A skillfully entertaining education.
The second installment of the graphic adaptation of Harari’s bestselling 2014 book.
Harari, Vandermeulen, and Casanave pick up the human project at the very beginning of the agricultural revolution, advancing the narrative of human history via Casanave’s vibrant, expansive panels of artwork, many of which evoke early comic strips, and plenty of amusing, tongue-in-cheek dialogue. Our amiable guides from Volume 1—Yuval, Zoe, Professor Saraswati, Cindy and Bill (they are now farmers), Detective Lopez, and Dr. Fiction—return to lead us through the proceedings, while historical figures move in and out of the narrative to provide insightful, appealing commentary about farming, animal domestication, and other relevant topics regarding the agricultural revolution and where it has led us as a species. Kafka meanders through a few dozen pages, discoursing on the massive complexities of the human brain and memory retrieval, the proliferation of numbers and data, and, of course, the detriments of bureaucracy involved in storing, accessing, and controlling information. Harari and company have deep reservations about many of the consequences of our “achievements,” problems that have included sickness and disease, unmanageable population increase, and sheer drudgery. The proliferation of private property, a natural consequence of working the land, was undoubtedly momentous, but it also contributed to the rise of slavery, complex social hierarchies, the second-class citizenry of women and other marginalized groups, and widespread racism. Throughout, the authors seek to present a concise rendering of the full march of humankind and point out elements that are fictionalized, misrepresented, or exaggerated—and show how those elements have shaped human behavior, norms, and mores. The section on American slavery and its consequences into the present is particularly illuminating. Ultimately, balance in society is key to maintaining some semblance of order amid seemingly chaotic circumstances: “If people have faith in nothing, social order collapses, causing a lot of suffering….A big part of politics is about finding the right balance.”
A skillfully entertaining education.Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-321223-7
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Perennial/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.
A warts-and-all portrait of the famed techno-entrepreneur—and the warts are nearly beyond counting.
To call Elon Musk (b. 1971) “mercurial” is to undervalue the term; to call him a genius is incorrect. Instead, Musk has a gift for leveraging the genius of others in order to make things work. When they don’t, writes eminent biographer Isaacson, it’s because the notoriously headstrong Musk is so sure of himself that he charges ahead against the advice of others: “He does not like to share power.” In this sharp-edged biography, the author likens Musk to an earlier biographical subject, Steve Jobs. Given Musk’s recent political turn, born of the me-first libertarianism of the very rich, however, Henry Ford also comes to mind. What emerges clearly is that Musk, who may or may not have Asperger’s syndrome (“Empathy did not come naturally”), has nurtured several obsessions for years, apart from a passion for the letter X as both a brand and personal name. He firmly believes that “all requirements should be treated as recommendations”; that it is his destiny to make humankind a multi-planetary civilization through innovations in space travel; that government is generally an impediment and that “the thought police are gaining power”; and that “a maniacal sense of urgency” should guide his businesses. That need for speed has led to undeniable successes in beating schedules and competitors, but it has also wrought disaster: One of the most telling anecdotes in the book concerns Musk’s “demon mode” order to relocate thousands of Twitter servers from Sacramento to Portland at breakneck speed, which trashed big parts of the system for months. To judge by Isaacson’s account, that may have been by design, for Musk’s idea of creative destruction seems to mean mostly chaos.
Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781982181284
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
A straightforward, carefully detailed presentation of how ``fruit comes from flowers,'' from winter's snow-covered buds through pollination and growth to ripening and harvest. Like the text, the illustrations are admirably clear and attractive, including the larger-than-life depiction of the parts of the flower at different stages. An excellent contribution to the solidly useful ``Let's-Read-and-Find-Out-Science'' series. (Nonfiction/Picture book. 4-9)
Pub Date: Jan. 30, 1992
ISBN: 0-06-020055-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1991
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