經典英文書單咕噠鎮
經典英文書單 ----《人類簡史》
書 名：Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
作 者：[以] Yuval Noah Harari
中 文 譯 者：林 俊 宏
豆 瓣 評 分：9.1（滿分10分）
Goodreads評分：4.43（滿分5分）
簡介
2011年，這本書的希伯來語版本首先在以色列出版，隨後被翻譯為數十種語言，引發了學術界的討論和一般讀者的關注，成為一本全球暢銷的現象級書籍。其英語版和中文版均出版於2014年。
這本書橫跨了歷史學、生物學、社會學、人類學、倫理學等學科，作者用僅僅400餘頁的長度梳理了人類發展的全部歷程，視角宏大，但又簡明扼要，觀點明確，證據詳實有力，頗具批判性思維。
更難能可貴的是，它在你現有的知識體系（或碎片）的基礎上，一邊補充你的認知，一邊向你論證在人類長長的過往中那一個個不可避免的變化和轉折，以及人類社會演變成今天這個模樣的因由；並且，作者始終使用平實的語言娓娓道來，有高度，也有可讀性。
這本書的諸多觀點和論據會一直挑戰和拷問你的三觀，因此閱讀體驗極為震撼、迷人。
批評者說，這本書並未提供獨特的學術見解，它只是把相關領域內的經典學術觀點和事實組合成一部面向大眾的通俗作品而已——不過是「搬運知識」，因此學術價值有限。
《人類簡史》節選
（有刪減）
History's Biggest Fraud
史上最大騙局
For 2.5 million years humans fed themselves by gathering plants and hunting animals that lived and bred without their intervention.
人類曾有長達250萬年的時間靠採集及狩獵維生，並不會特別幹預動植物的生長情形。
All this changed about 10,000 years ago, when Sapiens began to devote almost all their time and effort to manipulating the lives of a few animal and plant species.
這一切在大約1萬年前全然改觀，人類開始投入幾乎全部的心力，操縱著幾種動植物的生命。
From sunrise to sunset humans sowed seeds, watered plants, plucked weeds from the ground and led sheep to prime pastures. This work, they thought, would provide them with more fruit, grain and meat.
從早到晚，人類都忙著播種、澆水、除草、牧羊，一心以為這樣就能得到更多的水果、穀物和肉類。
It was a revolution in the way humans lived—the Agricultural Revolution.
這是一場關於人類生活方式的革命：農業革命。
Scholars once proclaimed that the agricultural revolution was a great leap forward for humanity.
學者曾宣稱農業革命是人類的「大躍進」。
They told a tale of progress fuelled by human brain power.
這是個由人類腦力所推動的進步故事。
Evolution gradually produced ever more intelligent people. Eventually, people were so smart that they were able to decipher nature's secrets, enabling them to tame sheep and cultivate wheat.
他們說演化讓人越來越聰明，人類的智慧讓他們最終解開了大自然的秘密，於是能夠馴化綿羊、種植小麥。
As soon as this happened, they cheerfully abandoned the gruelling, dangerous, and often spartan life of hunter-gatherers, settling down to enjoy the pleasant, satiated life of farmers.
等到這件事發生，人類就開開心心地放棄了狩獵採集的艱苦、危險、簡陋，安定下來，享受農民愉快而飽足的生活。
That tale is a fantasy.
這個故事只是幻想。
There is no evidence that people became more intelligent with time.
並沒有任何證據顯示人類越來越聰明。
The average farmer worked harder than the average forager, and got a worse diet in return.
普遍來說，農民的工作要比採集者更辛苦，而且到頭來，飲食還更糟。
The Agricultural Revolution was history's biggest fraud.
農業革命可說是史上最大的一樁騙局。
Who was responsible?
誰該負責？
Neither kings, nor priests, nor merchants.
這背後的主謀，既不是國王，不是牧師，也不是商人。
The culprits were a handful of plant species, including wheat, rice and potatoes.
真正的主要嫌疑人，就是那極少數的植物物種，包括小麥、稻米和馬鈴薯。
These plants domesticated Homo sapiens, rather than vice versa.
人類自以為馴化了植物，但其實是植物馴化了智人。
Wheat did it by manipulating Homo sapiens to its advantage.
小麥的秘訣就在於操縱智人、為其所用。
This ape had been living a fairly comfortable life hunting and gathering until about 10,000 years ago, but then began to invest more and more effort in cultivating wheat.
智人這種猿類，原本靠著狩獵和採集過著頗為舒適的生活，直到大約1萬年前，才開始投入越來越多的精力來培育小麥。
Within a couple of millennia, humans in many parts of the world were doing little from dawn to dusk other than taking care of wheat plants.
而在接下來的幾千年間，全球許多地方的人類都開始種起小麥，從早到晚只忙這件事就已經焦頭爛額。
It wasn't easy. Wheat demanded a lot of them.
種小麥可不容易，照顧起來處處麻煩。
Wheat didn't like rocks and pebbles, so Sapiens broke their backs clearing fields.
