"anthropology"

1997 · Jared Diamond · 528 pages · Nonfiction

Jared Diamond's Pulitzer Prize-winning attempt to explain why some civilizations dominated others has become one of the most widely read and fiercely debated nonfiction books of the past three decades. Its central argument, that geography and environment rather than racial or cultural superiority determined which societies developed advanced technology, is important and largely convincing at the broadest level. The book is ambitious, accessible, and thought-provoking. It is also repetitive, oversimplified in places, and has drawn sustained criticism from specialists. It remains worth reading as a starting point, not an endpoint, for thinking about one of history's biggest questions.

2011 · Yuval Noah Harari · 464 pages · Non-Fiction

Yuval Noah Harari's sweeping history of humanity is the kind of book that makes you feel smarter while you're reading it and leaves you with plenty to argue about afterward. The first half, covering the Cognitive Revolution and the Agricultural Revolution, is brilliant popular science writing that actually changes how you think about human history. The second half, where Harari shifts from historian to philosopher, is more uneven, relying on bold claims that sometimes outpace their evidence. Specialists in various fields have raised legitimate concerns about oversimplification. But as a book that makes you reconsider assumptions you didn't know you had, it remains one of the most stimulating non-fiction reads of the past decade.