unique

It was recommended and I'm not disappointed. I will probably have to buy the book to see the references and sources and reread, but decided to listen to the audio first as I wouldn't have to wait and could just get it with my credit.

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I'm sure I grew brain cells reading this book.

In all honesty, this is not the typical kind of book I read but I'm a big fan of CS Lewis and heard this was one of his best. I now see why (I think 🤔).
It opens up a world I never knew existed while shedding light on how modern humanity differs in their conception of the cosmos.

It also served as a massive reading list. I'm excited to pick up an old poem and see how I fare in comprehension beyond the plain (and probably modern) meaning of the text.

In summary, this taught me a lot and is written in such an engaging way that I will have to come back to it. It's worth a read.

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2 people found this helpful

Really badly read

The narrator sounds like he's shouting most of the time, which makes it very hard and unpleasant to listen to. I wish they would re-do this with a different narrator because it’s an important, illuminating book.

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Too fast

Narrator read too fast for the level of complexity of the book. Slowing down the speed doesn’t sound very good.

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1 person found this helpful

Fascinating book; reading an acquired taste.

A tricky one to review! CSL was by all accounts a riveting lecturer, and this book is a record of some of his academic lectures from very late in his career. They are brilliant for anyone remotely interested in the subject, and highly recommended.

My problem lies with the reading. It is enthusiastic, very 'English', and the reader does pretty well with CSL's range of original language quotations. The reading is rather fast, faster than this sort of material warrants. With an otherwise good reading, though, a rather fast delivery could pas muster.

But, alas, the main problem is that the reader, realising these are lectures, presents them as he seems to assume rather old-fashioned Oxbridge lectures might be delivered. After a bit, I began to be reminded of an interminable, rapidly delivered and consequently rather monotonous lecture delivered by someone who might be a stand-in for 'Civilisation'’s Kenneth Clark!

Having been at Oxford and having spent a lifetime in university teaching I can say that these lectures, delivered in this way, would impress neither students nor indeed Kenneth Clark. Nor, I am sorry to say, do they remotely do justice to CSL.

Which is a shame. The book deserves to be more widely known. Perhaps it could be read along with listening to the recording? But otherwise - read and save your listening for - oh, I don't know, maybe the excellent recording of Eamon Duffy's 'The Stripping of the Altars'.

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