Sapiens: A Graphic History: The Birth of Humankind (Vol. 1)

I loved Sapiens the book despite a few caveats like missing Heron of Alexandria (steam), awesomeness like the Antikythera Device, and suggesting England in the middle ages was a backwater. During the first century and a half of the Norman period in the high middle ages it flourished until anti-jewish pogroms murdered or made refugees of thousands, misogyny ruined women lead businesses, and the dreaded beast of climate change ended an incredible era of prosperity with William the Bastard commonly known as the Conqueror being most likely the richest person in the world (the Mansa Musa of the 11th century CE) and PPP for the average person was excellent for that century and a half much like during the brief Norman Sicilian Renaissance.

Onto this book though it has a solid and well made hard cover. The paper is thick matte stock which surprised me differing from most "comic book" style graphic novels but it is good enough to have good color retention. The art is good reminding me more of something in the 1980s made for educational purposes released by a textbook company or government office more than a modern graphic novel. Or like a comic in the newspaper like Dennis the Menace.

I've been reading the book to my young child today and we've been enjoying its prose and he really likes the art more than I do. He particularly liked the mammoths and the Bering strait portion because it reminded him of the Ice Age movies. Highly recommend it.

Sapiens is a remarkable book that takes you on a journey through the entire history of humankind, from the dawn of our species to the present and beyond. It is a book that challenges many of the assumptions we have about ourselves, our cultures, our religions, and our future. It is a book that makes you think, question, and wonder.

The author, Yuval Noah Harari, is a brilliant historian and a captivating storyteller. He combines insights from various disciplines, such as biology, anthropology, psychology, and philosophy, to weave a fascinating narrative that covers the major events and transformations that shaped our world and our species. He does not shy away from controversial topics, such as the role of human violence, the origin of money, the impact of science, and the prospects of artificial intelligence. He also offers his own perspective on the big questions, such as what makes us human, what gives meaning to our lives, and what lies ahead for us.

Sapiens is a book that will make you see the world in a new light. It is a book that will enrich your knowledge, broaden your horizons, and stimulate your imagination. It is a book that will change the way you understand yourself and others. It is a book that everyone should read.

I was extremely excited about the arrival of this graphic novel. I grew up in the '90s reading comic books and have always appreciated what an important format this medium was for getting stories and information out to the general public: Marvel, DC, Image, all of them. In my opinion, Sapiens is one of THE most important books written in a very long time. How can we determine where we are going if we don't know where we have been. Yuval Noah Harari has done an excellent service to humanity by compiling all of this into an easily accessible book (relatively speaking). It can be read by generations to come and put our existence into perspective, a feat that is more important in this anti-science, anti-knowledge, anti-logic reality we find ourselves living in today. When I heard there was a graphic novel being released, I thought, "Perfect. I will buy this for my teenager (and myself) in the hopes that this medium will be the thing that resonates with him and allows him to pick it up and not want to put it down". At the end of the day, it is the knowledge within and the perspective it provides that is the most important. But, and I say this with great disappointment and sadness given my high expectations, the illustrations and the colours in this graphic novel do not work well with the story it is trying to tell. Everything looks messy, the colours do not work most of the time, and to be entirely honest, it does not look good. I am not trying to disrespect the illustrator (Daniel Casanave) or the person responsible for colour (Claire Champion), but their style does not work for this story. It is not a pleasure reading this. The mishmash of the illustration style and the colours that seem to not even reflect what colour these items would be in real life make the artwork as a whole look like it was drawn by a Picasso imitator. But this is an essential book with a very, very important story to tell. This style of artwork to tell this story is too messy. Please don't do this style for any future graphic novels. You would be (MUCH) better off with a Jim Lee style or Marc Silvestri, Whilce Portacio, Todd McFarlane, Joss Whedon. Or even better, all of the above can do a chapter each. I see they were trying to go for a "Safe Area Gorazde" style, but that graphic novel was clear and concise, even with all the noise due to illustrations taking up the page's free space throughout. It was a smooth and easy read. This is not.

3/5 stars