Nexus : A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

The story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world from the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Sapiens

Stories brought us together.

Books spread our ideas - and our mythologies.

The internet promised infinite knowledge.

The algorithm learned our secrets - and then turned us against each other.

What will AI do?

NEXUS is the thrilling account of how we arrived at this moment, and the urgent choices we must now make to survive - and to thrive.

For the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite all our discoveries, inventions and conquests, we now find ourselves in an existential crisis. The world is on the verge of ecological collapse. Misinformation abounds. And we are rushing headlong into the age of AI – a new information network that threatens to annihilate us. If we are so wise, why are we so self-destructive?

NEXUS considers how the flow of information has shaped us, and our world. Taking us from the Stone Age through the Bible, early modern witch-hunts, Stalinism, Nazism and the resurgence of populism today, Yuval Noah Harari asks us to consider the complex relationship between information and truth, bureaucracy and mythology, wisdom and power. He explores how different societies and political systems have wielded information to achieve their goals, for good and ill. And he addresses the urgent choices we face as non-human intelligence threatens our very existence.

Information is not the raw material of truth; neither is it a mere weapon. NEXUS explores the hopeful middle ground between these extremes, and of rediscovering our shared humanity.

PRAISE FOR NEXUS

'[Harari] sticks the world together in a gleaming shape that inspires and excites. If it holds only for as long as it takes to read a book such as Nexus - well, dazzled readers should feel themselves well served' TELEGRAPH

'Tremendous, thought-provoking and so very well reasoned . .

. If there is one book that I would urge everyone to read - it is Nexus' STEPHEN FRY

'One of the most remarkable intellects of our generation' RORY STEWART

'This deeply important book comes at a critical time as we all think through the implications of AI' MUSTAFA SULEYMAN

PRAISE FOR YUVAL NOAH HARARI

'The great thinker of our age' The Times on 21 Lessons for the 21st Century

'Interesting and provocative' Barack Obama on Sapiens

'One of my favourite writers and thinkers' Natalie Portman on Sapiens

'Sweeps the cobwebs out of your brain . .

. Radiates power and clarity' Sunday Times on Sapiens

'It altered how I view our species and our world' Guardian on Sapiens