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CS Lewis Collected Essays and Other Short Pieces
Essays have to do with faith and life, literature, military service and other topics he was asked to write about over the course of his life.
Audiobook
First published January 1, 2000
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About the author
C.S. Lewis
1,014 books47.6k followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Clive Staples Lewis was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954. He was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Mere Christianity, Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and been transformed into three major motion pictures.
Lewis was married to poet Joy Davidman.
W.H. Lewis was his elder brother]
Clive Staples Lewis was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954. He was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Mere Christianity, Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and been transformed into three major motion pictures.
Lewis was married to poet Joy Davidman.
W.H. Lewis was his elder brother]
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews
September 15, 2024
Excellent collection!!
The best I've come across until now...
Essays from "God in the Dock", "Christian reflections", "Compelling Reason", also "Screwtape proposes a toast" and the "Dark Tower" Storys...
The narrator or speaker is Ralph Cosham, and he has done a great job.
Over 30 hours long duration!!!
Strong recommendation to everyone...
For young people, middle aged, and everyone with a young spirit!!
Not only for lovers of C. S. Lewis and his work, but for all openminded and with a thirsty spirit panting in search of the true and real meaning in this world!!!
Dean;D
The best I've come across until now...
Essays from "God in the Dock", "Christian reflections", "Compelling Reason", also "Screwtape proposes a toast" and the "Dark Tower" Storys...
The narrator or speaker is Ralph Cosham, and he has done a great job.
Over 30 hours long duration!!!
Strong recommendation to everyone...
For young people, middle aged, and everyone with a young spirit!!
Not only for lovers of C. S. Lewis and his work, but for all openminded and with a thirsty spirit panting in search of the true and real meaning in this world!!!
Dean;D
November 9, 2017
Simply marvelous. Finished it again in November 2017.
March 4, 2017
So good. So, so good. Wisdom and clarity and eloquence by the metric tonne, on topics ranging from fairy tales to education to politics to love—all of it gold. Plus some short fiction for good measure. I was listening to this on Audible, and it was killing me not to have a hard copy at hand for highlighting and taking margin notes. So I went online to buy a copy and discovered that they're out of print, selling for ridiculous amounts of money. I sighed and finished the audio version, sometimes pausing to digest it and sometimes rewinding to hear some passages again. Somehow my husband tracked down a used hardback copy for less than the cost of a home mortgage and gave it to me for Christmas. He loves me well. This book may just stay on my night stand in perpetuity. It's the kind of book I finished and immediately wanted to start in again from the beginning. Probably the best Audible credit I ever spent.
November 19, 2017
The biggest flaw of this collection is that it's probably TOO exhaustive. A lot of the essays are wholly redundant. In fact, many of them even use the same wording, as they were papers sent by Lewis to this or that college journal and making the same point with the same evidence.
Its value, besides containing some excellent obscure essays, is that it truly is a "warts and all" collection of Lewis' thought. There are some BAD opinions in here that don't make it into his major works, and some early stories that have major flaws he ironed out of his better and later ones. For someone like me, who is interested in Lewis himself and not just his better ideas, it's a gold mine.
Its value, besides containing some excellent obscure essays, is that it truly is a "warts and all" collection of Lewis' thought. There are some BAD opinions in here that don't make it into his major works, and some early stories that have major flaws he ironed out of his better and later ones. For someone like me, who is interested in Lewis himself and not just his better ideas, it's a gold mine.
April 26, 2020
The depth of Lewis’s thinking and analysing is far superior than most. I felt that to improve my own mind I need to spend a lot of time thinking as Lewis thought. What a better way to do that than this extensive work? Several pieces are in his other books. It was great to review them again. A wonderful collection from a great mind.
June 2, 2025
truly excellent
there are very few essays in this collection that are not stellar and the ones that are not are still very interesting.
this is a truly fantastic opportunity to learn a really strong approach to logical writing, all too rare in today's world
there are very few essays in this collection that are not stellar and the ones that are not are still very interesting.
this is a truly fantastic opportunity to learn a really strong approach to logical writing, all too rare in today's world
July 9, 2018
Audiobook: 38h.58m.
