A terrific learning experience. Comments on the credibility of the Adam and Eve narrative run from cover to cover: major voices from history include Augustine's literal interpretation, Voltaire's sarcasm, Darwin's proof of evolution and Mark Twain's hilarious Adam and Eve diary entries - they're the gems of the narrative. The misogyny inherent in the Adam and Eve origin narrative is unrelenting. ( )

The story of Adam and Even had a profound effect on western civilization and western civilization had a profound effect on how we currently view the story today. Stephen Greenblatt looks in depth how St. Augustine, John Milton, and others shaped the conventional interpretations of their story. He also looks in depth at the people that began raising questions about the story. In particular, he looks at the development of geology and evolutionary biology radically impacted how people now look at the story. Finally, the book includes a brief summary of other creation myths and other interpretations of the Biblical creation story.

Although the material of the book is sometimes a challenge, it is well written and well worth the effort. One warning about the Kindle edition of the book: the illustrations are not really sharp enough to enjoy. ( )

As I was also finishing up Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy (full disclosure: I am personally in entire agreement with Mr. Pullman's thoughts on organized religion), Greenblatt's book was a fascinating adjunct. He explores in detail this age-old, so-familiar story, but casts new light upon it by marshalling examples of other origin tales, contemporaneous and otherwise, and placing it in a complex historical and literary context. For example, did you know there were versions in existence in ancient times where Eve and the serpent were the *heroes* - rightfully resisting God's selfish prohibition and bestowing a fuller knowledge on humanity? Or that some scholars offered interpretations suggesting that Adam willingly shared the fruit with Eve because he knew he would otherwise be so lonely and miserable without the mate who had brought such joy to him? It is refreshing to find Greenblatt enthusiastically unearthing defenses and alternative interpretations to absolve That Woman of all the blame for the mess humanity has been in ever since. He weaves in examples of Adam and Eve in art, depicting the varying ways they are presented and understood. He explores the knotty problem faced by theologians in deciding whether the First Couple are meant as literal, anthropological facts, or allegories. As the centuries unroll and knowledge of the world expands, new questions must be wrestled with: what about all those indigenous people who came to the attention of the European explorers of the New World? Damned? Innocents? Shameless? Kudos to Greenblatt for his tribute to the Dominican Bartolome de la Casas who wrote powerfully and in anguish over the atrocities committed against the indigenous people by the Spaniards and did his best to protect them. Who DID Cain marry, anyway? Finally, along comes Darwin to really wreck the temple... many centuries after a Roman named Lucretius postulated an "atomist" history whereby living beings developed in tiny tiny increments of chance over enormous spans of time, and were NOT invented and set loose by a god or gods somewhere. Greenblatt also writes with great admiration (and length) about John Milton and his Paradise Lost: Milton creates a subtle, complex, and oh-so-human pair of people that in whom we recognize our own frailties. It's still a great story, and Greenblatt can offer no higher praise than that this fairy tale has become... literature. Having partaken of the knowledge Greenblatt has offered in this book, I feel like a better human being. ( )

This is a really dense book. I think when I first picked it up, I was expecting more of a sociological approach, and while there are aspects of that, it is much more of a historical exploration of the scholars of creation stories. Stylistically, this was a mismatch for me. ( )

A good read. A few parts seemed to drag but they were easily outweighed by the rest. I found the analysis of the Genesis creation account the most interesting - it appears to have been a deliberate attempt to subvert the Babylonian creation account as well as portions of some of their other myths. As such it may never have been intended to have been taken literally. ( )