As wonderful a book as I've read in some time. The author, Nicholi, walks a narrow, but fair path between both Lewis's and Freud's divergent philosophies on God and spirituality. As someone who has never read anything written by either Freud, OR Lewis, I found this book to be an amazing insight into their psyches as they grew and developed into adults, and grew to either embrace or grow disgusted with the world.

Where Lewis sees a positivity and a goodness to await, Freud sees only the negative, and horrors or sadness to await. Lewis, who in mid-life, rejected his former atheistic beliefs, became a man reborn. In rejecting the idea of nothingness, and the claim that there is no God, saw his entire life changed. He became more aware of his own feelings and inner-criticism, and reacted differently to it.

Freud, who is shown as an atheist (a reluctant one at that), always seemed to see negative outcomes, and expected negative reactions when faced with difficult situations. Freud found himself become pre-occupied with death, while only in his early 40s. Freud also seems to have set up excuses for failing relationships and conveniently found religion to be one of the easiest excuses to use (he frequently blamed antisemitism and the Catholic Church for falling outs with other psychologists and acquaintances).