There are 135 pieces in this collection — a veritable treasure trove of thoughtful reflections, eloquent arguments, intriguing pieces of fiction, and quick, bantering discussions that put the coffee shop prattle of today to shame.
This collection never declares itself the full canon of Lewis’ published works, but its readers will certainly feel as though they’ve flipped through every page the man had ever written, when they finally set it aside, complete. I’ve grown wiser after almost fourty hours under Professor Lewis’ tutelage, though I’m sure that I missed a good deal in my gleaning (as was true in all of my undergrad courses, even with profs that I truly loved and respected at the helm of the class). I doubt that I will ever revisit this specific volume, but I know that I will reach more readily for those books on my shelf which contain his essays, now that I've been so thoroughly primed. This book is a wonderful survey of C. S. Lewis, heartily recommended for those with a hearty literary appetite.
A few purely technical criticisms. It would have been supremely helpful to have digital chapter breaks at the beginning and end of every article / essay / story included; it was quite difficult to navigate without such bookmarks. Also, I have been unable to find a Table of Contents anywhere online, which made for a lot of skipping backwards and forwards by thirty seconds, trying to re-listen to the titles. A comprehensive list in the description would have been much appreciated.
There are 135 pieces in this collection — a veritable treasure trove of thoughtful reflections, eloquent arguments, intriguing pieces of fiction, and quick, bantering discussions that put the coffee shop prattle of today to shame.
This collection never declares itself the full canon of Lewis’ published works, but its readers will certainly feel as though they’ve flipped through every page the man had ever written, when they finally set it aside, complete. I’ve grown wiser after almost fourty hours under Professor Lewis’ tutelage, though I’m sure that I missed a good deal in my gleaning (as was true in all of my undergrad courses, even with profs that I truly loved and respected at the helm of the class). I doubt that I will ever revisit this specific volume, but I know that I will reach more readily for those books on my shelf which contain his essays, now that I've been so thoroughly primed. This book is a wonderful survey of C. S. Lewis, heartily recommended for those with a hearty literary appetite.
A few purely technical criticisms. It would have been supremely helpful to have digital chapter breaks at the beginning and end of every article / essay / story included; it was quite difficult to navigate without such bookmarks. Also, I have been unable to find a Table of Contents anywhere online, which made for a lot of skipping backwards and forwards by thirty seconds, trying to re-listen to the titles. A comprehensive list in the description would have been much appreciated.
November 23, 2015
I've read most of these essays before, but it's been 20 years. This nearly 900-page tome-of-a-book ...
...gave me an excuse to enjoy many of the insightful, clever, and timeless writings of Lewis all over again. If an author is your favorite in your 20s, and again in your 40s, he's probably your favorite author for life.
...gave me an excuse to enjoy many of the insightful, clever, and timeless writings of Lewis all over again. If an author is your favorite in your 20s, and again in your 40s, he's probably your favorite author for life.
September 27, 2023
The unsurpassed trove. Too expensive for casual purchase (out of print), a single audible credit allows for cover-to-cover laps. Tony Reinke has a table of contents up to help navigate to individual essays: https://tonyreinke.com/2015/10/09/c-s...
Incredibly good. 38 hours of the best writing and superb reading.
Incredibly good. 38 hours of the best writing and superb reading.
August 31, 2023
So great
March 14, 2020
I have a goal to read everything that C. S. Lewis wrote. This collection helped fill in the holes, with scores of otherwise scattered essays and stories. Some real gems here. I look forward to going through it all over again.
May 5, 2020
I'm going to be listening to these, on and off, for a long time - a very long time. All are great because, you know, C.S. Lewis.
