Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Reviewed by Diario de un Inversor · UpdatedJune 13, 2026

Our review

«Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind» is not a finance book, but it contains perhaps the most lucid analysis ever published of why money exists and how it functions as a social technology. Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari published the original in Hebrew in 2011 and the English version in 2014; its global success made it a cultural phenomenon of the decade. The central argument is that Homo sapiens dominates the planet not by being more intelligent or stronger than other species but through its unique capacity to believe in «collective fictions» — shared narratives that have no material existence but coordinate the action of millions of people. Money is, for Harari, the most successful collective fiction in human history: it works because everyone believes it works, and that circular belief is what gives it value. The chapter on money («The Smell of Money») is essential reading for any investor who wants to understand the conventional — not intrinsic — nature of value. The book has been criticized by specialist historians for some simplifications and for the certainty with which it presents still-debated hypotheses. Even so, as a conceptual framework for thinking about money, markets, and the economy as social constructions, it has few rivals in popular nonfiction.

Key takeaways

• Money is a social coordination technology based on shared trust, not on any intrinsic value of the objects that represent it.
• Financial institutions — markets, companies, currencies — are collective fictions that function as long as people believe in them.
• The history of money is inseparable from the history of power: whoever controls monetary creation controls part of the social order.
• Understanding the conventional nature of financial value helps assess market cycles of euphoria and panic with greater detachment.

Fact

«Sapiens» was originally published in Hebrew in 2011 by Yuval Noah Harari and translated into English in 2014; it has since been translated into more than 45 languages.