Cover of Sapiens Open Library Covers

Sapiens

by Yuval Noah Harari · 2011

Yuval Noah Harari's broad history of Homo sapiens and large-scale human cooperation.

Recommended by 4 people · mentioned by 1 person

Why this author is included

Yuval Noah Harari · Historian and author

Who recommends it

4 people have recommended Sapiens. Each entry links to the source.

Daniel Ek in 2025 Daniel EkFounder and executive chairman, Spotify
Both sobering and conservatively optimistic in equal measure
Recommended · Exact quote Source: One Grand Books
Evidence details Daniel Ek: Top Ten Books

Ek includes Sapiens in his One Grand Books top-ten list and says it is relevant for learning from socio-anthropological history.

The quote is taken word for word from the source.

One Grand Books · 2017-07-17 · accessed 2026-06-22

Reading list · Top-ten books list

One Grand Books publishes Daniel Ek's top-ten books page with first-person blurbs for each listed book.

Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook F8 in 2019 Mark ZuckerbergCo-founder and CEO, Meta

Business Insider reports Sapiens as Zuckerberg's A Year of Books selection.

Recommended · Wording not verified Source: Business Insider
Evidence details Mark Zuckerberg recommends Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Zuckerberg selected Sapiens for the Facebook book club; Harari remains a book author only in this catalog.

This text documents what the source says, but it is not verified as a word-for-word quote.

Business Insider · 2015-06 · accessed 2026-06-21

Article · Reported Facebook book-club pick

Business Insider reports Sapiens as Zuckerberg's A Year of Books pick and links his Facebook explanation.

Portrait unavailable for John O’Farrell John O’FarrellInvestor and former Opsware business development executive

Selected by John O’Farrell as an original and enjoyable exploration of human history.

Recommended · Wording not verified Source: Andreessen Horowitz
Evidence details 16 (x3) Books We Read in 2016

The person’s own reader-facing recommendation. Citation paraphrase, not a verbatim quote.

This text documents what the source says, but it is not verified as a word-for-word quote.

Andreessen Horowitz · 2016-12-23 · accessed 2026-09-30

Reading list · Official attributed reading list

O’Farrell’s named section positively selects Sapiens; not attributed to other contributors.

Portrait unavailable for Naval Ravikant Naval RavikantAngelList cofounder and startup investor

Naval Ravikant selects Sapiens as a book he frequently gives to others.

Recommended · Wording not verified Source: The Tim Ferriss Show
Evidence details Naval Ravikant (#97), original interview transcript

Catalog summary of his own reading selection; no transcript excerpt copied.

This text documents what the source says, but it is not verified as a word-for-word quote.

The Tim Ferriss Show · 2015-08-18 · accessed 2026-10-01

Interview · Own reading selection

Own most-gifted-book answer, PDF pages36–38. Date is original episode publication, not 2018 transcript hosting.

Also mentioned by

These people mentioned or cited Sapiens without directly recommending it.

Demis Hassabis at the Royal Society Demis HassabisCo-founder & CEO, Google DeepMind

Public indexes report Hassabis saying Sapiens gave him many new ideas.

Cited · Wording not verified Source: YouTube
Evidence details Demis Hassabis interview mentioning Sapiens

Timestamped YouTube source retained as a citation lead; not counted as a direct recommendation until the primary transcript is verified.

This text documents what the source says, but it is not verified as a word-for-word quote.

YouTube · timestamp 35:23 · accessed 2026-06-21

Video · YouTube interview clip

Timestamped YouTube URL recovered from Most Recommended Books. Quote text is not treated as exact because it was not directly extracted from the primary transcript in this pass.

About the author

What the author has done, shown separately from who recommends the book.

Yuval Noah HarariHistorian and author

Author of Sapiens, a broad history of humankind.