January 21, 2020
Lewis’ Wisdom
This book is valuable. It unites in a single volume Lewis’ works that are published in different collections of short pieces and essays. Some works were never published at all. Some short stories are published here even if the were incomplete. As a result, the reader gets a fair account of Lewis’ wisdom and interests. Most of the pieces deals with one or another question about christian theology and christian life, specially in the Anglican Church. Most remarkable was that the books allows the reader/listener to be in close contact with Lewis ability to expose christian theology in a plain and clear language. Lewis knows how to treat complex ideas in an understandable way. Great book!
This book is valuable. It unites in a single volume Lewis’ works that are published in different collections of short pieces and essays. Some works were never published at all. Some short stories are published here even if the were incomplete. As a result, the reader gets a fair account of Lewis’ wisdom and interests. Most of the pieces deals with one or another question about christian theology and christian life, specially in the Anglican Church. Most remarkable was that the books allows the reader/listener to be in close contact with Lewis ability to expose christian theology in a plain and clear language. Lewis knows how to treat complex ideas in an understandable way. Great book!
November 26, 2021
Idk if this is the right one, but this audiobook is amazing.
https://www.amazon.com/C-S-Lewis-C-S-...
I may have gone through it 6 or 7 times already, and I'll go through it again.
https://www.amazon.com/C-S-Lewis-C-S-...
I may have gone through it 6 or 7 times already, and I'll go through it again.
July 14, 2024
Fantastic!
August 2, 2019
i could read/listen to this over and over and still get so much out of it
November 20, 2025
This collection of shorter writings by Lewis is enormous, and has - at times at least - the feeling of being a collection of every scrap of paper ever found in his desk drawers. Nonetheless, it is a rewarding read.
Firstly, you see the absolute centrality of certain arguments to his worldview - arguments that are covered in his major work, but whose importance and usefulness are driven home by seeing them argued again and again in different settings. His argument that true reason is impossible in an emergent system with no creator stands out particularly, though there are many others. For those who wish to have his arguments at their fingertips this is invaluable, and even where you don't find a particular argument valuable it helps understand Lewis
Secondly, it gives a rounded picture of Lewis the controversialist, the relentless debater in little societies and in journals, that really shows how his clarity of argument was forged. All his big books arise from ideas tested again and again. It is perhaps unsurprising few can match him as an apologist - it's not clear to me that such opportunities of constant, respectful debate even exist now.
Thirdly, it is simply an immersion in the stunning clarity and simplicity of his thought. It's good exercise for the mind, clear and lucid and simple, a real lesson in how to think.
There are other merits here - some of the unfinished fiction is really powerful, for instance - but that's enough to be going on with!
Firstly, you see the absolute centrality of certain arguments to his worldview - arguments that are covered in his major work, but whose importance and usefulness are driven home by seeing them argued again and again in different settings. His argument that true reason is impossible in an emergent system with no creator stands out particularly, though there are many others. For those who wish to have his arguments at their fingertips this is invaluable, and even where you don't find a particular argument valuable it helps understand Lewis
Secondly, it gives a rounded picture of Lewis the controversialist, the relentless debater in little societies and in journals, that really shows how his clarity of argument was forged. All his big books arise from ideas tested again and again. It is perhaps unsurprising few can match him as an apologist - it's not clear to me that such opportunities of constant, respectful debate even exist now.
Thirdly, it is simply an immersion in the stunning clarity and simplicity of his thought. It's good exercise for the mind, clear and lucid and simple, a real lesson in how to think.
There are other merits here - some of the unfinished fiction is really powerful, for instance - but that's enough to be going on with!
July 1, 2014
A good number of these essays I have read before, but it was perfectly delightful to hear them read to me by an excellent narrator. Though the book contains almost 900 pages worth of Essays (near 40 hours of listening), it still isn't a complete collection of his essays, though it's more comprehensive than any other collection that I am aware of.
While going through C.S Lewis essays, I was amazed again and again by how in almost every aspect of life, philosophy, politics, psychology and theology, Lewis perfectly captures what I have come to think and feel. It's always so affirming and encouraging to immerse myself in his ideas. Lewis is like an oasis in the scorched, boring and lifeless evangelical desert. Yes, it's so nice that someone in this world actually gets me--yes, at least there is one other out there who saw the world, the bible and God through similar eyes.
