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The best part of the book is the brief treatment of secular religions - this is the chief characteristic of Man. The faith - if we think who we are where we are going and what s the point of it all - we have to choose a creed. The secular creeds are not usually recognized for what they are - atheism is often regarded as something self-evident. Yet even the atheists believe in other superhuman entities, unaware that they do.

An excellent point made by Harrari. Should be compulsory reading.

well.. it's one thing to 'believe' there is something out there, in the cosmos, superior to us who might've (or still is or will) influenced us & another thing to actually start a cult of worshiping a guy who supposedly died on a instrument of torture 2000 years ago.. i, for one, put the sun in the highest regards.. since it's basically the thing that fuels all forms of life on this planet (in one way or another) ..and i have a suspicion we are not the only planet sustatining life (hell, even Mars could've sustained some form of life.. ancient or basic or whatever) ..sorry for my idiosyncratic rant

I didn't read it quite the same way. He doesn't say that atheists believe in other superhuman entities. Quite the opposite, he says that "Humanist religions worship humanity, or more correctly, Homo sapiens."

His point is that nearly everybody believes in something, but that this something does not have to be supernatural or superhuman. It could be a man-made principle, such as human rights.

It is the act of believing in something that defines mankind, not the superhuman entities that some civilizations invent.

I totally agree that it ought to be compulsory reading, as long as we read what Harari actually said and not what we would like him to have said.