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Shadowsole t1_j7n8ovm wrote

Reply to comment by cnut4563 in Best condensed history works? by SintagmaNominalMan

I found sapiens interesting, and it's an okay start. But you'll get the most out of it if you read some critical reviews of it once you finish. That gives you a much more rounded understanding of the topic. I do it for every history/science book I read

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cnut4563 t1_j7q3z98 wrote

Could you link to some of those reviews please?

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Shadowsole t1_j7tbwgm wrote

I don't have a bunch of time but for a book on history my first stop is usually askhistorians, and they absolutely deliver on Sapiens that is a master thread with plenty of examples. there's a dead link to a essay on the topic but you can find it here

In all its a big book that doesn't really rely on evidence, he tends to start at a point and then draw his own conclusion.

It also has a issue in that a lot of it is based on the idea of a cognitive revolution ie behavioural modernity. this isn't something that happened all at once like he claims and is mostly abandoned in modern science

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cnut4563 t1_j7vnge9 wrote

Excellent, thank you for taking the time to do this. Hope others find it useful too. (love it when Reddit works like this)

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