The Beginning Was the End (1971 book)

Der Anfang war das Ende – Der Mensch entstand durch Kannibalismus – Intelligenz ist eßbar (English: The Beginning Was the End – How Man Came Into Being Through Cannibalism – Intelligence Can Be Eaten) is a German book, written by Oscar Kiss Maerth, which details the author's hypothesis that human evolution was triggered by wide-spread cannibalistic encephalophagy by our ancestors, arguing that the practice provoked extreme sexual excitation, as a reward mechanism, and a physical expansion of the brain (with accompanying increases in intelligence). The book was translated and published in several languages subsequently: Dutch in 1971; French, Italian, Spanish, and English in 1973; with the English edition being first published in the U.S. in 1974.