Out of the Silent Planet
by C.S. Lewis
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 3139)
Read in February, 2008
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...more
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Read in June, 2008
As a huge lover of CS Lewis I was a bit shocked to find that I didn't really love this book. In this book the main character, a professor of philosophy, is kidnapped by some fellow scientists and taken to the planet Malacandra. I felt like the intro phase of the book where professor ransom is being kidnapped and taken to the planet was really long and tedious and not an element that deserved as much weight and description as Lewis gave it. I found myself skimming and nearly dropping the book ...more
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Read in January, 2006
This is the first book of Lewis' Space Trilogy and it has all the wonderful qualities of a SciFi/fantasy book mixed with a certain amount of theological and philosophical intellectualism that one would expect from such a distinguished author.
First published in 1943, Out of the Silent Planet transcends sense of time and place with a focus on the greater themes of life, death and the pursuit of joy rather than specific scientific details. That the book is full of allegory is not in doubt, but ...more
First published in 1943, Out of the Silent Planet transcends sense of time and place with a focus on the greater themes of life, death and the pursuit of joy rather than specific scientific details. That the book is full of allegory is not in doubt, but ...more
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I'm not sure how C.S. Lewis managed to write such a good space-travel movie when he (heck, everybody) knew so little about space. A lot of the stories and movies from this time-period come across as goofy, or just plain ignorant (take a look at any MST3K treatment of a black-and-white space travel movie, and you’ll see what I mean). But Lewis's version of space travel is beautiful and amazing, even if scientifically it's ALL wrong. I think this book brings out the awe that people must have fel...more
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Read in January, 2001
I found it very easy to suspend disbelief in this somewhat outdated science fiction. I was thoroughly caught up in Dr Ransom's story & delighted with Malacandra. I wanted to stay there longer and hear Oyarsa speak more plain truth. I am impressed with Lewis' imagination in creating the Malacandrian world and was amused my the ridiculousness of Weston and Divine. I was more impressed with the religious implications.
Another thing that stands out in this book is that it conveys what is pe...more
Another thing that stands out in this book is that it conveys what is pe...more
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recommends it for:
fans of C.S. Lewis, fairly traditional Christians
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 ...more
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recommends it for:
sci fi readers
Lewis takes the plunge into Science Fiction writing with this, the first book in his space trilogy.
As with many other space travel books written in the era, it has a sweet naivity in the area of science. I love that! The main character, Ransom, becomes involved with unsavory men and ends up on a journey like none he could have ever imagined.
Landing on Malachandra opens his eyes to sentient life outside of our species. Lewis' imagination is wondrous, as he creates a Mars unlike the one w...more
As with many other space travel books written in the era, it has a sweet naivity in the area of science. I love that! The main character, Ransom, becomes involved with unsavory men and ends up on a journey like none he could have ever imagined.
Landing on Malachandra opens his eyes to sentient life outside of our species. Lewis' imagination is wondrous, as he creates a Mars unlike the one w...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
—
Read in June, 2001
A favorite quote:
"But the pleasure he must be content only to remember?"
"That is like saying 'My food I must be content to eat.'"
"I do not understand."
"A pleasure is full grown only when it is remembered. You are speaking, Hman, as if the pleasure were one thing and the memory another. It is all one thing....What you call remembering is the last part of the pleasure, as the crah is the last part of a poem. When you and I met, the meeting was over ...more
"But the pleasure he must be content only to remember?"
"That is like saying 'My food I must be content to eat.'"
"I do not understand."
"A pleasure is full grown only when it is remembered. You are speaking, Hman, as if the pleasure were one thing and the memory another. It is all one thing....What you call remembering is the last part of the pleasure, as the crah is the last part of a poem. When you and I met, the meeting was over ...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
Hardcore C.S. Lewis fans
Everybody—including Disney now—takes notice of C.S. Lewis's fantasy ( The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe), but few even know he attempted science fiction. I hedge, because although this, the first book of the so-called Space Trilogy, could not be classified otherwise, the following books, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength, are h...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommended to RØB by:
Matt Smith
I've been looking forward to reading this for a long time, and it did not disappoint. In addition to being solid science-fiction (it's amazing how much thought Lewis put into some of the more scientific aspects of space travel and other-worldliness) it's doubly great as a tale of morals, what it means to be a human and/or a being, and postulates on the nature of our race as a whole. The detail he involves in the imagery is vivid, if humorously self-deprecating about its inability to fully expr...more
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C.S. Lewis is amazing. If you liked the books he wrote for kids (Lion, Witch, Wardrobe, et al) you will love his books for adults. This series is so thought provoking and full of metaphor for our day. My favorite part of this book is where Ransom translates into Malacandrian Weston's rant about the future of humanity. The deconstruction of his positivist empirical thought process is classic. That sounds hoity toity but if you read it will know what I mean. You'll laugh through the entire se...more
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5 comments
If you are going to read Lewis' "space trilogy," read this one first. It is the first in the series (doh!), and it is also Lewis' least successful of the three novels. If you read either of the succeeding novels (which you can do without missing anything really significant), and THEN you read Out of the Silent Planet, it will possibly disappoint. Lewis got better.
