Thought — What Is One Book That Has Expanded My View of Myself and the World?
Yuval Noah Harari is at it again!
I enjoy reading books about philosophy — you know, the books that make you go — “So, that’s the reason we get fat.”, or “So, that’s why we can’t sit at desks all day.” One recent book I indulged in was Yuval Noah Harari’s book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. The book discusses evolution. There are many points in the book that have expanded my view of the world such as why we are who we are, and why we act the way we act. We are evolutionary creatures, and we adapt to our environment. Many important examples in the book are still relevant today. One of the important examples is that we are social creatures, and that we need people to survive. We communicate with one another, and provide for one another. We act in a social contract. This definitely conflicted with my personal belief that I don’t need to be very social. Homo Sapiens cannot be isolated for long periods of time, and we see the effects of this problem during the current pandemic. Many problems that we face today are problems humans have experienced in the past. Many of them are just in a different context. I also learned that I am a Homo Sapien, you are a Homo Sapien, we are Homo Sapiens. I am you, you are me, we are all. The only thing that’s different is what I have experienced in life. My view of myself has also changed. Through my experiences, I have realized that I need to be more social, more active, and more human.
