Personally, I feel burdened by the daily overproduction of knowledge. My eyes are always bigger than my stomach: I consume countless articles and podcasts, but I can never fully digest it all. Can someone please just tell me what to pay attention to?
Enter Yuval Noah Harari's 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. I love the opening line of the book, “In a world deluged by irrelevant information, clarity is power.” Clarity, being able to think critically, and focus clearly on what's important vs. what's noise — is probably one of the most valuable skills you can have. According to Harari, it may save your life, and it may save humanity,
"If the future of humanity is decided in your absence, because you are too busy feeding and clothing your kids — you and they will not be expect from the consequences. This is very unfair; but who said history was fair?" — Harari
Yuval Noah Harari is best known for his first book
Sapiens (2011) which is about humanity's past (check out the
On Books Podcast episode on Sapiens to learn more).
Homo Dues (2015), his second book, then came out with a look at how Harari thinks about humanity's future. And now,
21 Lessons, builds on those first two books to bring you a book about the present. Jobs, AI, Community, War, Nationalism, Religion. All of our past stories about reality are being stripped away, and replaced by what? What new stories are being created to give meaning to the human-animal?
I really loved this book. 5 stars! All the way. I hope you enjoy it too. In this episode I read from the book, share some highlights and added context to make sure that you love 21 Lessons as much as I do.
Best!
Chris
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