While going through C.S Lewis essays, I was amazed again and again by how in almost every aspect of life, philosophy, politics, psychology and theology, Lewis perfectly captures what I have come to think and feel. It's always so affirming and encouraging to immerse myself in his ideas. Lewis is like an oasis in the scorched, boring and lifeless evangelical desert. Yes, it's so nice that someone in this world actually gets me--yes, at least there is one other out there who saw the world, the bible and God through similar eyes.
November 22, 2016
Inimitable. Will go through it again, hopefully several times in my life—but I may skip some of the short stories at the end the next time. Now I know why The Dark Tower is not one of Lewis' best-loved pieces. It was actually heartening to this writer that Lewis could fail. But it was rare.
June 11, 2016
A huge collection of essays, letters, and dialogues, and short stories. I listened to it as a 40 hour audio book. Best use of an Audible credit I've found.
December 25, 2021
Excellent book. Would give it more than 5 stars if I could. A treasury of knowledge, wisdom and even a bit of humor. Will read again.
January 1, 2025
As there is such a mix of essays, it is only possible to rate by section.
Sections 1 and Section 2: 4 stars
C.S Lewis shows his skills with his literature reviews. His analysis of literature is profound and helpful. I enjoyed his critique of Science Fiction (essay 7) although there is a sci-fi booker later in the compendium. His look over how Christianity has shaped literature is quite interesting. He thought that novels should reflect Christian aims, which isn't a surprise given his most famous work is the Narnia series which is an allegory of much of the Bible. Enjoyable essays.
Section 3: 2 stars
Section 3 has some of his worst essays in this compendium. I disliked "On the Transmission of Christianity" the most. His argument in that essay is to use education establishments as a means to perpetuate Christian ideas. My reasoning is that it seems CS Lewis is trying to justify some kind of indoctrination of children within a school in order for Christianity to be continued. I believe the most effective way of continuing Christianity is within a family and church setting. His argument for Christian education at best amounts to wishful thinking and at worst amounts to a justification for indoctrinating children into being Christians. In my mind, education should be guided towards philosophical rather than religious education as children can be given the how to think, not what to think. Besides, it is questionable how effective Christian education is at keeping people Christian. I certainly know very few people from my secondary school (a church school) who have kept their faith.
His argument in "Learning in War Time" (Essay 29) is also grim reading. CS Lewis seems to suggest that war is good in how it resets the mind in believing that one is mortal. The entire essay rests upon a certain set of Christian assumptions that everyone is mortal and will be judged for their sins.
His argument in "Historicism" (Essay 39) is also rather odd. He attempts to criticise the historical theory of history having inner meaning from a secular perspective whilst holding to a Christian view that history has inner meaning from a Christian view. Overall, Section 3 is my least favourite section.
Section 4: 3 stars
These essays are mixed in quality. In the essay "Humanitarian Theory of Punishment" (essay 52), CS Lewis tries to critique liberal theories of punishment and shows an argument for the death penalty as being the correct punishment for certain crimes. What I found strange with the essay is that it was written against a certain kind of secular liberalism that viewed all crime like a sickness rather than a sin. I found this strange because Christianity can also view sin as sickness depending on the theological position. I know full well that the Orthodox church views sin as sickness. Even CS Lewis comments on Christians creating hospitals and how churches are hospitals. So his view of crime is similar to Augustine's view of sin. I also find that there is a clear liberal view of punishment from a Christian perspective in that Jesus commands his followers to be forgiving and that the death penalty is not based on forgiveness. I didn't find CS Lewis's arguments against liberal theories of punishment to be convincing.
