I am reposting this 2013 review because the Kindle Edition is on sale for $2.99. The second and third books in the trilogy are $3.99 and $4.99 respectively. (Links to their reviews below)
Summary: A Philology professor is kidnapped and taken to Mars
It has been a few weeks since I have picked up a CS Lewis book so my goal of reading one a week for a while is off course.
I have heard a lot of positive reviews about Lewis’ Space Trilogy (or Ransom Trilogy as it is sometimes called.) But they never really interested me. I am not sure why, maybe because I have such good feelings toward Narnia or because I have such a hard time seeing Lewis as a Science Fiction author.
So I had pretty low expectations coming into the book. The main character, Elwin Ransom, a professor of Philology (I had to look it up, it is basically historical linguistics), is kidnapped by two brothers. These somewhat deranged, but brilliant brothers have built a spaceship and gone to Mars. But for some unknown reason they needed another person and kidnapped Ransom as he was hiking through a rural part of the UK on vacation.
The book was originally published in 1938 and feels like the older style science fiction of HG Wells or Jules Verne. And it is clearly not focused on the science part of science fiction. Lewis is using the book to explore ideas not science.
At first I thought that Lewis was turning Mars into a type of Eden, where sin would be introduced. But I realized that he was not creating Eden, but a world without the fall.
I remember very few things about 1st grade. But one of the few things I remember, is that in the Christian school where I was attending (I started public school the next year), my teacher suggested that possibly the bible passage where Jesus said he would leave the 99 to seek out the one lost sheep was actually talking about the fact that the Earth is the one and there were actually many (99 I am pretty she was using as a literary expression not a literal number) worlds that never fell and never needed Christ to come and die. Having read this book, I wonder if my first grade teacher (an older woman that I remember being in her 50s or 60s) was actually a fan of CS Lewis.
Out of the Silent Planet Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition. Audible.com Audiobook Audiobook is discounted to $3.49 with purchase of Kindle Book
- Perelandra by CS Lewis (Space Trilogy #2)
- That Hideous Strength by CS Lewis (Space Trilogy #3)”Ž
- Reflections on the Psalms by CS Lewis
- CS Lewis: A Life by Alister McGrath
- Surprised by Joy by CS Lewis
- Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer by CS Lewis (Second Reading)
- Till We Have Faces by CS Lewis (Second Reading)
- The Horse and His Boy by CS Lewis (Narnia)
- The Silver Chair by CS Lewis (Narnia)
- The Magician’s Nephew (Narnia)
- The Last Battle (Narnia)
- The Lion’s World: A Journey into the Heart of Narnia by Rowan Williams
- A Life Observed:A Spiritual Biography of CS Lewis by Devin Brown
You had to look up “philology”? That really hurts. You don’t even know what I do …
… back to philology with tears in my eyes.
I had no idea that is what your official area of study was called. You need to start signing your name Rob, Doctor of Philology 🙂