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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The first coins in history were created around what year?

2. What is hubris?

3. Harari asserts that barley has what type of intrinsic value?

4. Empires are noted as "one of the main reasons for the drastic reduction in" (190) what?

5. On what date did humans land on the moon?

Short Essay Questions

1. What distinction does Harari make between biological poverty and social poverty?

2. When Harari claims that "credit was not invented in modern Europe" (315), what does he say about its origin instead?

3. How does Harari support his position that history is moving toward more unified and complex cultures?

4. What is the definition of the term "memetics" (242) and how do most scholars in the humanities feel about it?

5. Discuss Harari's treatment of the phenomenon of imperialism.

6. What is Harari's view of how the Cook expedition marked a turning point within European history?

7. What evidence does Harari provide for his assertion that "the practices of empire-builders were entangled with those of scientists"? (296)

8. What is Harari's message regarding people's tendency to discriminate against outsiders?

9. How does Harari define the term "culturism" (303)?

10. Analyze Harari's discussion of syncretism and its connection to both contradiction and success.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine how Yuval Noah Harari's book Sapiens invites readers to learn particular lessons from the history of humankind and to apply those lessons to their own lives in the modern world. How does Harari accomplish these goals and how do these goals relate to the overarching themes of the text?

Essay Topic 2

How does the author's use of the first and second person point of view serve the text’s purposes over the course of Yuval Noah Harari's book Sapiens? Discuss how the author's choice of point of view helps to advance the treatment of at least three particular themes within the text.

Essay Topic 3

What is the author's message regarding imagined communities and their role in the history and future of humankind?

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