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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. Since around what year have most humans lived in empires?

2. In what century did cannons emerge to become a decisive factor in battle?

3. Part Three of Sapiens is entitled "The" what "of Humankind" (162)?

4. What does Harari assert is the key to understanding a particular culture?

5. Social poverty is defined by Harari as what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Yuval Noah Harari define culture and what does he assert about its mutability?

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

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

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

5. How does Harari link the state of the modern economy to his view that quality of life is not guaranteed or predetermined to improve as time passes?

6. What is Harari's view of capitalism and what are two counterarguments he addresses?

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

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

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

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

What ultimate message is Yuval Noah Harari's book Sapiens sending about the nature and value of continually examining the history of one’s own civilization?

Essay Topic 2

Examine how Yuval Noah Harari's book Sapiens invites readers to learn particular lessons from the author's own experiences and to apply those lessons to their own lives. How does the author accomplish this goal and how does this goal relate to the overarching themes of the text?

Essay Topic 3

What message is Yuval Noah Harari's book Sapiens sending regarding the nature of shared myths?

(see the answer keys)

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