The first eleven chapters of the Book of Genesis are often grouped together to form one discrete textual unit. The stories that make up this cycle - Creation, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Cain's sacri ce, Noah's ark and the flood, and the Tower of Babel - are among the most enduring stories recounted in the history of Western culture and form the basis of its common heritage, transcending religious, national and geographical boundaries. In the vein of luminaries such as Franz Kafka and Soren Kierkegaard, the book treads the path from Eden to Babel in the form of thirty irreverent philosophically-minded variations, playing on themes of creation, hope and sacrifice. Finally, a diverting burlesque called The Invention of Desire describes what really happened in the Garden to that notorious threesome: Woman, Man and Serpent.