21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari

As I liked Harari’s previous two books, I also read this book. As is the case for many writers, his 3rd book for the public appeared less daring and refreshing to me, compared with his previous two books, although it is still good enough. Among five parts in the book, my favorite part was part IV, Truth, and two chapters, chapter 15 (ignorance) and 17 (post-truth) were the best of 21 chapters or lessons to me.

As he repeatedly mentioned, we don’t know ourselves less than we think. Furthermore, he points out that power distorts reality so those with power cannot grasp the truth or reality as it is. The powerful ones would put people who have the same belief as theirs around them, and the surrounding people would willingly be committed to the powerful one’s viewpoint as they believe the power’s ideas or they are just interested in fulfilling their private desires. The author metaphorically said, “Great power thus acts like a blackhole” p.221. To make matters worse, powerful people are usually very busy to deal with urgent tasks. According to the author, to know something, we have to afford to waste time, that is, we have to have enough space for unproductive thoughts, doubts, or boredom (I agree with this point and many people will do). Unfortunately, Such reasons make power hard to go with the truth, and throughout history, humans including scholars, when faced with this dilemma, chose power (“As a species, humans prefer power to truth” p.242).

It is amazing to me that the author’s deep insight into human history and psychology, and the ability to write down such abstract concepts or ideas with clarity and simplicity. I think his insights are not unrelated to his mediation practice and regular meditation retreat for recent two decades. I also guess the Israeli or Jewish education style must have influenced his achievement as an author or philosopher. I heard that he would take some time off from public activities like an interview and return to his work as a professor. If he publishes another book in the future, I will gladly buy one.

 

Written by Shim G.


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