Sapiens A Graphic History, Volume 4

The fourth and final volume of the graphic adaptation of Yuval Noah Harari’s global phenomenon and smash Sunday Times number-one bestseller follows the scientific and industrial revolutions, as rapid advances transform society, reshape capitalism and propel us into the technological age and the dawn of AI.

Until 1500 AD, Homo sapiens had reached a plateau in medical, military and economic power, focused on preserving long-standing social orders. So how did we leap from medieval scrolls to ebooks, abacuses to computers, wooden ships to nuclear submarines – and from the Earth to the moon? As Yuval Noah Harari reveals, the spark behind the Scientific Revolution was a radical idea: ignorance. Paired with curiosity, it drove humanity’s relentless pursuit of knowledge.

This pursuit unleashed a powerful feedback loop between science, politics and capitalism, accelerating discovery and reshaping the world. In Sapiens: A Graphic History Volume 4 – The Age of Revolutions, Yuval Noah Harari explore how scientific thinking came to dominate in the sixteenth century, overtaking religion and philosophy and fuelling imperial expansion, colonialism and the Industrial Revolution. Old social and political structures unravelled as new technologies emerged – each invention both a tool and a weapon.

Spanning from the early modern period to the present day, this final volume traces the extraordinary transformations that have defined our species, while also looking ahead. As advances in artificial intelligence gather pace, it asks what the future might hold – and whether a new form of intelligence could surpass humanity itself.

Like the previous instalments, this is an engaging, insightful and colourful retelling of the human story for curious minds of all ages.