Oscar Kiss Maerth is the author of The Beginning Was the End (1973), a pseudo-scientific book that claimed modern man devolved from a species of brain-eating apes. According to Maerth, this diet increased the apes' brain size, sex drive, aggression, psychic ability and eventually caused insanity. Maerth offered no evidence for his theories, claiming only divine inspiration. Maerth's book was an influence on the new wave band Devo, who referred to him in early interviews as "Author Kiss-My-Ass".