Written during the dark hours immediately before and during the Second World War, C. S. Lewis's Space Trilogy, of which Out of the Silent Pla... read full description
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Apr 10, 2010
Manny
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Not C.S. Lewis's best or most popular book - for every person who reads this, there must be at least ten who read Narnia. However, the exchange between the humans and the Oyarsa (the angelic ruler of Malacandra/Mars) is extremely effective satire, and deserves to be better known. Ransom is the only one in the party who has been able to acquire any fluency in Malacandran. He is given the task of translating Weston's fascist rant, which he clearly rather enjoys:
'Speak to Ransom and he shall turn iMore...
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Jun 14, 2008
kellyn
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I read this first about 7 or 8 years ago, but found it difficult to get through. This time it was over too soon-I felt like I was on 'Malacandra' myself and feel like I 'experienced' everything that went on as much as 'Ransom' the main character in the book. Lewis explores philosophical questions that if not discussed in the context of another species' existence would strike me as really basic; by discussing these questions in the setting of another world, he refreshes them and has insights that
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Jan 28, 2011
Hope
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First of all, this book has a cool title. I mean, seriously…Out of the Silent Planet… Say it to yourself a couple times. It sounds pretty, almost spooky, sort of dramatic and enigmatic. Ooh.
Man, I love a good title.
I also love a good allegory. And it’s my opinion that C.S. Lewis pretty much wrote the best allegories. Like, for real dude. This is like The Chronicles of Narnia for big people.
(I’m still partial to the childlikeness of The Chronicles though) More...
Man, I love a good title.
I also love a good allegory. And it’s my opinion that C.S. Lewis pretty much wrote the best allegories. Like, for real dude. This is like The Chronicles of Narnia for big people.
(I’m still partial to the childlikeness of The Chronicles though) More...
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Nov 03, 2008
BJ
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No long summary here...A novel about how men dehumanize humanity.
Though it does not have to do with the one-sentence summary, I like the words of abducted Ransom before he embarks on his journey on the planet Malacandra:
"The adventure was too high, its circumstance too solemn, for any emotion save a severe delight." (Macmillan Publishing, Twenty-third Printing, 1978, 30)
And on another mater, the words of the old sorn speaking of how humanity on earth More...
Though it does not have to do with the one-sentence summary, I like the words of abducted Ransom before he embarks on his journey on the planet Malacandra:
"The adventure was too high, its circumstance too solemn, for any emotion save a severe delight." (Macmillan Publishing, Twenty-third Printing, 1978, 30)
And on another mater, the words of the old sorn speaking of how humanity on earth More...
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Dec 04, 2008
Ryan Mac
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I'm not quite sure what to think about this book. It was good but I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style. 2 page paragraphs are hard to read. Otherwise, the descriptions of the planet are very vivid and the story is interesting but you get the feeling that there is something big they aren't telling you. Clearly, it is a good vs. evil, mankind struggling with God story. I'm hooked enough to keep going to book 2.
