Sapiens — Yuval Noah Harari (2011)

Yuval Noah Harari's *Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind*, first published in Hebrew in 2011 and in English in 2014, offers a sweeping narrative of human history from the Cognitive Revolution to the present day. The book argues that humanity's dominance stems from our unique ability to create and believe in shared fictions, such as money, nations, and human rights, which enable large-scale cooperation among strangers. *Sapiens* became a *New York Times* bestseller and has been translated into over 65 languages, demonstrating its global reach and impact on popular understanding of human history. While praised for its broad scope and engaging style, some critics have pointed out that the book occasionally oversimplifies complex historical and scientific debates.