"Moses And Monotheism" Sigmund Freud. The Hogarth Press, London, 1939, plus many other editions.

This is Freud talking about the theory of how Akhenaten was (sort of) the originator of Judaism and so Christianity. The arguments - as many of Freud's are - seem reasonable, even seductive (no joke intended), but like much of Freud's ideas, cannot really be put to any kind of test and so from a scientific standpoint are meaningless. It's always good to remember Freud was largely a nineteenth century physician practicing nineteenth century medicine. Perhaps his biggest contribution is he gave the science and sociology of mental diseases more than a century long case of arrested development.

Today it seems most Egyptologists - whatever their personal beliefs - don't buy into the theory of Akhenaten and Moses were really tight. But this is one of Freud's more readable books. It was also his last work and published posthumously.

One last word. Before believing anything of Freud's remember how he once diagnosed a young girls stomach pains as "hysteria" which he said he cured in a day. When she died of stomach cancer two months later, Freud said, well, at least he had cured her hysterical symptoms - which were caused by the cancer.

Good old Siggy.