Yuval Noah Harari

Yuval Noah Harari is an Israeli historian, philosopher and author whose popular books on the long arc of human history and the future of the species have sold tens of millions of copies worldwide. A professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he is best known for "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind," which helped popularize sweeping, interdisciplinary "big history" for a general readership. His later work addresses technology, artificial intelligence and the challenges facing twenty-first-century societies.

Early life

Harari was born in Kiryat Ata, Israel, in 1976. He studied history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and went on to earn a doctorate in history from the University of Oxford. His early academic research focused on medieval and early modern military history, and he published scholarly work on warfare and the experience of soldiers before turning toward broader, macro-historical questions.

Career

Harari joined the faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he has taught world history. "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind," first published in Hebrew in 2011 and in English in 2014, traces the history of the human species from the emergence of Homo sapiens through the cognitive, agricultural and scientific revolutions. The book became an international bestseller and was praised by a wide range of public figures, while also drawing scholarly debate over its broad generalizations.

He followed it with "Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow" (2015), which speculates about the future trajectory of humanity in an age of biotechnology and data, and "21 Lessons for the 21st Century" (2018), a collection of essays on contemporary issues such as automation, immigration, terrorism and the spread of misinformation. Across these books, Harari developed recurring themes, including the power of shared fictions and collective myths to organize large-scale human cooperation, and the potential for new technologies to concentrate power and reshape what it means to be human. His accessible, narrative-driven style helped bring academic debates about history and the future to a broad popular audience.

Recent work

Harari has expanded his books into other formats, including the "Sapiens: A Graphic History" series and "Unstoppable Us," a history series aimed at younger readers. In 2024 he published "Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI," which examines how human societies have stored and shared information and the risks posed by powerful new artificial intelligence systems. He has become a prominent public commentator on technology and politics, speaking at international forums and engaging in debates about the social consequences of AI. Together with his husband, Itzik Yahav, he co-founded Sapienship, an organization focused on education and public conversation around global challenges.