Everything is disarmingly self-aware; its bluntness preempts attempts to poke holes with admissions that nothing is complete. That—more so than the hot-take-style quotable excerpts that serve to draw attention to the text in the first place—is what makes it remarkable. Sapiens isn’t afraid to make the best claim it can given the facts as they are known, isn’t afraid to say, “This might all be wrong but here it is anyway,” and isn’t afraid to give all the information it can without trying to steer the reader into a comfortable line of thinking.

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