21 Lessons for the 21st Century

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

by Yuval Noah Harari
21 Lessons for the 21st Century

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

by Yuval Noah Harari

Hardcover

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Overview

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In Sapiens, he explored our past. In Homo Deus, he looked to our future. Now, one of the most innovative thinkers on the planet turns to the present to make sense of today’s most pressing issues.

“Fascinating . . . a crucial global conversation about how to take on the problems of the twenty-first century.”—Bill Gates, The New York Times Book Review

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY FINANCIAL TIMES AND PAMELA PAUL, KQED

How do computers and robots change the meaning of being human? How do we deal with the epidemic of fake news? Are nations and religions still relevant? What should we teach our children?

Yuval Noah Harari’s 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today’s most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a tactic of war, and the world feels more polarized than ever, Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves in order to survive.

In twenty-one accessible chapters that are both provocative and profound, Harari builds on the ideas explored in his previous books, untangling political, technological, social, and existential issues and offering advice on how to prepare for a very different future from the world we now live in: How can we retain freedom of choice when Big Data is watching us? What will the future workforce look like, and how should we ready ourselves for it? How should we deal with the threat of terrorism? Why is liberal democracy in crisis?

Harari’s unique ability to make sense of where we have come from and where we are going has captured the imaginations of millions of readers. Here he invites us to consider values, meaning, and personal engagement in a world full of noise and uncertainty. When we are deluged with irrelevant information, clarity is power. Presenting complex contemporary challenges clearly and accessibly, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is essential reading.

“If there were such a thing as a required instruction manual for politicians and thought leaders, Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari’s 21 Lessons for the 21st Century would deserve serious consideration. In this collection of provocative essays, Harari . . . tackles a daunting array of issues, endeavoring to answer a persistent question: ‘What is happening in the world today, and what is the deep meaning of these events?’”—BookPage (top pick)

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780525512172
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Publication date: 09/04/2018
Pages: 400
Sales rank: 123,808
Product dimensions: 6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Professor Yuval Noah Harari is a historian, philosopher, and the bestselling author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, and the series Sapiens: A Graphic History and Unstoppable Us. His books have sold forty-five million copies in sixty-five languages, and he is considered one of the world’s most influential public intellectuals working today. Born in Israel in 1976, Harari received his Ph.D. from the University of Oxford in 2002 and is currently a lecturer at the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He co-founded the social impact company Sapienship, focused on education and media, with his husband Itzik Yahav.

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Excerpted from "21 Lessons for the 21st Century"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Yuval Noah Harari.
Excerpted by permission of Random House Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Table of Contents

Introduction xiii

Part I The Technological Challenge

1 Disillusionment: The End of History Has Been Postponed 3

2 Work: When You Grow Up, You Might Not Have a Job 19

3 Liberty: Big Data Is Watching You 44

4 Equality: Those Who Own the Data Own the Future 73

Part II The Political Challenge

5 Community: Humans Have Bodies 85

6 Civilization: There Is Just One Civilization in the World 93

7 Nationalism: Global Problems Need Global Answers 110

8 Religion: God Now Serves the Nation 127

9 Immigration: Some Cultures Might Be Better than Others 140

Part III Despair And Hope

10 Terrorism: Don't Panic 161

11 War: Never Underestimate Human Stupidity 173

12 Humility: You Are Not the Center of the World 184

13 God: Don't Take the Name of God in Vain 200

14 Secularism: Acknowledge Your Shadow 207

Part IV Truth

15 Ignorance: You Know Less than You Think 221

16 Justice: Our Sense ofJustice Might Be Out of Date 228

17 Post-Truth: Some Fake News Lasts Forever 236

18 Science Fiction: The Future Is Not What You See in the Movies 250

Part V Resilience

19 Education: Change Is the Only Constant 263

20 Meaning: Life Is Not a Story 273

21 Meditation: Just Observe 314

Acknowledgments 325

Notes 329

Index 357

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