Last week, I had lunch with President Shimon Peres at his residence. A fascinating two-hour break from my usual schedule, talking mostly about history and its lessons – or whether it had any. I was really a sidekick at this event, the President wanted to meet a young and bright Israeli historian, Yuval Noah Harari, and talk to him about his book, “A Brief History of Humankind”. The English version, just released, is called From Animals Into Gods, A Brief History of Humankind – you can purchase it on Amazon, enjoyment guaranteed (but no money back from me).
Harari had huge success in Israel with his book, which has been topping all the non-fiction bestseller lists for more than a year now. From being young and relatively unknown, Harari was catapulted into becoming a well-known trendsetter and public intellectual. And I had the joy of being the editor in charge of the book. So, when he was invited to meet with Peres, I was a happy beneficiary.
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