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Nov 22, 2011
Suheil
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Finally I finish "Out of the silent planet" by C.S Lewis ending at page 194. From the many science fiction books I've read, id say this is certainly one of the best so far. C.S Lewis does such a good job in keeping the reader attached to the book. The story starts of with the main charachter Ransom being kidnapped by his fellow scientist and dragged to a planet that turns out to be mars. The planet turns out to be inhabited with aliens. Ransom faces a challenge to survive, learning man
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Dec 17, 2009
Beguine
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This is C.S. Lewis' "science fiction" series. Essentially, this astronaut keeps landing on other planets and encountering the lifeforms God created there. In each book a representitive of the devil shows up and tries to muck things up for God's other children (humanity's cousins?). The first one is sort of neat; our hero is kidnapped by his fellow scientists and dragged to a planet that turns out to be mars for nefarious purposes. There he finds that this is one of the worlds God
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Aug 06, 2011
This is the most un Lewis like of anything I have read of his. It really is in a class of its own. I suspected beforehand that it would remind me of Narnia, but in reality it was very different. How different C.S. Lewis makes this from his other works really impresses me and reinforces my belief that C.S. Lewis was a genius of literature as well as subtle allegory. The story is interesting and takes us to a truly unique world, one that now only exists in the reader’s imagination. As science fict
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Nov 14, 2010
Fanny
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Dimenticare Narnia, in primo luogo. La trilogia* fantascientifica di Lewis è un romanzo filosofico, con tutti i pregi e i difetti del caso. Qualche pecca (talvolta imbarazzante) a livello narrativo ma una gran voglia di esprimere idee e di vederle incarnate e attive. È un romanzo adulto, che pone in questione i fondamenti dell’esistenza e della società. Ed è infine un romanzo “limpido”, che mette in scena con grande coerenza un punto di vista conservatore e cristiano. In accordo o in disaccordo
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Mar 03, 2009
Michael
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Plot Summary
C.S. Lewis' novel "Out of the Silent Planet" is a book about space exploration and the discovery of new and surprising civilisations. Dr. Ransom was an unsuspecting college professor that was whisked away to a far away planet. Through a chance meeting, Ransom comes across two other professors who lure him into their house where they drug him and put him into their spherical space ship. After the initial shock of waking up in the middle of space, Ransom becomes quite e More...
C.S. Lewis' novel "Out of the Silent Planet" is a book about space exploration and the discovery of new and surprising civilisations. Dr. Ransom was an unsuspecting college professor that was whisked away to a far away planet. Through a chance meeting, Ransom comes across two other professors who lure him into their house where they drug him and put him into their spherical space ship. After the initial shock of waking up in the middle of space, Ransom becomes quite e More...
Dec 30, 2008
Edith
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I read this book and its companion volumes--Perelandra and That Hideous Strength--sometime after college, which must have been in the early eighties. I have re-read all three books numerous times since then.
The books show Lewis' deep love of and knowledge of European literature and languages. I stand in awe of his ability to bring together elements of Scandinavian and Celtic and Greek and Roman and English literature to create a universe that can hold the galaxy-spanning intellects More...
The books show Lewis' deep love of and knowledge of European literature and languages. I stand in awe of his ability to bring together elements of Scandinavian and Celtic and Greek and Roman and English literature to create a universe that can hold the galaxy-spanning intellects More...
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Jan 03, 2012
My girlfriend got me these books for my birthday. I hadn't read them since I was in elementary, so I decided to give them another run through. It's also my goal to at least pretend like I have something interesting to say about all the books I read, so... here goes. Full of spoilers.
This book starts out like an old school sci fi in the vein of H.G. Wells. We have a visitor to another planet (he's actually captured on Earth and taken there), but the other planet feels like a more exoti More...
This book starts out like an old school sci fi in the vein of H.G. Wells. We have a visitor to another planet (he's actually captured on Earth and taken there), but the other planet feels like a more exoti More...
Oct 27, 2011
R.
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Months after first seeing the spines of C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy on my girlfriend's bookshelf, scanning them curiously, and deciding that a space adventure laced with biblical references wasn't my idea of a fun summer read I planted this series on the back-burner till another time, presumably never. Having read a majority or maybe just two of his Chronicles of Narnia, and enjoying them well enough but finding myself unable to maintain sufficient interest to finish the entire series, I didn't s
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Oct 17, 2011
Christopher
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To start things off I have to say that I love C.S. Lewis. I loved the Screwtape Letters, I loved Mere Christianity and I have read most of the Chronicles of Narnia. But this is a bit of a head scratcher. It's not that the story is bad. Quite the opposite in fact: it is a very interesting story and shares many similarities with the classic sci-fi of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. The problem for me, and one of the problems I've always had with Lewis, is that he is too smart for his own good. There i
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Aug 31, 2011
Cori
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It’s been a long time since I’ve picked up a book and not stopped reading until I finished. I did just that with Out of the Silent Planet, enjoying my Sunday afternoon curled up on my sofa with a glass of lemonade. It was heaven.
