The Beginning Was the End

The Beginning Was the End

The cover of the UK First Edition of The Beginning Was the End. This particular copy has been signed by three members of Devo.
Author	Oscar Kiss Maerth
Original title	Der Anfang war das Ende – Der Mensch entstand durch Kannibalismus
Translator	Judith Hayward
Country	Germany
Language	German (later translated into English)
Genre	Pseudoscience
Publication date	Germany: 1971 United Kingdom/United States: January 1, 1974
Media type	Hardcover
ISBN

The Beginning Was the End is a 1971 pseudo-scientific book written by Oscar Kiss Maerth that claims that humankind evolved from cannibalistic apes. Its premise:

One ape discovered that eating the fresh brain of one's own kind increases the sexual impulses. He and his descendants became addicted to brains and hunted for them. It was not until later that they noticed that their intelligence increased as a result. The outcome of this process is HOMO SAPIENS.

Maerth wrote the book in a Chinese monastery.

It was first published in Germany as Der Anfang war das Ende – Der Mensch entstand durch Kannibalismus (Econ Verlag GmbH, Düsseldorf und Wien, 1971), then translated by Judith Hayward and published in Great Britain by Michael Joseph, Ltd, 1973 and re-issued by Sphere Books, Ltd, London in 1974, ISBN . It has been translated into eight languages.

Maerth asserted that the eating of brain produces an aphrodisiac effect (presumably due to the vast amount of hormones in it), and that this initially caused apes to become addicted to them, organizing brain hunts wherein the males of another tribe were eaten and the females raped in a frenzy of brain-induced sex and violence. However, this diet also inadvertently increased brain size and intelligence while triggering the loss both of body hair and of our innate psychic abilities. Thus man gradually came into being, remaining cannibalistic until 50,000 years ago. Modern humans, alienated from their surroundings now that they've no telepathic contact with nature and each other as animals do, suffering from a distorted sexuality resulting from hormonal imbalances, and driven insane from the constant pressure of their unnaturally large brains pressing on the inside of their skulls, are inevitably destroying themselves with pollution, overpopulation,racial integration and ultimately, nuclear war. He foresees a return to cannibalism in the near future, and suggests that the reader should drop out of society, embrace a vegetarian diet, steep himself in the wisdom of the East and perhaps employ various wooden frames and wire devices to alter the shape of his skull as some ancient cultures did, thus relieving the pressure on the brain and partially restoring psychic powers.