The Dawn of Everything

The broader point of the book is that there is no one story of the "evolution" of society into modern states and no "agricultural revolution" triggering the rise of urbanization and social hierarchy. Instead, there have been countless arrangements and permutations of these things with intelligent, politically-conscious people thinking about how they wanted to order their society long before the invention of writing.

on HN, 2022

Showed all of the archaeological evidence for vast time periods where alternate governance models were put into practice, and how the history of progress that we are given is not the whole story.

on HN, 2022

It really uprooted my deepest beliefs about human history, civilization, and (most importantly for me) what I believe "the future" should look like. Mind-expanding for sure.

on HN, 2022

An amazing rethinking of archeology, a denunciation of social orthogenesis and an invitation to dream of a better world

on HN, 2022

This book does an expert job of picking that argument to pieces and presents a tome of empirical evidence to the contrary - the story of our ancestors was far more complex and interesting.

on HN, 2022

The Dawn of Everything is already becoming one of those books that I'll remember forever as one of those identity-shaping texts that most readers will be familiar with.

on HN, 2021

Refutes most of the claims made by Harari in Sapiens, and shows everything you though you knew about prehistory is plain wrong.

on HN, 2023