A "certainly weird... strangely wonderful... [and] often irresistible" search to find the real Garden of Eden ( The New York Times Book Review).

Where, precisely, was God's Paradise? St. Augustine had a theory. So did medieval monks, John Calvin and Christopher Columbus. But when Darwin's theory of evolution changed our understanding of human origins, shouldn't the desire to put a literal Eden on the map have faded away? Not so fast.
This "gloriously researched, pluckily written historical and anecdotal assay of humankind's age-old quixotic quest for the exact location of the Biblical garden" ( Elle) explores an obsession that has consumed scientists and theologians alike for centuries. To this day, the search continues, taken up by amateur explorers, clergymen, scholars, engineers and educators-romantic seekers all who started with the same simple-sounding Bible verses, only to end up at a different spot on the globe: Sri Lanka, the Seychelles, the North Pole, Mesopotamia, China, Iraq-and Ohio.

Inspired by an Eden seeker in her own family, "Wilensky-Lanford approaches her subjects with respect, enthusiasm and conscientious research" ( San Francisco Chronicle) as she traverses a century-spanning history provoking surprising insights into where we came from, what we did wrong, and where we go from here. And it all makes for "a lively journey" ( Kirkus Reviews).