My friend pitched me this book. He told the book talks about the origin of religion, language, currency, agriculture and human society and evolution in general. I loved his description but I wanted to know whether the book was factual or not. I came across many threads here and in ask anthropology and most of them claimed that the research wasn't that good.
I want a book that is accurate and talks about the origin of language, religion, currency, agriculture, government- basically origin of the things that are the pillars that hold today's society. I don't mind reading text books and I don't mind of ALL these ideas aren't in the same book - I'll gladly read multiple books. I never knew that the origins of such things would interest me so much. The moment my friend pitched the book, I instantly wanted to read it but I want something that is accurate and isn't too much biased. From what I've searched on my own - the dawn of everything looks like a book that has much more meticulous research behind it. So please - suggest me some books
The Dawn of Everything is a really fun read with a ton of examples for each claim they make, many of which counter the popular beliefs about hierarchies and the agricultural revolution.
It's hard to encapsulate the entire history of humanity into a single book, but here are some titles I've read and seen recommended that seem right up your alley:
1491 and 1493 by Charles C. Mann give an amazing overview of the origins, development, and history of Pre-Columbian societies that are often overlooked, as well as a global look at the aftermath of the Columbian Exchange. Mann is not a historian, but he summarizes the latest research on Pre-Columbian societies in a way that is accessible to people new to the topic and is a better intro than Jared Diamond to this area.
Against the Grain and The Art of Not Being Governed by James C. Scott examine the origins of the earliest agricultural states and the development of upland Southeast Asian societies, respectively.
For prehistory I think the best version of what you're looking for may actually be a podcast, "Tides of History," by Patrick Wyman.
A) if nothing else, he constantly lists the books and research he is aggregating, so you'll get a reading list of exactly the type of book you're looking for
B) he constantly interviews the scholars/researchers whose work he is aggregating so you can hear them in their own words
C) Wyman has the training and skill to actually do what he's trying to do; "Sapiens" does not seem to understand how impossible its goals are, but "Tides" has much more reasonable goals that I think it achieves
D) Longform podcasting gives him the time and space to do SO many things that books can't
E) Most important, he's REALLY good at signalling uncertainty and argument within the field. He often discusses competing hypotheses and describes the body of evidence that supports them. He discusses different interpretations. He tells you when he's using his judgment or imagination; he tells you when he's limiting scope; he tells you when evidence is thin. He signals how solid each part of narrative is.
All of this is exactly what "Sapiens" doesn't do.
I would never recommend a podcast on this sub, unless it met this very high bar. I do think it's exactly what you're looking for.
Caveat: I'm not a trained historian; not a producer of historical knowledge; but I think being a very discerning consumer gives me insight I can share with a fellow consumer.
while i'm at it, caveat given, "Dawn of Everything" in my judgment has its own set of serious flaws and virtues. (More scholarly expertise, but also a lot of speculation which isn't signaled as such.) But more importantly, it has a different set of goals which I think is not what you're looking for.
It's not really trying to be an introductory overview; most of it is written explicitly to skewer books like "Sapiens" and demonstrate how they recapitulate creation myths. A lot of it is also explicitly cranky polemic. I enjoyed it greatly, and you may too, but "accurate and not too biased" is just not what it is.
If you’re looking for one single book my recommendation is The History of the World by J.M. Roberts and O.A. Westad. I’m not the most well versed in history, so I can’t guarantee the accuracy, however, the author describes his methodology in the preface and I never noticed any glaring inaccuracies. J.M. Roberts from my understanding is also a well regarded historian.
Be aware, because the book attempts to touch on most every aspect of human history it is a long read. The edition I have is over 1,400 pages. That being said, everything you mentioned is covered in the book, and because of the depth I feel it explains the nuances of not just history in general, but of the process of accurately collecting and disseminating human history.
A tough question! It seems the kind of book you're looking for is "Big History", there's many books on the subject which try to combine planetary evolutionary history with human history into a single narrative - and well, it's probably impossible to do this without the book being 1000+ pages; but many have tried and those books are out there.
But personally I think it's better to read a dense book about a broad swath of history, and combining a few of these together can get a good comprehensive view. I don't know the biology and genetics side of things, but I can recommend a few about history and rock art...
For ancient history before states... The Origin of Inequality, by Flannery & Marcus
For ancient history after states... Understanding Ancient Civilizations, by Bruce Trigger
For foragers way of life... The Lifeways of Hunter-Gatherers, by Robert Kelley
For foragers social values... Knowledge and Power in Prehistoric Societies, by Lynne Kelly
For mythology... The Origins of the World's Mythologies, by Michael Witzel
For African rock art... Rock Art in Africa, by Jean-Loic Le Quellec
And for a seriously great documentary about foragers and traditional societies, there's the incredible and incredibly long Millennium by David Maybury-Lewis
Follow up question: is 'Sapiens' as bad as the OP suggests? Or is it worth reading?