The Poison of Subjectivism (essay 45) is an attempt to attack subjective ethics on the grounds that totalitarians are subjectivist and therefore wrong. An interesting critique, though I have thought that the analysis that subjectivists give for ethics to be more sound as in my view, ethics and mortality are social constructs that change over time. Certain Christians hold very strongly to moral absolutism but I find this to be implausible as the Bible is morally subjective in that different parts have different moral positions. I also think that it is wrong to view the Nazis as morally relative. I have read essays in which the Nazis ethics was compared with that of Immanuel Kant; Kant's ethics was absolutist.
Overall, a section 4 is mixed bag of essays.
Section 5: 3 stars
A mixture of essays, his worst being "Willing Slaves of the Welfare State" ( essay 61). In it, he attempts to discredit the welfare state on its authoritarian grounds and argues against progressivism because of human sin. Again, not entirely sure what he is attempting with this one because there were Christians arguing for the welfare state. His other essays are of satisfactory standard.
Section 6: 2 stars
His short stories are mediocre. Nothing really to say about them
Overall: 3 stars.
Sections 1 and Section 2: 4 stars
C.S Lewis shows his skills with his literature reviews. His analysis of literature is profound and helpful. I enjoyed his critique of Science Fiction (essay 7) although there is a sci-fi booker later in the compendium. His look over how Christianity has shaped literature is quite interesting. He thought that novels should reflect Christian aims, which isn't a surprise given his most famous work is the Narnia series which is an allegory of much of the Bible. Enjoyable essays.
Section 3: 2 stars
Section 3 has some of his worst essays in this compendium. I disliked "On the Transmission of Christianity" the most. His argument in that essay is to use education establishments as a means to perpetuate Christian ideas. My reasoning is that it seems CS Lewis is trying to justify some kind of indoctrination of children within a school in order for Christianity to be continued. I believe the most effective way of continuing Christianity is within a family and church setting. His argument for Christian education at best amounts to wishful thinking and at worst amounts to a justification for indoctrinating children into being Christians. In my mind, education should be guided towards philosophical rather than religious education as children can be given the how to think, not what to think. Besides, it is questionable how effective Christian education is at keeping people Christian. I certainly know very few people from my secondary school (a church school) who have kept their faith.
His argument in "Learning in War Time" (Essay 29) is also grim reading. CS Lewis seems to suggest that war is good in how it resets the mind in believing that one is mortal. The entire essay rests upon a certain set of Christian assumptions that everyone is mortal and will be judged for their sins.
His argument in "Historicism" (Essay 39) is also rather odd. He attempts to criticise the historical theory of history having inner meaning from a secular perspective whilst holding to a Christian view that history has inner meaning from a Christian view. Overall, Section 3 is my least favourite section.
Section 4: 3 stars
These essays are mixed in quality. In the essay "Humanitarian Theory of Punishment" (essay 52), CS Lewis tries to critique liberal theories of punishment and shows an argument for the death penalty as being the correct punishment for certain crimes. What I found strange with the essay is that it was written against a certain kind of secular liberalism that viewed all crime like a sickness rather than a sin. I found this strange because Christianity can also view sin as sickness depending on the theological position. I know full well that the Orthodox church views sin as sickness. Even CS Lewis comments on Christians creating hospitals and how churches are hospitals. So his view of crime is similar to Augustine's view of sin. I also find that there is a clear liberal view of punishment from a Christian perspective in that Jesus commands his followers to be forgiving and that the death penalty is not based on forgiveness. I didn't find CS Lewis's arguments against liberal theories of punishment to be convincing.
The Poison of Subjectivism (essay 45) is an attempt to attack subjective ethics on the grounds that totalitarians are subjectivist and therefore wrong. An interesting critique, though I have thought that the analysis that subjectivists give for ethics to be more sound as in my view, ethics and mortality are social constructs that change over time. Certain Christians hold very strongly to moral absolutism but I find this to be implausible as the Bible is morally subjective in that different parts have different moral positions. I also think that it is wrong to view the Nazis as morally relative. I have read essays in which the Nazis ethics was compared with that of Immanuel Kant; Kant's ethics was absolutist.
Overall, a section 4 is mixed bag of essays.
