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Top Ten Books That Influenced C.S. Lewis

In 1962 The Christian Century magazine published C.S. Lewis’s answer to the question, “What books did most to shape your vocational attitude and your philosophy of life?” Here is C.S. Lewis’s list:

  1. Phantastes by George MacDonald.
  2. The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton.
  3. The Aeneid by Virgil.
  4. The Temple by George Herbert.
  5. The Prelude by William Wordsworth.
  6. The Idea of the Holy by Rudolf Otto.
  7. The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius.
  8. Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell.
  9. Descent into Hell by Charles Williams.
  10. Theism and Humanism by Arthur James Balfour.

[From the June 6, 1962 issue of The Christian Century]

John G. West

Senior Fellow, Managing Director, and Vice President of Discovery Institute
Dr. John G. West is Vice President of the Seattle-based Discovery Institute and Managing Director of the Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. Formerly the Chair of the Department of Political Science and Geography at Seattle Pacific University, West is an award-winning author and documentary filmmaker who has written or edited 12 books, including Darwin Day in America: How Our Politics and Culture Have Been Dehumanized in the Name of Science, The Magician’s Twin: C. S. Lewis on Science, Scientism, and Society, and Walt Disney and Live Action: The Disney Studio’s Live-Action Features of the 1950s and 60s. His documentary films include Fire-Maker, Revolutionary, The War on Humans, and (most recently) Human Zoos. West holds a PhD in Government from Claremont Graduate University, and he has been interviewed by media outlets such as CNN, Fox News, Reuters, Time magazine, The New York Times, USA Today, and The Washington Post.

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