Other reviewers didn’t particularly like the flowing, descriptive language of Out of the Silent Planet, but it really worked for me. I think it is because Dr. Ransom is a philologist (one who studies language in written historical sources), so the strange words More...
Other reviewers didn’t particularly like the flowing, descriptive language of Out of the Silent Planet, but it really worked for me. I think it is because Dr. Ransom is a philologist (one who studies language in written historical sources), so the strange words More...
Aug 19, 2011
Matt
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Science fiction is certainly a suitable medium for C.S. Lewis. He is able to combine his theological, philosphical and cultural explorations with a wondrous creativity which successfully provokes readers to deeper thoughts on the matters he raises and their relevance to their life and world. This certainly isn't a case of "if you like Lewis' Narnia books you'll like his Space Trilogy (of which this is the first). I like both, but many who love Narnia would be disappointed to find that the c
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Jul 30, 2011
Ghoule
rated it:
***English follows***
Points positifs :
1. Imagination riche.
2. Questionnements philosophiques, théologiques et environnementaux abordés du point de vue de l'homme versus la nature... et c'était avant la 2e Guerre Mondiale.
3. Éléments d'intrigue intéressants.
4. Oeuvre classique souvent citée ailleurs (Iron Maiden par exemple?)
Points négatifs :
1. Très peu d'action.
2. Description épouvantablement longues : chaque pas dans un nou More...
Points positifs :
1. Imagination riche.
2. Questionnements philosophiques, théologiques et environnementaux abordés du point de vue de l'homme versus la nature... et c'était avant la 2e Guerre Mondiale.
3. Éléments d'intrigue intéressants.
4. Oeuvre classique souvent citée ailleurs (Iron Maiden par exemple?)
Points négatifs :
1. Très peu d'action.
2. Description épouvantablement longues : chaque pas dans un nou More...
Jul 23, 2011
Michael
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CS Lewis once wrote a poem entitled “An Expostulation: Against Too Many Writers of Science Fiction”. In it, he complains that science fiction writers transport us light-years away, only to give us “the same old stuff we left behind...stories of crooks, spies, conspirators, or love.” He then asks why he should leave the Earth unless “outside its guarded gates, long, long desired, the Unearthly waits.” It’s easy to see his point. Most of the science fiction written during his lifetime were twi
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Jun 24, 2011
Juliettey
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It's interesting to note that Lewis and Tolkien were both strong environmentalists. Lewis' trilogy sets the forces of industrial 'progress' against the supporters of tradition, spirituality and kindness. Long before the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Lewis was writing against industrial abuse of the planet and lack of respect for nature.
He was well acquainted with the politicking of quangos: in particular, the final book in the Cosmic Trilogy (That Hideous Strength) i More...
He was well acquainted with the politicking of quangos: in particular, the final book in the Cosmic Trilogy (That Hideous Strength) i More...
Nov 06, 2010
John
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Ever since I first read The Chronicles of Narnia in third grade, I've been a huge C.S. Lewis fan. Granted, it took me a long time before I enjoyed (or understood) his more serious writing, such as Mere Christianity, but whether fiction or non, there's no arguing that Lewis was a master wordsmith.
Out of the Silent Planet is the first book of Lewis' first fiction series, the "Space Trilogy". Written in 1938, it is one of the very first books ever written in the science fiction More...
Out of the Silent Planet is the first book of Lewis' first fiction series, the "Space Trilogy". Written in 1938, it is one of the very first books ever written in the science fiction More...
Oct 04, 2010
It would be damning with faint praise to say that this is the best of Lewis's "Space Trilogy." The only people to whom I could recommend these books would be people who thought Narnia wasn't clear enough as allegory.
However, in this book I find the allegory a little less cloying than in the later books: sure, the philologist Ransom may be a Christ-figure and the scientific Weston may be diabolic, but they're... well, they're not interesting characters, but they're still not y More...
However, in this book I find the allegory a little less cloying than in the later books: sure, the philologist Ransom may be a Christ-figure and the scientific Weston may be diabolic, but they're... well, they're not interesting characters, but they're still not y More...