Section 5: 3 stars
A mixture of essays, his worst being "Willing Slaves of the Welfare State" ( essay 61). In it, he attempts to discredit the welfare state on its authoritarian grounds and argues against progressivism because of human sin. Again, not entirely sure what he is attempting with this one because there were Christians arguing for the welfare state. His other essays are of satisfactory standard.
Section 6: 2 stars
His short stories are mediocre. Nothing really to say about them
Overall: 3 stars.
April 2, 2024
Wow. This was an amazing collection of material. I say amazing in the sense that there was just so much of it. I’ve been a fan of C.S. Lewis ever since I first read the Narnia books. I’ve read a good deal of his stuff since. Still, I wasn’t prepared for just how much of this was religious writing. I suppose I should’ve known better. Even in his fiction, the religious subtext was never missing, though not so much in his unfinished story The Dark Tower. I kind of wish he’d finished that one. It was starting to get intriguing.
Anyway. I guess when you’re trying to be this comprehensive with a lifetime’s worth of writing, outside the books, you’re going to get a lot of repetition. There sure was a lot of repetition.
So here we have C.S. Lewis in all his glory. I don’t think anyone was a deeper thinker than him, even if I don’t agree with all his conclusions. Still, I don’t regret having read my way through it. I was frequently rewarded for my effort.
I was scrolling through YouTube one day when I saw a video in which Richard Dawkins refutes C.S. Lewis. I didn’t bother watching it because why would I? I like C.S. Lewis as a person. What I know about Richard Dawkins doesn’t sound very appealing at all. I wonder how successful that refutation would’ve been if Lewis had been alive to answer it. I’m guessing Dawkins knows more about science than Lewis ever did so he has that advantage, I suppose.
Anyway, despite the length of this. I managed to stick with it to the end. If C.S. Lewis wasn’t such a likable person, I doubt that I would’ve even tried to get through it all.
Anyway. I guess when you’re trying to be this comprehensive with a lifetime’s worth of writing, outside the books, you’re going to get a lot of repetition. There sure was a lot of repetition.
So here we have C.S. Lewis in all his glory. I don’t think anyone was a deeper thinker than him, even if I don’t agree with all his conclusions. Still, I don’t regret having read my way through it. I was frequently rewarded for my effort.
I was scrolling through YouTube one day when I saw a video in which Richard Dawkins refutes C.S. Lewis. I didn’t bother watching it because why would I? I like C.S. Lewis as a person. What I know about Richard Dawkins doesn’t sound very appealing at all. I wonder how successful that refutation would’ve been if Lewis had been alive to answer it. I’m guessing Dawkins knows more about science than Lewis ever did so he has that advantage, I suppose.
Anyway, despite the length of this. I managed to stick with it to the end. If C.S. Lewis wasn’t such a likable person, I doubt that I would’ve even tried to get through it all.
April 2, 2020
Excellent!
I had already read the collections of essays published as The Weight of Glory, Christian Reflections, and God in the Dock. This volume is grand not only because it complies and organizes Lewis' essays according to theme, but also contains many other essays that have been published in a variety of ways. This collection also includes a sampling of Lewis' letters as well as the shorter pieces separately published as The Dark Tower: And Other Stories.
I think it well worth hunting for the one volume hardback and a great shame that it is no longer being published, though it appears that HarperCollins is going to publish the same material as separate paperbacks.
I had already read the collections of essays published as The Weight of Glory, Christian Reflections, and God in the Dock. This volume is grand not only because it complies and organizes Lewis' essays according to theme, but also contains many other essays that have been published in a variety of ways. This collection also includes a sampling of Lewis' letters as well as the shorter pieces separately published as The Dark Tower: And Other Stories.
I think it well worth hunting for the one volume hardback and a great shame that it is no longer being published, though it appears that HarperCollins is going to publish the same material as separate paperbacks.
