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Another set is CS Lewis' Space Trilogy Out of the Silent Planet Perelandra That Hideous Strength Note that like a lot of CS Lewis, there is a very heavy Chris

Another set is CS Lewis' Space Trilogy Out of the Silent Planet Perelandra That Hideous Strength Note that like a lot of CS Lewis, there is a very heavy Christian view.

bwb 2y ago
We've had 5 authors actually pick that one as a favorite, and they connected it to some really interesting book lists: https://shepherd.com/book/that-hideous-strength/book-lists https://shepherd.com/book/that-hideous-strength/book-lists I love seeing something like this as it is awesome where their minds go for what other books they connect it with...
Terr_ 2y ago
While not Sci-Fi, I found that The Screwtape Letters could actually be enjoyed even from a fairly agnostic perspective, as an allegorical dive into human cognitive foibles. Though I suspect Lewis would be unhappy to hear that, especially since he wrote a fourth-wall-adjacent bit about devils preferring that humans don't believe in them.
mrob 2y ago
Lewis was clearly intelligent and well educated in the humanities, but I don't think he ever cared much about science. IMO, the Space Trilogy is good writing but bad sci-fi.
- AnimalMuppet 2y ago
  In "Of Other Worlds", in a conversation with Brian Aldiss and Kinsley Amis (or Martin Amis? Don't remember), he says that he had a rocket take Ransom to Mars, but he knew better by the time he wrote the second book, and had angels take Ransom to Venus. That is, he wasn't trying to write hard science fiction; he was trying to write stuff where you were confronted with "the unknown". Fantasy and science fiction were both aimed at that, but fantasy was better, because you didn't have to worry about the rules of actual science. He also said (quoting from memory): "If I were briefed to attack my own books, I would say that though the scientist has to be a physicist for the plot, his concern seems to be almost exclusively biological. I would also ask whether it was credible that such a gas-bag could invent a mousetrap, let alone a spaceship. But then, I wanted comedy as well as adventure."
themadturk 2y ago
Of the three, I always loved That Hideous Strength the most. The first two, which I think are good, were too much like travelogs, but the third had a pretty decent story.

Another set is CS Lewis' Space Trilogy Out of the Silent Planet Perelandra That Hideous Strength Note that like a lot of CS Lewis, there is a very heavy Christian view.

bwb 2y ago

We've had 5 authors actually pick that one as a favorite, and they connected it to some really interesting book lists: https://shepherd.com/book/that-hideous-strength/book-lists https://shepherd.com/book/that-hideous-strength/book-lists I love seeing something like this as it is awesome where their minds go for what other books they connect it with...

Terr_ 2y ago

While not Sci-Fi, I found that The Screwtape Letters could actually be enjoyed even from a fairly agnostic perspective, as an allegorical dive into human cognitive foibles. Though I suspect Lewis would be unhappy to hear that, especially since he wrote a fourth-wall-adjacent bit about devils preferring that humans don't believe in them.

mrob 2y ago

Lewis was clearly intelligent and well educated in the humanities, but I don't think he ever cared much about science. IMO, the Space Trilogy is good writing but bad sci-fi.

AnimalMuppet 2y ago
In "Of Other Worlds", in a conversation with Brian Aldiss and Kinsley Amis (or Martin Amis? Don't remember), he says that he had a rocket take Ransom to Mars, but he knew better by the time he wrote the second book, and had angels take Ransom to Venus. That is, he wasn't trying to write hard science fiction; he was trying to write stuff where you were confronted with "the unknown". Fantasy and science fiction were both aimed at that, but fantasy was better, because you didn't have to worry about the rules of actual science. He also said (quoting from memory): "If I were briefed to attack my own books, I would say that though the scientist has to be a physicist for the plot, his concern seems to be almost exclusively biological. I would also ask whether it was credible that such a gas-bag could invent a mousetrap, let alone a spaceship. But then, I wanted comedy as well as adventure."

themadturk 2y ago

Of the three, I always loved That Hideous Strength the most. The first two, which I think are good, were too much like travelogs, but the third had a pretty decent story.