Firas Al-Sawah's book, The Mind's First Adventure, was first published in the 1970s and has consistently been on the lists of the most important and influential Arabic books ever since.

The book was published by Dar Al-Takween as part of a series of important thought books that includes the project of thinker and historian Firas Al-Sawah in a series of 23 books.

About the book The First Adventure of the Mind
A myth is a traditional, sacred story, meaning it has been passed down from generation to generation through oral narration. This makes it the collective memory that preserves its values, customs, rituals, and wisdom, passing them on to successive generations and giving it the power to dominate souls.

It is the most powerful tool for education and normalization, and the channel through which a culture establishes its existence and continuity across generations. Even during periods of widespread writing, oral myth did not lose its power and influence. Clay tablets, preserved in temples and royal libraries, served only as a safeguard against distortion through transmission. Oral tradition remained the primary means of its transmission.

On more than one occasion, myths were recited or chanted at public religious celebrations, such as the Babylonian New Year festivals, where the Babylonian creation myth was recited and enacted, and the spring festivals, where the sufferings of the god Tammuz were recited and enacted.

Moreover, myth is also a literary text, presented in the most splendid artistic form possible, and in the most powerful and influential form on the soul, which increased its control and influence. Literature and poetry had to wait a long time before separating themselves from myth.

Most Syrian, Sumerian, and Babylonian myths were put into the most beautiful poetic form possible. Homer put most of the popular myths of his time into verse in the Odyssey and the Iliad. In addition to poetry and literature, myth gave rise to other arts, such as theater, which began its era by representing the main myths at religious festivals.

It also promoted other arts, such as singing, music, and others. Following this, a book on the mythology of the ancient East, now in its thirteenth edition, is available to readers.

The researcher's goal in writing this book is to introduce mythology in ancient Syria and Mesopotamia, relying on the full texts of the most important known myths, which were evoked through more than one text and more than one translation.

The researcher's skill in presenting each myth in its general context of myths was evident, as each myth in this study took its place within the picture of myths as a whole, deriving its interpretation from the overall structure of the study.

Regarding his cultural project, Firas Al-Sawah says:

When the stack of my twenty-three books was placed before me on the table at Dar Al-Takween, to discuss the procedures for issuing them in the Collected Works edition, I contemplated them as if I were looking at the harvest of a lifetime. Forty years separate my first book, “The First Adventure of the Mind,” and my last, “God, the Universe, and Man.” This project is gradually integrating twenty-three cognitive adventures, which I wanted to share with my readers who have followed me throughout these four decades.

A book is like a living organism in its life cycle: it is born, grows, grows strong, and then dies. You can only find it in public libraries. However, some books break this rule and become classics, printed and passed down through generations in every era. Will the adventure book become a classic after remaining a knight in shining armor in bookstore windows and on bookstore shelves across the Arab world for forty years? This is what the coming years will answer.