December 15, 2021
Anyone who’s made their way through all Lewis’s popular book length classics and wants to delve into the minutia of his thought will be well served by picking up this massive collection of his shorter works. Much previously published in essay and sermon collections such as “The Weight of Glory,” “God in the Dock,” “Present Concerns,” and “Dark Tower,” this collection tacks on many other of Lewis’s interviews, recording transcripts, and journal articles. I’m continually enamored with how focused he was on evangelism, and unpacking naturalism and exposing its incoherent premises. His cultural analyses read relevant even today, with his insight into the budding iteration of scientism and postmodernism of his day being teased out in prophetic fashion at length many times over. I like his comfort level of commenting on issues from the pastoral to the philosophical and all things in-between, and seeing the implications of things and not just face value. 894 pages or 40 hours of literature, culture, science fiction, and apologetics.
January 27, 2019
Lewis is such a deep thinker. His ideas are profound and worthy of much contemplation. It certainly is not light, easy reading. Lately I checkout audio books from my library and listen to them as I walk to and from work and as I do things around the apartment. That's how I approached this book. I had to keep rechecking it out and then waiting for it to become available, so it took my nearly six months to finish it. It is not the kind of book that you can grasp in idle listening/reading. To glean the most from it requires focus and pondering. At some point in time, I plan to revisit this collection with a physical book in hand and time to devote to a more thorough deep reading. That being said, I feel like it was well worth the time I spent listening to it as I gained many important insights along the way. Without a doubt, Lewis is one of the most influential voices of the 20th century.
November 1, 2022
The breadth of this collection is shocking. It’s incredible how deftly C.S. Lewis deals with many difficult problems in many different areas of culture, philosophy, literature, religion, etc. Many questions that still set the culture on fire were dealt with in a definitive way in one or more of the essays collected here. We would do well to check and see what C.S. had to say about just about any subject currently debated in the culture wars before we get too far along. There is a very good chance he already considered it, or something similar, or the same question in a more general way, and had something quite relevant, to say.
Because the essays are drawn from many places, there is some repetition in themes, and even sections, of some of the pieces. That didn’t bother me. If it was important enough for Mr. Lewis to repeat in print more than once, it probably deserves our careful attention.
Because the essays are drawn from many places, there is some repetition in themes, and even sections, of some of the pieces. That didn’t bother me. If it was important enough for Mr. Lewis to repeat in print more than once, it probably deserves our careful attention.
December 9, 2025
How could a collection like this receive anything less than five stars? After finishing this collection I truly feel like I have read every scrap of paper that crossed CS Lewis‘s desk. Yes, there is repetition and overlap in some of the pieces. Yes, I was consistently blown away by the deep thinking and ingenuity of the writing. Do I agree with everything he wrote? No. Did I love it? Yes. A must listen for anyone who wants to get to know CS Lewis better. I feel like I understand him on the level that I understand some of my favorite podcasters; I’ve heard his thoughts long enough and on enough topics to guess how he would answer many different questions. If I could find a hard copy of this out of print book, it would be a treasure.
August 1, 2018
A comprehensive collection of essays by C. S. Lewis. This book contains 135 essays and short pieces. It is divided into 11 parts: The Search for God, Aspects of Faith, The Christian in the World, The Church, English and Literature, The Art of Writing and the Gifts of Writers, Education and History, Philosophical Thoughts, Some Everyday Thoughts, Letters, and Short Stories. An excellent book for anyone interested in C. S. Lewis's writings.
November 1, 2018
OK, truth be told, I sort of haven't finished this. So, I have a copy of this book on "audiobook". I've listened to almost all of the essays and I've listened to some of them a number of times!
This is the kind of (audio) book that you can keep permanently on your shelf. Religion, politics, theology, prayer, pacifism, animal rights, theodicy.... there are so many different subject that he covers in his erudite, yet understandable fashion.
Buy it. Read it. Love it!
This is the kind of (audio) book that you can keep permanently on your shelf. Religion, politics, theology, prayer, pacifism, animal rights, theodicy.... there are so many different subject that he covers in his erudite, yet understandable fashion.
Buy it. Read it. Love it!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 72 reviews