第一，小麥不喜歡大石塊小石子，所以智人得把田地裡的石頭撿乾淨搬出去，搞得腰酸背痛。
Wheat didn't like sharing its space, water and nutrients with other plants, so men and women laboured long days weeding under the scorching sun.
小麥不喜歡與其他植物分享空間、水和養分，所以我們看到男男女女在烈日下整天除草。
Wheat got sick, so Sapiens had to keep a watch out for worms and blight.
小麥會得病，所以智人得幫忙驅蟲防病。
Wheat was attacked by rabbits and locust swarms, so the farmers built fences and stood guard over the fields.
蝗蟲和兔子都會飽嘗小麥大餐，所以農民又不得不建好柵欄守衛保護。
Wheat was thirsty, so humans dug irrigation canals or lugged heavy buckets from the well to water it.
小麥會渴，所以人類得挖掘水渠河道，或從水井處拖來一桶桶水，為它澆灌。
Sapiens even collected animal faeces to nourish the ground in which wheat grew.
智人甚至得收集動物糞便，用來滋養小麥生長的土地。
The rise of farming was a very gradual affair spread over centuries and millennia.
農業的興起並非一夜之間，而是歷時數千數百年的緩慢過程。
During these long millennia people occasionally ate wheat grain, but this was a marginal part of their diet.
在這漫長的數千年間，人類偶爾會吃吃小麥，但絕非以它為主食。
About 18,000 years ago, the last ice age gave way to a period of global warming. As temperatures rose, so did rainfall.
而在大約18000年前，最後一個冰河時代結束，全球氣候變暖。隨著氣溫上升，降雨也增多。
The new climate was ideal for Middle Eastern wheat and other cereals, which multiplied and spread.
在中東，這種新氣候非常適合小麥和其他穀物生長，於是這些作物也繁衍蓬勃。
People began eating more wheat, and in exchange they inadvertently spread its growth.
人類的小麥食用量開始增加，並且在不經意間助長了小麥的生長。
Since it was impossible to eat wild grains without first winnowing, grinding and cooking them, people who gathered these grains carried them back to their temporary campsites for processing.
當時採集到野生穀類，必須先篩一篩、磨一磨，再煮過之後才能食用；正因如此，人類採集這些穀物之後，要帶回他們居住的臨時地點來處理。
Wheat grains are small and numerous, so some of them inevitably fell on the way to the campsite and were lost.
小麥種籽粒小而多，在送回部落的途中必然會有一些掉到地上。
Over time, more and more wheat grew along favourite human trails and near campsites.
慢慢地，人類最常走的路徑附近或是居住營地的周圍也就長起了越來越多的小麥。
When humans burned down forests and thickets, this also helped wheat.
甚至，人類放火燒毀森林和灌木叢的時候，等於幫了小麥一把。
Fire cleared away trees and shrubs, allowing wheat and other grasses to monopolise the sunlight, water and nutrients.
大火清掉了樹木和灌木，於是小麥和其他草類就能獨佔陽光、水和養分。
Where wheat became particularly abundant, and game and other food sources were also plentiful, human bands could gradually give up their nomadic lifestyle and settle down in seasonal and even permanent camps.
在小麥生長特別茂盛的地方，獵物和其他食物來源也豐富，於是人類部落逐漸能夠放棄四處流浪的生活方式，在某地住上一個季節，甚至就形成永久聚落。
With the move to permanent villages and the increase in food supply, the population began to grow.
隨著人類開始住進永久村落、糧食供給增加，人口也開始增長。
Giving up the nomadic lifestyle enabled women to have a child every year.
放棄過去流浪的生活之後，女性也可以每年都生孩子了。
Babies were weaned at an earlier age—they could be fed on porridge and gruel. The extra hands were sorely needed in the fields.
而這時嬰兒也較早斷奶，而以粥來代替。畢竟田裡需要人手，媽媽得趕快幫忙幹農活。
But the extra mouths quickly wiped out the food surpluses, so even more fields had to be planted.
然而，人口一多，就耗去了原本的糧食剩餘，於是耕種面積又得加大。
As people began living in disease-ridden settlements, as children fed more on cereals and less on mother's milk, and as each child competed for his or her porridge with more and more siblings, child mortality soared.
這時，因為人類開始定居在易有疾病肆虐的聚落，孩子吃母乳的比率越來越少，吃穀類則越來越多，再加上得要共享這些粥的兄弟姐妹也越來越多，讓兒童死亡率一路飆升。
In most agricultural societies at least one out of every three children died before reaching twenty.
在大多數的遠古農業社會裡，至少1/3的兒童無法長到二十歲。
Yet the increase in births still outpaced the increase in deaths; humans kept having larger numbers of children.
然而，人口出生的速度仍然大於死亡速度，人類養育子女的數字也居高不下。
With time, the 'wheat bargain' became more and more burdensome.
隨著時間過去，種麥子這個原本看來划算的選擇，變成越來越沉重的負擔。
Children died in droves, and adults ate bread by the sweat of their brows.
兒童大批死亡，而成人也得忙得滿頭大汗，才能換得麵包。
But nobody realised what was happening.
但沒有人發現究竟發生了什麼事。
Every generation continued to live like the previous generation, making only small improvements here and there in the way things were done.