Jun 08, 2010
David
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Marvelous book! C.S. Lewis never ceases to please the mind and imagination, and he does it again with this fantastic piece of literature. The entire book seems to grip you and pull you in. Lewis' attention to detail makes it seem as if you are actually on Malacandra, and helps you visualize an exact picture, while at the same time not being so detailed as to bore you. An excellent read! The only problem one might find is also the reason why it is so great. It is written by a genius who's mind se
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May 24, 2010
Surreysmum
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[These notes were made in 1983:]. I was going to write that I thought that the imaginativeness of this story more than made up for its submerged didacticism. But that gives an utterly false impression, for in fact, I like (and inwardly approve of) Lewis' didacticism. And this book has in common with Till We Have Faces a very nice way of creating what seems an entirely alien cosmo/mythology and gradually bringing it to our realization that it's the Christian system from another angle. What Lew
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Mar 08, 2010
Nicole Catherine
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jun 07, 2009
Cora
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I remember enjoying The Chronicles of Narnia, and when I saw Lewis's trilogy of science fiction books on the AP reading list, I had to get the first one and sample them. This is a quick little book that allows the reader to travel to Malacandra (which turns out to be Mars) and in the process to explore the human heart, relationships, and the good and evil at work in human existence. One of the strongest lines in it has to do with the folly of humanity in fearing death when it is inevitable. T
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Apr 12, 2009
Elizabeth
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I really enjoyed this. It wasn't an exiting book by any means, but hearing CS Lewis write about space travel in the 1940's is surprisingly wonderful. I mean, one of the main characters is looking at the trees surrounding him and the bright blue lake and the strange grass, and wondering if he might be walking on the surface of the moon, because back then everybody thought that'd be possible. It's not ignorant, it was speculative, it was scientific. Same with the actual space voyage, where the shi
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Dec 01, 2011
Harmonybites
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I've seen this listed as a classic work of science fiction, but having now read this, I find that a misnomer. This is more anti-science fiction. Published in 1938, it involves a philologist, Elwin Ransom, kidnapped by a physicist, Professor Weston and his colleague Dr Devine and transported on a spaceship to Malacandra (Mars). It struck me early on that it was antithetical to science fiction, not because the science is ludicrous--after all, this was written in 1938, but I don't think Lewis even
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Jan 08, 2011
Roger
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I picked this old favorite off the shelf one night when my mind was racing and I couldn't sleep. It was just the thing--soothing time in the company of two decent and intelligent men, Lewis and Ransom.
This is called science fiction, but it is really more like fantasy. At least, the fantasy elements of it have stood up much better than the science. I guess this is the universe Lewis wished he lived it, or maybe believed he lived in and wished it were evident to science. Here is an More...
This is called science fiction, but it is really more like fantasy. At least, the fantasy elements of it have stood up much better than the science. I guess this is the universe Lewis wished he lived it, or maybe believed he lived in and wished it were evident to science. Here is an More...
Aug 21, 2011
Shawn
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It's been a while since I've read this book but I remember picking it up in my junior year of high school (7 years ago) because I was into a band called Blaster the Rocketman which had a song based on the book called "Ransom Vs. The Unman". Much like Blaster the Rocketman, the author, C.S. Lewis, was a christian thinker. Unlike C.S. Lewis and Blaster the Rocketman I am not. Being a fan of Sci-Fi and Adventure I enjoyed this book overall. As I mentioned C.S. Lewis is a christian thi
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Nov 14, 2009
Katie
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Science fiction is not my preferred genre, and it was only through a good measure of self-discipline that I got through the Space Trilogy. However, it was worth the effort for this quote from Perelandra if for nothing else:
"‘It is not for nothing that you are named Ransom,’ said the Voice.
…Before his Mother had born him, before his ancestors had been called Ransoms, before ransom had been the name for a payment that delivers, before the world was made, all these things ha More...
"‘It is not for nothing that you are named Ransom,’ said the Voice.
…Before his Mother had born him, before his ancestors had been called Ransoms, before ransom had been the name for a payment that delivers, before the world was made, all these things ha More...
