Random House, 2014. First published in Hebrew, 2011. English translation by the author, 2014. Published by a division of Random House.
Review published Dec 2016.
I stayed fascinated most of the way through this book, and lay abed at nights debating with myself about the author's assertions.
Harari sees the history of man as being shaped by three revolutions: The Cognitive Revolution, about 70,000 years ago, in which a fictive language (one for story-telling) first appeared; The Agricultural Revolution, about 12,000 years ago, characterized by the domestication of plants and animals for food and the establishment of permanent settlements for Sapiens; and The Scientific Revolution of about 500 years ago, which he sees as driven primarily by the needs of powerful empires, nations, and capitalists.
Near the very end of the book I ran afoul of the author's reasoning concerning the well-being of our species. That was because he confined his attention to our happiness and lack of suffering, and did not mention our intellectual well-being (even though I am sure he derived quite a bit of intellectual fulfillment from the creation of this excellent book!)
Religions and political philosophies are seen as "imagined orders" which, when widely followed, become organizing principles for human behavior. Thus Capitalism and Islam and Professional Football (by which he means what Americans call soccer) are all seen as such organizing principles.
With the world changing at such a dizzying and ever-increasing rate, it's a good idea to take time to consider the arguments put forth in this book. I hope you do.