每一代人都只是繼續著上一代生活的方式，在這裡修一點，那裡改一些，演變成後來的樣子。
Paradoxically, a series of 'improvements', each of which was meant to make life easier, added up to a millstone around the necks of these farmers.
但矛盾的是，一連串為了讓生活更輕鬆的「進步」，最後卻像是在這些農民的身上加了一道又一道沉重的枷鎖。
Why did people make such a fateful miscalculation?
為什麼人類會犯下如此致命的誤判？
For the same reason that people throughout history have miscalculated. People were unable to fathom the full consequences of their decisions.
其實人類在歷史上一直不斷重蹈覆轍，道理都相同：因為我們無法真正了解各種決定最後的結果。
Whenever they decided to do a bit of extra work—say, to hoe the fields instead of scattering seeds on the surface—people thought, 'Yes, we will have to work harder. But the harvest will be so bountiful! We won't have to worry any more about lean years. Our children will never go to sleep hungry.』
每次人類決定多做一點事（比如用鋤頭來耕地，而不是直接把種子撒在地上），我們總是想：「沒錯，這樣是得多做點事。不過收成會好得多！就再也不用擔心荒年的問題了。孩子也永遠不用挨餓入睡。」
It made sense.
很有道理。
If you worked harder, you would have a better life.
工作努力辛苦一些，生活也就能過得好一點。
That was the plan.
但那只是個計劃。
The first part of the plan went smoothly.
計劃的第一部分進行得很順利。
People indeed worked harder.
人們確實更努力地工作了。
But people did not foresee that the number of children would increase, meaning that the extra wheat would have to be shared between more children.
但大家沒想到孩子的數量也多了，於是多出的小麥也就有更多小孩要分。
Neither did the early farmers understand that feeding children with more porridge and less breast milk would weaken their immune system, and that permanent settlements would be hotbeds for infectious diseases.
這些遠古的農民也沒想到，母乳餵得少了，粥餵得多了，就讓孩子的免疫系統下降，而且永久聚落也成了疾病傳染的「溫床」。
They did not foresee that by increasing their dependence on a single source of food, they were actually exposing themselves even more to the depredations of drought.
他們也沒有預見到，由於增加了對單一食物來源的依賴，實際上他們使自己更容易受到旱災的威脅。
Nor did the farmers foresee that in good years their bulging granaries would tempt thieves and enemies, compelling them to start building walls and doing guard duty.
這些農民還沒想到，豐收年他們糧倉滿滿，卻會引來盜賊和敵人，迫使他們得築起高牆、嚴加警戒。
Then why didn't humans abandon farming when the plan backfired?
發現事態跑偏了，為什麼他們不趕快放棄農耕，回到採集生活？
Partly because it took generations for the small changes to accumulate and transform society and, by then, nobody remembered that they had ever lived differently.
部分原因在於，所有改變都必須點點滴滴累積，經過多少代的時間，才能夠改變社會；等到那個時候，已經沒有人記得過去曾經有不同的生活方式可選了。
And partly because population growth burned humanity's boats.
另一部分，是因為人口的增長讓人類無路可退。
If the adoption of ploughing increased a village's population from a 100 to 110, which 10 people would have volunteered to starve so that the
others could go back to the good old times?
一旦採用農耕之後，村落的人口從100人成長到110人，難道會有10個人自願餓死，好讓其他人可以回到過去的美好時光？
There was no going back.
已無回頭路可走。
The trap snapped shut.
陷阱已入，無處可逃。
The pursuit of an easier life resulted in much hardship, and not for the last time.
於是乎，種種努力想讓生活變得輕鬆的做法，反而給人類帶來了無窮的麻煩；而且這可不是史上的最後一次。
It happens to us today.
時至今日，仍然如此。
How many young college graduates have taken demanding jobs in high-powered firms, vowing that they will work hard to earn money that will enable them to retire and pursue their real interests when they are thirty-five?
有多少年輕的大學畢業生投身大企業、從事各種勞心勞力的工作，發誓要努力賺錢，好在35歲就退休，去從事他們真正有興趣的事業？
But by the time they reach that age, they have large mortgages, children to school, houses in the suburbs that necessitate at least two cars per family, and a sense that life is not worth living without really good wine and expensive holidays abroad.
但等他們到了35歲，卻發現自己背著巨額房貸，還要擔負子女的學費，要養在高級住宅區的豪宅，每家得有兩部車，而且覺得生活裡不能沒有高級紅酒和國外的假期。
What are they supposed to do, go back to digging up roots?
他們還能怎麼做？回到野外挖樹根嗎？
No, they double their efforts and keep slaving away.
答案當然是不，他們反而會加倍努力，繼續奴役自我。
註明：內容來源於麥格蘭島
作者簡介
尤瓦爾·赫拉利 (Yuval Noah Harar, 1976 —)，以色列歷史學家，牛津大學歷史學博士，現任耶路撒冷希伯來大學歷史系終身教授。
在這本超級暢銷書之後，他還著有《未來簡史 (Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow)》。
歡迎來到咕噠鎮！
A day is a miniature of eternity.
一天是永恆的縮影。