603 books
—
99 voters
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “Extracts from Adam's Diary/Eve's Diary” as Want to Read:
Extracts from Adam's Diary/Eve's Diary
by
Written at the end of Twain's career, Extracts from Adam's Diary was first published in 1897 and Extracts from Eve's Diary in 1905. Twain's Adam was based on himself while Eve was modelled after his wife Livy. It is fitting that these two essays be joined together in one package.
...more
Get A Copy
Paperback, 104 pages
Published
August 1st 2000
by Applewood Books
(first published January 1st 1906)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
Extracts from Adam's Diary/Eve's Diary,
please sign up.
Be the first to ask a question about Extracts from Adam's Diary/Eve's Diary
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Start your review of Extracts from Adam's Diary/Eve's Diary

EXTRACTS from Adam's Diary.
Eve's Diary COMPLETE.
And of course there was much, much less to Eve's. I wonder, if Mark Twain were really Samantha L. Clemens, would it be ADAM'S DIARY COMPLETE and EXTRACTS FROM EVE'S DIARY?
Which would any of you prefer to read? I think I'd like the complete diaries of each!
Adam simply did not know what to think of Eve when she appeared, and at times he was VERY impatient with her. You've just got to read his reaction to the arrival of Cain, then how he keeps up wit ...more
Eve's Diary COMPLETE.
And of course there was much, much less to Eve's. I wonder, if Mark Twain were really Samantha L. Clemens, would it be ADAM'S DIARY COMPLETE and EXTRACTS FROM EVE'S DIARY?
Which would any of you prefer to read? I think I'd like the complete diaries of each!
Adam simply did not know what to think of Eve when she appeared, and at times he was VERY impatient with her. You've just got to read his reaction to the arrival of Cain, then how he keeps up wit ...more

Adam and Eve's diaries were a fun quick read. Twain, ever the clever wit, has a lot of fun extrapolating from the original story. Adam complains that Eve eats too much fruit and talks too much. Eve complains that Adam keeps disappearing but she is certain that he enjoys listening to ALL she has to say. I can't put this on par with Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer, but it's definitely worth spending an afternoon chuckling over. Without offering any spoilers, the ending was surprisingly sweet and poignant.
...more

"Wheresoever she was, there was Eden," - Adam, standing at the graveside of Eve, 40 years after they were expelled from the Garden.
...more

Translated from the original manuscript, Mark Twain gives us an insight into the first man's mind through extracts from his diary.
Twain lends his brilliant wit in the translations of Adam's diary. From the start, Adam is startles by the arrival of this new creature which proclaims itself a "she" and goes around naming everything and talking to no end. He is sure he will have to emigrate to get away from it.
From the first few days in the Garden of Eden with Eve, to the arrival of the unknown crea ...more
Twain lends his brilliant wit in the translations of Adam's diary. From the start, Adam is startles by the arrival of this new creature which proclaims itself a "she" and goes around naming everything and talking to no end. He is sure he will have to emigrate to get away from it.
From the first few days in the Garden of Eden with Eve, to the arrival of the unknown crea ...more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.

18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him....more
19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
21 A

What can you say? The master of satire and jest tackles the beginning of mankind. A rare book (but available free on iBooks) that is not read too often.
The awkwardness of the beginnings of any man-woman relationship (each with it's gender stereotypes) is addressed with wit and humor. The edge to this book is certainly the fact that Adam and Eve were the first couple on earth and had no experience from the collective consciousness to fall back upon. Makes for hilarious reading. ...more
The awkwardness of the beginnings of any man-woman relationship (each with it's gender stereotypes) is addressed with wit and humor. The edge to this book is certainly the fact that Adam and Eve were the first couple on earth and had no experience from the collective consciousness to fall back upon. Makes for hilarious reading. ...more

Adam is slower and heavier handed than Eve. where eve was a babbling brook of excitement, Adam is mostly caveman. it is sweet to observe him soften after his son is born, even though he does not know Cain is his son and assumes he is a fish, or kangaroo, or bear.
great quote:
_Five Months Later_
It is not a kangaroo.
great quote:
_Five Months Later_
It is not a kangaroo.

