Yuval Noah Harari is an Israeli historian and philosopher. He is considered one of the world鈥檚 most influential public intellectuals working today.
Born in Israel in 1976, Harari received his Ph.D. from the University of Oxford in 2002. He is currently a lecturer at the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Distinguished Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge鈥檚 Centre for the Study of Existential Risk. Harari co-founded the social impact company Sapienship, focused on education and storytelling, with his husband, Itzik Yahav.
This books to accomplish Tsundoku Books Challenge 2019
4 of 5 stars!
OMG! This books is so freaking lit! I haven't studied Macro economics by Gregory Mankiw as fun as this books! This books gives brief explanation about Money, Economics and also Capitalism. I just love how Yuval Noah Harari giving some historical fact to support his explanation. Seriously after this i am rethinking to buy another his works such as and !
It just a real coincidence that i just love the books that i bought yesterday in New Istanbul International Airport since yeah beside i have to finish my OWLsReadathon 2019 i wanna buy some light books reading in my long flight journey. I'm glad i choose this books!
Why i haven't found another titles for Vintage minis in the bookstore.. Now i'm curious about by Haruki Murakami, by Jane Austen, by Louisa May Alcott, by Sigmund Freud and by Margaret Atwood. I will try searching later in my bookmate!
Interesting content with a strong, detailed first half of the book that explores 'money'. However, the second half moves off the topic and strays into thoughtful discussions on libertarianism and the future of work, but seems to forget about the 'money' theme.
Did you guys know that the first concept of money being used as a medium of exchange in history was in 3000 BC? It was called barley money. Everything was measured against barley in silas(1 litre cups). From there we went on to silver shekels and then to the Lydian coins, Roman gold coins and currently there are heap of currencies flowing around the world. There's a quite interesting fact about money. It is the only universal religion in the world. Everyone believes in it. Everyone professes its rites and rituals. Take any kind of money: gold, silver, currencies, financial instruments etc; none of them have any intrinsic value of their own. All of these are as valuable as we have deemed it to be. Central Bank Governor of any country "promises the bearer to pay x amount of Rupees/Dollars" etc. This promise is the bridge that is holding the financial world of present but is imaginary all the same. I was pondering upon the question as to why do people believe in money? The answer is a bit comical and circular-> " We believe in any format of money because everyone else believes in it"
For a very long time, i used to think that capitalism is the religion of money as in whosoever is a firm capitalist, is a sworn worshiper. I wasn't completely right and wrong. Capitalism is actually the tenet followed by the worshipers of money with money being the god here. Its funny how imaginary man-made concept can turn out to be god but that is true. Many a people carelessly quote the famous Scottish economist Mr Adam Smith nonchalantly while furthering their own cause for making more money. Mr Smith very famously said that it is good for the society to chase money because that will ensure more money and facility for everyone. What we fail to read between the lines is that when he said that we should chase money, he meant that once you acquire wealth, don't hoard it in our safe boxes. He also didn't meant you to go about shopping for Iphones and diamond studded watches. What he meant was-> The only thing that can ensure that the economic pie will keep on growing forever is that you should invest the new found profits into constructive avenues. That'll create more jobs and more economic activity which in-turn would lead into more profits and the process should go on forever. Continuous redistribution and recollection of money. But is that our agenda that we are following? I don't think so
Historically, humans have collaborated into groups. Nation-states are the latest example of that collaboration. Because of this collaboration, we have been able to help each other, exploit each other and somehow ensured that our existence continues. A big reason for the continuation of this existence can be attributed to the utility of humans towards the whole society. Military men defend that's why they are important. Scientists invent that's why they are important and so on. During all this time, this system has axiomatically assumed that intelligence and consciousness are a package deal, i.e. people doing highly complex jobs are expected to be responsible about their conduct, In-fact, many a times it has been deemed necessary to be conscious about the actions deriving out of your intelligence. But lately, algorithms, the new fad which there to stay for the foreseeable future, has dissected intelligence from consciousness. This brings me to a very important question. Since most of the money generating activities/jobs in our economy are dependent upon intelligence and efficiency, what can be the value attributed to the human contributions to this economy now? We cannot compete with the algorithms in efficiency and intelligence. And if that is the case, where do we stand as far as our contribution(utility) to the economy is concerned? Lets stretch a bit further. Once we these intelligent beings(AI) learn enough and realize that we are nothing but a burden on this planet consuming energy, why would they protect us?