Forget the idea that this is science fiction. Lewis had little real understanding of science, and Real Science Ficti...more
Forget the idea that this is science fiction. Lewis had little real understanding of science, and Real Science Ficti...more
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Read in February, 2008
This is a second-generation space story that, as the author mentions, owes a great deal to H.G. Wells. It's also part of that coming-face-to-face-with-an-alien-culture-and-thereby-learning-more-about-your-own-type story with a heap of rather unsubtle Christian allegory thrown in (this is CSL, after all). The characterization was lacking - to be honest, I thought Dr. Ransom was kind of a dud - but the prose was muscular and the plot (and chapter-ending cliffhangers) kept my interest. I didn't lov...more
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This book changed me in a way no other piece of literature quite has. C.S. Lewis, of course, is a master of allegory and the comments he makes about religion, the universe, and our roles on Earth are beautiful. There's something more to it, though, that I think may be hard to detect if you don't read it at the right time. Lewis subtley addresses struggle and what struggle is. I highly recomment this book - I keep it on my desk at all times.
My favorite quote:
"You are guilty of no e...more
My favorite quote:
"You are guilty of no e...more
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While Lewis is more famous for Narnia, this is the first book in another series that takes place in Space. This book is different because it draws back to the colonian books like Heart of Darkness while at the same time, keeping it light enough for the child reader.
This is another book that changes when you read it as an adult. Things unfold differently, and you gain a deeper appreciation for the main character, a Linguist (which imm...more
This is another book that changes when you read it as an adult. Things unfold differently, and you gain a deeper appreciation for the main character, a Linguist (which imm...more
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The main idea in this book was intriguing (I won't spoil it with specifics here) the only thing is that the introduction phase monopolized most of the book, I remember being stunned at the ending, one grand sweep of the climax and before I knew it the book was done. However, usual C. S. Lewis genius kept my interest, even when the plot got slow he had perceptions and insights to keep the reader engaged. I marked it at three rather than four because it was a work of fiction and I expected it to k...more
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Read in January, 1999
recommends it for:
die hard fans of CS Lewis, those interested in the evolution of the sci-fi genre
This book is very dry, and some of it is a bit hokey (the science aspects), and yet it is very creative, especially for the time it was written. it's a good read for the historic value, watching the development of science fiction as a genre. I know there's supposed to be allegorical Christian meaning in the book trilogy (this IS C.S. Lewis, after all.), but I never really got that. Maybe you need to read the other two books to get that. I haven't yet, because the first book wasn't involving enou...more
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Read in June, 2007
I first read this one as a teenager, and have been fascinated with the idea of not only life on other planets, but religion on other planets ever since. But then, why should the Earth be the only planet God ever revealed Himself to? If indeed there is life on other planets, wouldn't it make more sense that God revealed Himself there too, rather than that he didn't? It's a brilliant book, and the descriptions of Malechandra wonderfully other-worldly. It's the first in a trilogy (the two others be...more
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Read in January, 2008
I was first drawn to this book by a reviewer's quote on the back cover: "If you liked the Narnia books as a child, you'll love C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy as an adult!" or something like that. That was pretty surprising to me, as I had never heard of the Space Trilogy, and had just randomly pulled it off the library shelf. But as one who loves the Narnia series, I thought I'd give it a chance.
I thought this first book was very interesting. It didn't ca...more
I thought this first book was very interesting. It didn't ca...more
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Read in May, 2008
I have to admit, I feel guilty for some reason posting such a low rating of what is supposed to be some of the best sci-fi of our time, especially any book written by C.S.Lewis. I just never got into the story, and the deeper meanings were obscured by the tediousness of slogging through a book I never gained interest in. In fact, I dropped its sequel, Perelandra, off my reading list and have already shipped them off to someone who hopefully gets more out of them than I did. I think I'll need ...more
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