In this best-known of his works Prof. Eliade treats, not of the world religions, but of the primitive religious experience which lies below them. He groups his data in chapters according to the objects-sky, sun, water, agriculture, holy places, and so on - that men have chosen as religiously central. Avoiding any classification into systems or historical stages, he concerns himself with the themes and patterns which keep recurring, and with the reasons for their recurrence - what in fact they meant to the men who chose them.