An excellent thought-provoking book that is engaging on every page, that I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone that enjoyed any of Jared Diamond's works, Will Durant, or Jacob Bronowski. It is wide-ranging and multidisciplinary in its approach at looking at Homo Sapiens - who we are and where we are going.

I did find the work marred by a single paragraph (which the (unnamed) editor should have struck from the book). It appears in chapter 19 "And They Lived Happily Ever After" in the subchapter "Know Thyself", after he describes Buddhist non-attachment:

"This idea is so alien to modern liberal culture that when Western New Age movements encountered Buddhist insights, they translated them into liberal terms, thereby turning them on their head. New Age cults frequently argue: 'Happiness does not depend on external conditions. It depends only on what we feel inside. People should stop pursuing external achievements such as wealth and status, and connect instead with their inner feelings.' Or more succinctly, 'Happiness Begins Within.' This is exactly what biologists argue, but more or less the opposite of what Buddha said."

The argument that New Age movements (or cults as he also calls them) based their philosophies upon misreadings of Buddhist teachings is not supported in the book or any online resources that I can find, nor is there any attribution of the adage "Happiness Begins Within" to any particular person or group. The adage is liberally spread across a multitude of sites, ranging from Buddhist and Hindu groups to, yes, New Age groups and authors promoting this or that. Telling in his paragraph is that he uses the word cult interchangeably with movement, suggesting a personal but distasteful experience that he may have had with some New Age group at some point. He gives neither foot- or endnotes in this paragraph supporting his argument.

Suggesting that Western New Age Movements couldn't understand, and thereby misrepresented Buddhist thought is also demeaning to the massive amount of high quality Buddhist academic work and studies in the West, which dates back to around 1844 with perhaps the first Western translation of Buddhist history in France, not to mention a number of other scholars such as D.T. Suzuki who was lecturing in universities across the U.S. in the early 1950's, well before the rise of what are described as the New Age movements which sprung up in the 1970's. [Although I do consider early movements such as Spiritualism and Theosophy as harbingers of the New Age movements.]

Lastly, Buddhist teaching is often tailored to its lay audience - like an onion the outer layers may seem thin until they are peeled away to find the essence of the teaching.

“True happiness comes from having a sense of inner peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved by cultivating altruism, love and compassion, and by eliminating anger, selfishness and greed.” - Dalai Lama ( )

Agreeing or not on the beginning of this story and on Why homo sapiens has "sudden" developed on Earth, Sapiens is a quite witty and enjoyable novelization on the How Humankind came to spread, rule and spoil this turf. An interesting (but not that brief) read both for history lovers and for those who enjoy some of the more obscure topics from the Creation tales. ( )

Yuval Noah Hariri was a recognized academic historian. In 2011, he began write popular speculative books that can be read as part of the a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_History">Big History movement, to discuss evolutionary psychology, cultures, and futurism. He is well informed and writes in an accessible manner. His approach to Big History is entertaining. His theories are speculative. His work reads as a series of Just So Stories for inquisitive, literary consumers ( )

King has still got it! The beginning of the book is very entertaining. Charlie and his dad are realistic and relatable. The story gets more interesting when Charlie meets Mr. Bowditch, the tension ratches up when Charlie realizes that Mr. Bowditch may be hiding something odd in his shed!

And here begins the trope of the portal to another world, a favorite of King's. Sometimes the portal is a Buick 8, sometimes it is a pantry, but in this case, it is a shed. Even though King uses this trope in several of his books, each portal brings the characters to a different type of alternate reality. This won't let you down. This alternate world is the stuff of dark fairytales.

Three stars- the beginning and the end of the book were excellent and enjoyable. The middle, in which Charlie was in Empis (the alternate reality) was too long and a bit tedious. ( )

Man was this good. Enjoyed every second of it. How does he still have so much imagination after all this time? ( )