One hundred thousand years ago, Homo sapiens was one of at least six species of humans living on this planet - an unremarkable animal that played no more role in the ecosystem than gorillas, fireflies or jellyfish. But about seventy thousand years ago, a mysterious change in the cognitive abilities of Homo sapiens turned him into a master of the planet and an ecosystem nightmare. How did Homo sapiens manage to conquer the world? What happened to other human species? When and why did money, states and religion appear? How did empires rise and fall? Why did almost all societies place women lower than men? How did science and capitalism become the dominant beliefs of the modern era? Have people become happier over time? What future awaits us? Yuval Harari shows how the course of history has shaped human society and the reality around it. His book traces the connection between the events of the past and the problems of our time and forces the reader to reconsider all established ideas about the world around him.