Interesting questions to ponder upon? A gift of this book
Excellent Read. Though an extract from his 2 celebrated books, it has nice fluency. The first part deals with money as we know it but it鈥檚 the second part which grips you and shakes you up. Harari sets you thinking about the future of individualism and fabric of societies. It leaves you with an uneasiness about the world you would leave behind.
Yuval Noah Hararai's Money is one from a series of mini publications by Vintage. At 144 pages, Money is the smallest book that has made me think so deeply about the makeup of society and its influences.
As a first time Harari reader, I found his navigation of the topic of money not only engaging but incredibly insightful, where he pulls pieces of history from all over the world and stitches it into a neat narrative of how money, and greed, has shaped the world we live in.
The book is divided into three parts, the first dealing with the invention and rationale behind the idea of money, the second with how money has over Millenia been used in the conquest of nations and subsequently (to this day) to build and collapse economies, and the third with what is possible with the attainment of unlimited amounts of currency.
The text demands self-reflection, for me highlighting the value of off-grid permaculturist communities that are not only removing themselves from the grid, but also learning new ways of batter that eliminate the use of money. I found myself, in the last part, thinking about how valuable the skills I have attained throughout my career are and whether I'd survive the first rise of automation - where manual jobs of taxi drivers and telesales consultants are already under threat by self-driving cars and emotionally attuned AI.
Money is a book I think everyone should read (I've already set it aside for my 14 year old), because it is in understanding how things work that we are able to make better decisions, espacially when the ability to make those decisions for ourselves, to exercise autonomy, is under threat from digitisation.
After reading this, I want to revisit Naomi Klein's No Logo (which explains how corporations package their products to lure us to pay more) and Dan Ariely's Predictably Irrational (which speaks to the learned algorithms which fool us into thinking that we are making unique decisions, when in fact we are simply following a predetermined sequence built specifically to make you respond in a certain way).
I am also keen on reading each and every one of the Vintage Mini publications, which are written by an impressive list of authors on topics on motherhood, austerity, freedom, ghosts, dreams, psychedelics... I've listed only some I'm interested in.
In a nutshell, this text is invaluable. It's one you'll keep on the side table and refer to often when people come over for dinner, when you're watching the news, when you do your taxes, and definately when you're sitting with your children contemplating their future careers.
This books belongs to one of my all-time favorite genres: Thought-provoking, perspective-changing books.
It's very short, about 120 pages or so and I'm almost done with it. I was reading it on a flight from Rekjavik to Seattle.
Anyway, there's excerpts from other books of his in here. I didn't mind that, but if you've read other books by him you may notice some repetition.
I do not agree with his point of view when it comes to AI and what it means for humanity. I believe there's a tad of fear mongering there. But then again, I may have a bias in favor of AI and tech since that's how I pay my bills. :)
Even though I think he's wrong about AI I wholly recommend this book to everyone, Yuval presents his ideas with lucid clarity and he makes connections between concepts and historical events that were surprising and insightful. If you haven't already, I'd say read his other books as well. All of them. Yes, All of them.
This is kind of a prolonged summary on a subject about money, mentioned in both Sapiens and Homo Deus. I found it interesting, it explains how money appeared, how the currencies changed, and why it is the ultimate leader in our lives. If you鈥檙e into money(I mean who鈥檚 not), this one is worth reading.
