision is, as he so eloquently explains, not a prophesy. It is, as all such endeavours must be, a series of speculations based on current knowledge interpolated and made subject to imagination to reach a possible conclusion.This is a book that’s important. This is a book that’s vital. This is a book all people should read. A warning about what may happen to humanity if we fail to act to prevent the possible future. Our children deserve our attention to what might be. If we fail them in this, we may fail the future of humanity.

Excellent writer and admirably well-written book.

I read it straight after I finished Sapiens ( see my review). Beautifully written. Prof Harari makes powerful arguments in another brilliantly researched book. You will not agree with a lot of his points of view but it will open your mind. Like Sapiens, it is a very thought provoking book and you will certainly see commercial orgs in a different light. I did not enjoy it as much as Sapiens. I felt, that in Deus, he did not take into account the inevitable reaction that the masses will have,to the growing disparity between rich and poor, which is technology based and that this will be crucial to our future progress. He talks about the potential of Google in assisting us overcome medical problems, by us, allowing them to gain extensive intrusions into our private lives to assess our health, but, in my opinion he gives little weight to the area of privacy and he does not address issues such as "hacking" our private info. thus stopping this "progress" in its tracks The likes of Trump and Russia and Elections and the possible implications of regulation on Social Media orgs, are not part of the discussion nor are the levels of taxation that will surely be imposed on the larger Corps. For Example, the E.U. has insisted that Apple pay Ireland E13BN in back taxes and countries around the world are investing extensively in Broadband infrastructure, which further benefits the profits of the big Corps. Taxation and Regulation can only change the direction of "progress". I think these issues could be game changers and will affect some of the arguments in the book, The recent Global Bank crash is given little print. Deus is a brilliant book and very very thought provoking, which to me is the essential requisite for a good book, it tackles 100s of topics in a very detailed way with very convincing arguments but frightening at the same time. Example in simplified version - Scientists see our problems as Algorithms waiting to be solved. On his last chapter on Data, he focuses on how Data is the new Religion and will be so powerful as to make Sapiens extinct. In places it is a high Tech 1984. He gave no credibility to our attempts to impose regulation on social media. If you met him down the pub, his knowledge would blow you away and this knowledge would make it difficult to argue against. Remember when computers were the perfect solution to everything and everyone on the planet would have one. 20 years ago, if you tried to argue the point that that was not going to be the case, your views would have been dismissed. Same thing here!. I will read both books again and again and will have no hesitation in getting my children to read them. They are that good. I would have liked to see some of the above topics included in the arguments. The technology my be there at present but with the rich getting richer, I think that their control will dwindle. History does have a habit of repeating itself, before a new stage of development begins BUT he does put the arguments out there and it is a wake up call.

No creo que nada supere a Sapiens, pero Yuval es garantía de una buena lectura. Habla por sí mismo.

Libro davvero interessante e ricco di spunti riflessivi. Molto scorrevole e lineare anche l'inglese che utilizza l'autore.

One of the best books I've ever read.

Bien escrito, lleno de reflexiones bien soportadas sobre un futuro incierto

Dieses Buch sollte eigentlich jeder Mensch lesen. Der Autor schrieb das Buch sehr verständlich und es liest sich sehr flüssig. Es ist sehr unterhaltsam und direkt auch einen zum nachdenken an.