Unstoppable Us, Volume 1: How Humans Took Over the World

by Yuval Noah Harari, Ricard Zaplana Ruiz (Illustrator)

Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From world-renowned historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari, the bestselling author of Sapiens, comes an exciting, illustrated book for middle school readers that looks at the early history of humankind.  

A New York Times Best Book of 2022

"Gripping and thought-provoking." —The New York Times

Even though we’ll never outrun a hungry lion or outswim an angry shark, humans are pretty impressive—and we’re the most dominant species on the planet. So how exactly did we become “unstoppable”?

The answer to that is one of the strangest tales you’ll ever hear. And it’s a true story.

From learning to make fire and using the stars as guides to cooking meals in microwaves and landing on the moon, prepare to uncover the secrets and superpowers of how we evolved from our first appearances millions of years ago.

Acclaimed author Yuval Noah Harari has expertly crafted an extraordinary story of how humans learned to not only survive but also thrive on Earth, complete with maps, a timeline, and full-color illustrations that bring his dynamic, unputdownable writing to life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593643464
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	10/18/2022
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	4,740
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Prof. Yuval Noah Harari is a historian, a 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 Sapiens: A Graphic History. His books have sold over 35 million copies in 65 languages, and he is considered one of the world’s most influential public intellectuals today. ynharari.com / Twitter @harari_yuval / Instagram: @yuval_noah_harari

Ricard Zaplana Ruiz is an artist and illustrator with over twenty years of experience. He has worked as a story artist for animation, commercials, and live action films. His artwork for children’s books has been published worldwide since 2013. He was born and still resides in Barcelona, Spain.

Table of Contents

Timeline of History xii

Introduction: What are Humans All About? xiv

1 Humans Are Animals 1

2 The Sapiens' Superpower 35

3 How Our Ancestors Lived 75

4 Where Did All the Animals Go? 143

Acknowledgments 183

About this Book 186

World Map of History 188

Editorial Reviews

Gripping and thought provoking … In a neat trick, he has simplified the presentation for this younger audience.” —The New York Times

★ "An enticingly depicted intro to human history and archaeology, simply expressed but extensive and engaging." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Lively, engaging … provocative reading." —Booklist

“An exciting, clear-eyed chronicle of the rise of Homo sapiens, and an essential book in helping us understand our past — and our potential.” —Jeff Kinney, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series

From the Publisher

11/01/2022

Gr 4–7—A philosophical take on the history of hominids, covering the evolution of the genus homo from their shared roots with other hominids to the modern homo sapiens. Harari discusses many theories of what makes humans unique in the animal world, placing the most emphasis on the theory expressed in his previous works; humans are unique because their ability to tell stories enables us to work collaboratively in ways other animals do not. Much emphasis is placed on humans being the cause of mass extinction events of creatures, such as the mammoths and other megafauna, ending with a call to action for young readers to take better care of the planet and its nonhuman inhabitants. Science facts, anthropological theory, and Harari's own philosophy are mixed in this text with little delineation to help readers differentiate. Theories that are still hotly debated in the anthropology field are often presented as fact, and some facts may be misrepresented. For example, when explaining why Latin is used in scientific names, Harari writes that, "Latin sounds almost like magic," and Latin is chosen because it sounds more important. This is not the commonly held explanation, and simplifying for a young audience should not mean misrepresenting facts. Harari's statement as fact that the development of religious belief is a result of the intrinsic storytelling nature of humans may be a collection development concern, especially in communities with devout families. VERDICT Not recommended due to its potential misrepresentation of philosophies as scientific fact.—Jeri Murphy

School Library Journal

★ 2022-11-10
From the author of the adult title Sapiens (2015), an explanation of how physically weak humans came to dominate other animals.

Spoiler alert: It was through human inventiveness and storytelling. Harari’s lively, reader-directed prose and Ruiz’s expressive graphics will help young readers grasp an almost-unimaginably distant past, from the start of toolmaking up to (in this volume) Homo sapiens’ collaborative extinction of mammoths. The text is dramatically punctuated by large and small illustrations. Ingenious use of perspective, imaginative details, and relevance to the text make the artwork integral to this book’s appeal. Most of the illustrations depict cheerful, brown-skinned humans. Bolded sentences in different colors break up text blocks and point to big ideas and questions. Humor is effectively deployed, and concepts like evolution, DNA, and religion are compared to kid-adjacent phenomena (to help kids grapple with the idea of human cooperation, for instance, the author asks readers to imagine all the people, from students to teachers to cafeteria workers to the people who create textbooks, who make a school possible), connected to the next topic, and paced to appeal to middle-grade readers. When an answer isn’t known, Harari admits, “We don’t know.”

An enticingly depicted intro to human history and archaeology, simply expressed but extensive and engaging. (timeline, map, resources, index) (Nonfiction. 10-13)

Kirkus Reviews