Between History And Tomorrow

"This is what anthropology should be and the way ethnography should be done." - Gavin Smith, University of Toronto

Official U.S. edition with full color illustrations throughout. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods. Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to accept, but, as Harari explains in his trademark style—thorough, yet riveting—famine, plague and war have been transformed from incomprehensible and uncontrollable forces of nature into manageable challenges. For the first time ever, more people die from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals put together. The average American is a thousand times more likely to die from binging at McDonalds than from being blown up by Al Qaeda. What then will replace famine, plague, and war at the top of the human agenda? As the self-made gods of planet earth, what destinies will we set ourselves, and which quests will we undertake? Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century—from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus. With the same insight and clarity that made Sapiens an international hit and a New York Times bestseller, Harari maps out our future.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Destined to become a modern classic in the vein of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Sapiens is a lively, groundbreaking history of humankind told from a unique perspective. 100,000 years ago, at least six species of human inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo Sapiens. How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations, and human rights; to trust money, books, and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables, and consumerism? And what will our world be like in the millennia to come? In Sapiens, Dr. Yuval Noah Harari spans the whole of human history, from the very first humans to walk the earth to the radical -- and sometimes devastating -- breakthroughs of the Cognitive, Agricultural, and Scientific Revolutions. Drawing on insights from biology, anthropology, palaeontology, and economics, he explores how the currents of history have shaped our human societies, the animals and plants around us, and even our personalities. Have we become happier as history has unfolded? Can we ever free our behaviour from the heritage of our ancestors? And what, if anything, can we do to influence the course of the centuries to come? Bold, wide-ranging and provocative, Sapiens challenges everything we thought we knew about being human: our thoughts, our actions, our power...and our future.

Volume two of Sapiens: A Graphic History: the epic, beautifully illustrated graphic history of humankind, based on Yuval Noah Harari's internationally bestselling phenomenon. Twelve thousand years ago, we humans fell into a trap. Volume II of Sapiens: A Graphic History tells the story of how we took over the world; how an unlikely marriage between a god and a bureaucrat created the first empires; and how war, famine, disease, and inequality became a part of the human condition. Sound sombre? Not with this cast of entertaining characters, returning from Volume I to explore the Agricultural Revolution. Yuval, Zoe, Prof. Saraswati, Cindy and Bill (turned farmers), Detective Lopez, and Dr. Fiction – are all back to travel the length and breadth of human history. The cunning Mephisto shows them how to entrap humans, King Hammurabi lays down the law, and Confucius explains harmonious society. With guest appearances by Thomas Jefferson, Scarlet O’Hara and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And there’s plenty more genre-bending to enjoy in this book. The origins of modern farming are introduced through Elizabethan tragedy, the changing fortunes of domesticated plants and animals are tracked in the columns of the Daily Business News, the story of urbanization is told as a travel brochure offering discount journeys to ancient Babylon and China, while the history of inequality is scouted out in a superhero detective story.

The last ten years have seen an extraordinary transformation in how business has to account for itself. Today, the air is thick with the buzz of corporate responsibility (CR) leaders, innovators and practitioners. Conferences and publications on the topic are in abundance: the tip of an iceberg that has become a fast-growth industry. Many of those companies and service providers most vocal in distancing themselves from early experimentation have proved the strongest advocates of sustainability reporting, often winning applause and coveted awards in the process. Even companies from controversial sectors such as alcohol, cigarettes and gambling have joined the party – running up bills of tens of millions of dollars in demonstrating their new-found faith for CR. It has not always been like this. As one of the architects of the burgeoning CR movement, Simon Zadek has always been a prolific writer and contributor of ideas. The evolution of his thoughts on new economics, corporate accountability, stakeholder dialogue, social and ethical auditing and reporting have attracted consistent attention – never more than today. In this unique anthology, Zadek crystallises his key work from the last decade into a coherent and fascinating whole, which, read together, provide a context, lens and early history lesson on how CR has become one of the defining business issues of the 21st century. The writings reflect Zadek's involvement with organisations such as the New Economics Foundation, a pioneer in the development of social auditing, sustainability indicators, community finance and much more. They illustrate his contribution in setting up the Ethical Trading Initiative, and AccountAbility (where he is presently the CEO), in working with companies such as The Body Shop and Ben & Jerry's through to Nike, BT and many other civil-society organisations. The book contains 33 pieces, which are split into six sections: "The Economics of Utopia"; "Civil Society, Power and Accountability"; "Accounting for Change"; "The Civil Corporation"; "Partnership Alchemy"; and "Responsible Competitiveness". It will be an invaluable resource for anyone wishing develop an understanding of why corporate responsibility is where it is today and where it might end up tomorrow.

Elite forces of international diplomats crisscross our globe. They frantically negotiate to try and deflect blazing sparks away from the fuel-drenched fabric of religio-political conflicts. All the while, the search is on for a leader who can calm our fears and deliver peace and security to our planet.We sign treaties to solve rapidly escalating economic, environmental and security problems, but it often seems so futile. What are we missing?The History of Tomorrow reveals the last 2,600 years through the eyes of kings, prophets, popes and presidents. It unveils an often-overlooked pattern in the timeline of history, and exposes an event that will soon permanently alter the face of our planet.The History of Tomorrow is a foundational resource for anyone who seeks to understand the tectonic movements that are shaping geopolitics, religion, and economics today.

Unless something remarkable happens like Armageddon or the England Cricket team winning a Test Series as we enter the year 2001, things will stay pretty much as they are. But behind the facade of normality the future is taking shape, and in this book the author looks at the history of futurology.

This book, first published in 1989, the proceedings of the 19th Binghamton Geomorphology Symposium, is the first set of essays focused on the history of the subject. The articles analyse the founding precepts of geomorphology, the early pioneers, the formation of a defined discipline, and the present state of the topic.