Are all men terrified by us , women, just the way Adam was terrified and annoyed by Eve's unceasing talks and her boundless interest and curiosity? I really do love the idea of Twain, but like Eve's Diary, I guess it needs more spices and development, it needs to be enriched with fertile images and imagination.However, It was funny, breathtaking and mind-blowing !
...more

Very short. :) Mark Twain always makes me chuckle, and he did here as well, but this isn't his best work, not in the least. It's an intriguing topic and I think it could be fun to read other people's takes on this.
...more

Amusing read - good for a few smiles and chuckles. I only had Extracts from Adam's Diary - not Eve's Diary. I will probably dig that up at some point.
...more

I came across this story by accident and thought it sounded interesting. They are in fact two separate stories. Extract from Adam's Diary came first, in approx. 1897, followed by Eve's Diary a few years later. Both were written late on his career. I read Adam's diary first, then Eve's after. These are comic short stories (not surprisingly, it is Mark Twain after all). Most people will be familiar with the story of Adam and Eve, but not told in this way. From the different perspectives, they rela
...more

Teensy and quick, this is a little slip of a book (books?). Covering the same time period, these stories address the creation, fall from grace, and lifetime of Adam and Eve from their own perspectives. Adam is irritable and petulant and selfish. Eve is caring and ebullient and a bit dim and co-dependent.
I read Adam's diary first and then Eve's, which is good if only because I think I'd have quit if I read Eve's first. I'm not sure Twain had a great opinion of "the fairer sex." ...more
I read Adam's diary first and then Eve's, which is good if only because I think I'd have quit if I read Eve's first. I'm not sure Twain had a great opinion of "the fairer sex." ...more

Amusing and, in the end, touching excerpts from Adam and Eve's diaries. This could have been the precursor to Gray's "Men are From Mars..." books. If possible, try to read the two diaries simultaneously so you're seeing each event from both perspectives. This was a bit harder with the edition I had, which had Eve's diary upside down and starting from the back of Adam's.
...more

The feeling of Adam at the end was what was the book about. "Where was she there was Eden"
...more

Reader in group–Whether religious or not, it is almost impossible for a person to avoid the story of Adam and Eve. Mark Twain utilizes these two personas in his work "The Private Life of Adam and Eve" to provide some "insight" into their everyday lives. By laying out the book in the form of a personal journal, Mark Twain is able develop the characters how he saw fit. Integrated within each journal entry there is hate, love, confusion, resentment, but more importantly, humor. The book starts off
...more

I listened to a reading of Adam's Diary several years ago, and was delighted with how funny it is. Especially as he tries, for an extended period of time, to figure out the species of these things, Cain and Abel, that Eve has brought home and insists on keeping. Are they fish? Are they birds? Scientific experimentation must answer this question for him.
Then, recently at General Conference, somebody quoted from Eve's diary, a thing I previously had no idea existed. I could hardly wait to read it ...more
Then, recently at General Conference, somebody quoted from Eve's diary, a thing I previously had no idea existed. I could hardly wait to read it ...more

As a devout Christian, I reverence the scriptural account of Adam and Eve. I also enjoy the humor of Mark Twain, and hope that my enjoyment of his satire via an alleged diary of of Adam and Eve as they discover the world about them is not irreverent. Both books were fun and imaginative, and did not harm to my faith.

Twain is always brilliant. I find the way he can describe rather unusual things as if they were self evident and self evident things as if they were very unusual makes me rethink things I thought I knew. (And it reminds me of a Danish author I like very much. Villy Sørensen. However Villy Sørensen has more of a sadness to him.)

It jumps right into the middle of the story and leaves out the lead upto the end. Don't waste your time with this one. Read the real one.
...more

These were hilarious. It is interesting to see Mark Twain's views on male and female psychology.
...more

a very, very short book that's just what it says: Mark Twain's translation of adam's diary. very funny.
...more

The last line was brilliant, but its genuine beauty and power can only be understood if you have read the whole book and understand Adam and Eve's way of expressing things.
...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mrs. Anderson's E...: Audiobook | 1 | 3 | Mar 08, 2016 07:53PM |
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), called "the Great American Novel", and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).
Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He apprenticed with a printer. He also work ...more
Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He apprenticed with a printer. He also work ...more
Related Articles
Kazuo Ishiguro insists he’s an optimist about technology.
“I'm not one of these people who thinks it's going to come and destroy us,” he...
281 likes · 26 comments
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »