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jeremybmueller's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
5.0
moiram's review against another edition
4.0
I love the word verbicide. I will have to start using it!
jake_powell's review against another edition
4.0
As cultural commentary I found his perspective a bit distasteful - but as a window into a romantic genteel early 20th century world, and as an insight into the mind of a great author, I really enjoyed this book.
librosconcafe's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
relaxing
fast-paced
5.0
Good insights and ideas on the subject of reading. I would rate it a little lower, but the author didn’t put these together..Each chapter has been drawn from multiple works to make this one book.
papidoc's review against another edition
5.0
A collection of C.S. Lewis' thoughts (longer and shorter) on the value and enjoyment of reading. For an avid reader from childhood like me, this was a treasure not to be missed. Some of my favorite quotes include (from Lewis, if not otherwise noted):
1. "In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you." (Mortimer Adler)
2. "This, so far as I can see, is the specific value or good of literature...it admits us to experiences other than our own."
3. "Those of us who have been true readers all our life seldom fully realise the enormous extension of our being which we owe to authors. We realise it best when we talk with an unliterary friend. He may be full of goodness and good sense, but he inhabits a tiny world. In it, we should be suffocated."
4. "The true aim of literary studies is to lift the student out of his provincialism by making him 'the spectator', if not of all, yet of much, 'time and existence'."
5. (On fantasy and children) "Since it is so likely that they will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage...I think it possible that by confining your child to blameless stories of child life in which nothing at all alarming ever happens, you would fail to banish the terrors, and would succeed in banishing all that can ennoble them and make them endurable."
6. "The simplest student will be able to understand, if not all, yet a very great deal of what Plato said; but hardly anyone can understand some modern books on Platonism...firsthand knowledge is not only worth more acquiring than secondhand knowledge, but is usually much easier and m ore delightful to acquire."
7. "...eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably."
8. "...most people are obviously far more anxious to express their approval and disapproval of things than to describe them." (note: I think many of us, myself included more than most, would benefit from practicing simply describing what has happened without using value-laden terms, and letting our listener ascribe their own value to what happened.)
9. (On the value of descriptive precision in language) "Men do not long continue to think what they have forgotten how to say."
10. "It would seem to me a waste of the past if we were content to see in the literature of every bygone age only the reflection of our own faces."
I also appreciated the prompts for reflection on the last few pages. I'll spend some time with those.
1. "In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you." (Mortimer Adler)
2. "This, so far as I can see, is the specific value or good of literature...it admits us to experiences other than our own."
3. "Those of us who have been true readers all our life seldom fully realise the enormous extension of our being which we owe to authors. We realise it best when we talk with an unliterary friend. He may be full of goodness and good sense, but he inhabits a tiny world. In it, we should be suffocated."
4. "The true aim of literary studies is to lift the student out of his provincialism by making him 'the spectator', if not of all, yet of much, 'time and existence'."
5. (On fantasy and children) "Since it is so likely that they will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage...I think it possible that by confining your child to blameless stories of child life in which nothing at all alarming ever happens, you would fail to banish the terrors, and would succeed in banishing all that can ennoble them and make them endurable."
6. "The simplest student will be able to understand, if not all, yet a very great deal of what Plato said; but hardly anyone can understand some modern books on Platonism...firsthand knowledge is not only worth more acquiring than secondhand knowledge, but is usually much easier and m ore delightful to acquire."
7. "...eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably."
8. "...most people are obviously far more anxious to express their approval and disapproval of things than to describe them." (note: I think many of us, myself included more than most, would benefit from practicing simply describing what has happened without using value-laden terms, and letting our listener ascribe their own value to what happened.)
9. (On the value of descriptive precision in language) "Men do not long continue to think what they have forgotten how to say."
10. "It would seem to me a waste of the past if we were content to see in the literature of every bygone age only the reflection of our own faces."
I also appreciated the prompts for reflection on the last few pages. I'll spend some time with those.
leesmyth's review against another edition
4.0
A very fun, quick read. Most of the readings (but not all) are taken from books or essays I've previously read, but one still experiences them differently when they are plucked out and put in a new setting. Seeing them again in this slim volume necessarily highlights and frames passages one might otherwise have skimmed when following a larger argument.
coolguyjules's review against another edition
4.0
A relatively short assortment of quotes from the late great C.S. Lewis, most about reading and literature, some quotes where he just happened to mention the word ‘reading’ or ‘book’. Definitely intended for children but a good read nevertheless.
reaganwaggoner's review against another edition
5.0
Definitely want to reread this.. A compilation of Lewis' thoughts, essays, and letters on reading. What does it mean to read? What is the power of the written word? Why are fairy tales important? What is a reader? What does it mean to read? Why do we read?
"We seek an enlargement of our being. We want to be more than ourselves."
"We want to see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts, as well as our own."
"Those of us who have been true readers all our life seldom fully realise the enourmous extension of our being which we owe to authors. We realise it best when we talk with an unliterary friend. He may be full of goodness and good sense but he inhabits a tiny world."
"Those who read great works, on the other hand, will read the same work ten, twenty, or thirty times during the course of their life."
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."
"[A child] does not despise real woods because he has read of enchanted woods: the reading makes all real woods feel a little enchanted."
"Men do not long continue to think what they have forgotten how to say."
"No man who values originality will ever be original. But try to tell the truth as you see it, try to do any bit of work as well as it can be done for the work's sake, and what men call originality will come unsought."
"The state exists simply to promote and to protect the ordinary happiness of human beings in this life..."
"It ceases to be a devil when it ceases to be a god."
"To lose what I owe to Plato and Aristotle would be like an amputation of a limb."
"We seek an enlargement of our being. We want to be more than ourselves."
"We want to see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts, as well as our own."
"Those of us who have been true readers all our life seldom fully realise the enourmous extension of our being which we owe to authors. We realise it best when we talk with an unliterary friend. He may be full of goodness and good sense but he inhabits a tiny world."
"Those who read great works, on the other hand, will read the same work ten, twenty, or thirty times during the course of their life."
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."
"[A child] does not despise real woods because he has read of enchanted woods: the reading makes all real woods feel a little enchanted."
"Men do not long continue to think what they have forgotten how to say."
"No man who values originality will ever be original. But try to tell the truth as you see it, try to do any bit of work as well as it can be done for the work's sake, and what men call originality will come unsought."
"The state exists simply to promote and to protect the ordinary happiness of human beings in this life..."
"It ceases to be a devil when it ceases to be a god."
"To lose what I owe to Plato and Aristotle would be like an amputation of a limb."
iceangel9's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
5.0
A collection of snippets from other nonfiction works and letters by Lewis that cover his love of reading and the importance of being a reader. A simple, yet profound, little book.