21 Lessons for the 21st Century

This author historian is incredible! You may recognize the name from when I read his other book, Sapiens, recently. I know he has one other, but I think that's it for now. I will definitely be keeping my eyes out for another from him, and read his other book. As for this book, it is so interesting to see today's world through the eyes of a historian! It's truly riveting. Like the jigsaw you're trying to figure out based off a picture, he comes over and flips the picture on it's side and then you can finally see the bigger picture. I'll leave the rest with a quote: “Whenever politicians start talking in mystical terms: beware. They might be trying to disguise and excuse real suffering, by wrapping it up in big incomprehensible words. Be particularly careful about the following four words: sacrifice, eternity, purity, redemption. If you hear any of these four, sound the alarm. And if you happen to live in a country whose leader routinely says things like, ‘their sacrifice will redeem the purity of our eternal nation.’ Know that you are in deep trouble. To preserve your sanity, always try to translate such hogwash into real terms. A soldier crying out in agony, a woman beaten and brutalized, a child shaking in fear.” So if you want to know the truth about the universe, about the meaning of life, and about your own identity, the best place to start is by observing suffering and exploring what it is. The answer isn’t a story.” 10/10 recommend!

It's a good book to read for anyone looking to get an overall idea of where we are headed. It does well to avoid bias (although some bias will always exist). The quality of the book I got which was "good" was actually terrible. It's the first book from this site that I've had a bad experience with - the pages keep coming off almost every 5-10 pages. It was awful.