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This book is full of interesting and informative material. The first two parts set forth the author's speculations about the deeper meaning
of the Fall of Adam and Eve. The story of their temptation by the serpent and commission of the 'crime' with manifold consideration of each detail consumes, with the author's hypotheses on the true nature of the act, somewhat over two hundred pages. The attempt is made to hold the reader's attention while bit after bit of 'evidence' is introduced in an attempt to discover the secret meaning of our original parents' 'delinquency'. The origins of mankind's guilt, according to Reik, lie in the murder of the old man of the tribe (precursor of God-father) and the subsequent eating of his body. Later the author invokes the concept of hubris, (i.e. overweening pride and arrogance) to account for the perpetration of this crime. The magnitude of the crime and the emotional climate—hubris—of its commission seem to this reviewer somewhat overdrawn.
The last two sections are more substantial and rewarding. Here the author is at home and able to marshal all his fine scholarship and philosophic talent. His searching comment on present and past religious enthusiasms and his clear delineation of man's all-pervasive aggression are passionate and profound. That his conclusions parallel those of most analytically oriented thinkers is to be expected. The force and lucidity Reik reveals in his treatment of these topics is impressive and add significantly to the value of the book and the satisfaction of the reader.