The full book can be read for free[1](see source).

In the book, Sean McGowan travels through Athens, Ephesus, Bent Jbail, Beirut, Damascus, The West Bank, Petra, and Cairo; completing the eight chapters of the book, respectively.

[2] Its diverse (and, arguably, scattered) topics mainly include the neuroscience of art, war, belief, racism.

Unusually, each chapter is written as a self-sustaining joke, where more serious topics seemingly arise incidentally.

Specific incidents include urinating on the Temple of Artemis to illustrate the benefits of biological satisfaction and stealing a federal election ballot at gunpoint during the 2007 elections in Syria to show "...even though there is such a thing as a ballot with only one name on it, there is no such thing as a clear choice.