75 pages • 2 hours read
Yuval Noah HarariA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.
Short Answer
1. What do you know about evolution? How do terms like “natural selection” and “adaptation” fit into your understanding of evolution?
Teaching Suggestion: Though some students will be well versed in basic evolutionary theory, it is likely that others will have misunderstandings about evolution or even dispute its validity. These questions are meant to provide students with a firmer foundation from which to approach Harari’s work. Class discussion and exposure to the resources linked below or similar ones will ensure that all students have accurate basic background knowledge before beginning Sapiens.
2. What kinds of questions do scientists still have about evolution? Are scientists unclear about whether evolution exists, or do they mainly have questions about exactly how it works?
Teaching Suggestion: The purpose of these questions is to guide students toward an accurate understanding that it is the mechanisms of evolution that scientists are still investigating, not its very existence.
By Yuval Noah Harari