A selection of ideas mentioned in his previous books, 鈥淢oney鈥� definitely is worth your attention. The first part of the book recounts the history of money, it鈥檚 history and structure. From simple facts, dates and years, to a quite complex description, Yuval lays out the hole anatomy of funds. Why do people believe in the contemporary economy? Why did they shift from trading rice for apples, to exchanging houses for some bags of metallic coins? The answers for these questions are easy, and we can get them easily from this book. The second part of Harari鈥檚 work deviates in a way from money and dives deeply in his thoughts about future, technologies, data, humans and so on. Sometimes it may shake you up. To sum up everything mentioned above, don鈥檛 hesitate and plunge right into it.
Money first starts just as something to exchange stuff then create industrial revolution and creation of wealth meaning instead of capital and increase in the cake size was because of it and everybody which get advantage of it. Robots and algorithms which in future get control of our lives... liberalism which has been created 2 centuries ago and is condemned to die in the near future... The story of the colonization in different parts of the world and many other things
I really appreciate short books, so I picked up Harari's latest Money.
It was a little misleading, as the first third was about the history and importance of money but it turned into a discussion on the concerns of artificial intelligence excerpted from Harari's latest book Homo Deus.
Harari's an exceptionally lucid writer, but his arguments aren't as good as his writing.
Another good book from Prof. Yuval Noah Harari. However the second half of the book is more like the Homo Deus book than talking about money. Still, it is worth your time.
The core ideas of Mr. Harari from his two books Homodeus and Sapiens cramped together for a tremendous read. He brings out the power of economics . And if we r able to understand this power we will be able to understand history and solve a few puzzles . The ideas like the the fall and rise of empires can be very well linked to the pattern of economics . In this book the author just jumps from the past where he was talking of money and it's power to future where he talks of technology and this change is subject was a little fast to digest although the ideas in that part was not by any extend can be called A bore. Haven't read Homodeus and it is in line. While it came as a rewind of The Sapiens which was liked very much
What starts as a look into the history and necessity of money for human progress up to this point in time soon turns into a look at 3 possible futures all as bleak as the next. I can't wait for my life to be even more meaningless than it already is.
This book contains the extract from Yuval's two popular creations Sapiens and Homo Deus. Though I had read Sapiens, I did not mind going through that section again. The book is divided into two parts. The first talks about the origin of the concept of money and how it shaped the development of human race and the second talks about about individualism in 21st century.
It is the second part which is very riveting and it shakes you up to the very core. Author has very bluntly and rationally argued how with the advancement in the field of life sciences and AI, the humans will lose their individual character and how as an individual we might be rendered 'unimportant'. The idea that humans might be recognized collectively in 21st century but they will cease of exist individually, is very radical, but given the state of technological advancements which are currently happening it seems inevitable.
Giving 4 stars just because it is actually an extract of Sapiens and Homo Deus and it would be better to read those individually instead of this. But a highly recommended book especially for those who have not read Sapiens and Homo Deus and are just looking for a glimpse into the writings of Yuval. For me it has raised my expectations from Homo Deus manifolds.
This is not an original book. This is a publisher's trick. They have sourced material from Harari's other books and made a new book. Given Harari's popularity, any book that carries his name will sell. The only problem is that although the book is titled 'money', it has very little about money. The first quarter of the book discusses the evolution of money, the rest of the book is about other things. So if you are looking for a book about the evolution and transformation of money, look elsewhere.
1* as this book is a summary based on the author鈥檚 other 2 great books, Homo Sapiens and Homo Deus, but doesn鈥檛 come with much novelty. My bad, indeed, I didn鈥檛 do my research homework. Also, the book starts with a history of money and credit and then switches to a totally different subject, AI domination and superhumans vs mere mortals.
However, reading the book it confirmed me once more that Harari鈥檚 writing style and his clarity when explaining rather complicated concepts is just amazing. I wish all authors had his writing skill. So 5* for this.
The book has two parts: Part 1 is about money, instructional, informative. Part 2 is about liberalism and what the future would bring with the rise of technology and automation. This section is thought-provoking. The author has great examples and valid arguments; however misses a 鈥渕oral鈥�/鈥渆thical鈥� perspective.