⋙ PDF Free Surprised by Joy The Shape of My Early Life CS Lewis 9780151001859 Books

Surprised by Joy The Shape of My Early Life CS Lewis 9780151001859 Books

Download As PDF : Surprised by Joy The Shape of My Early Life CS Lewis 9780151001859 Books

Surprised by Joy The Shape of My Early Life CS Lewis 9780151001859 Books

I made the mistake of purchasing this printing of C.S. Lewis' book without checking reviews. Although the book written by C.S. Lewis is a good one, I would encourage buyers of this book to purchase one from a different publisher. This edition was very difficult to read, because it has many, many typographical errors, uses very small font size that is hard to read, and on every page, substitutes parts of words with symbols or the wrong letters, and occasionally leaves out words altogether. There is no editor or publishing house mentioned in the book itself.


Tags : Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life [C.S. Lewis] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <DIV>In this book Lewis tells of his search for joy, a spiritual journey that led him from the Christianity of his early youth into atheism and then back to Christianity. This book,C.S. Lewis,Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life,Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,0151001855,Religious,Anglican converts;England;Biography.,Authors, English;20th century;Biography.,Christian biography;England.,20th century,Anglican converts,Authors, English,Biography,Biography & Autobiography,Biography & Autobiography Literary,Biography & Autobiography Religious,Biography Autobiography,BiographyAutobiography,Childhood and youth,Christian biography,England,Lewis, C. S,Lewis, C. S. (Clive Staples), 1898-1963,Literary,(Clive Staples),,1898-1963

Surprised by Joy The Shape of My Early Life CS Lewis 9780151001859 Books Reviews

The negativity of this rating has nothing to do with the work of CS Lewis and everything to do with the absence of editing. Typos and spelling errors absolutely plague this kindle edition. Considering the fact that most readers who are interested in this work have some familiarity with academic quality, I am surprised that such an edition found its way into the market at all. This is a poor decision on behalf of everyone involved with this publication.
C.S. Lewis gives an outstanding philosophical explanation of the consistency of the Christian world view and how miracles are consistent with such an outlook - and does it in such an engaging manner typical of his excellent writing skills. Some of the philosophical points are quite deep and illustrate the breadth and depth of C.S. Lewis's understanding of philosophy as well as his good acquaintance with the findings of modern science. The genius of C.S. Lewis is showing the unique and profound difference of the Christian message compared to other philosophies, presenting it in a very straightforward and understandable manner and showing how the overall consistency of this viewpoint meshes well with real experience. Whether someone accepts the message or not, I would think it would be difficult to argue against the coherency of the picture presented here.
"But what, in conclusion, of Joy? For that, after all, is what the story has mainly been about. To tell you the truth, the subject has lost nearly all interest for me since I became a Christian." From final page of Surprised by Joy.

This book describes C. S. Lewis's intellectual journey from Atheism to Christianity, and how the felt experience he calls Joy led him there. After conversion, the Joy that once made everything else in his life pale in comparison became a subject of disinterest to Lewis. His pursuit of the pearl of great price seems to end in an existential malaise. Was Joy just a cosmic bait-and-switch?

Lewis's journey begins with early experiences that produced in his imagination "an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any satisfaction." (p. 18.) These inward experiences filled him with enormous bliss and created an inconsolable longing for something he knew not. The experiences would pass in a moment but they left behind "a longing for the longing that had just ceased" and "everything else that had ever happened to me was insignificant in comparison." (16.) Of this Joy, Lewis wrote that "the central story of my life is about nothing else." (17.)

Yet, in connection with his final steps toward Christianity, "No kind of desire was present at all." (231.) Lewis did not attribute his eventual belief in Jesus as the Son of God to an intellectual or emotional decision, or even a determined will. Rather, he describes his conversion in existentialist terms "[A] man is what he does; there is nothing of him left over or outside the act. As for what we commonly call Will, and what we commonly call Emotion, I fancy these usually talk too loud, protest too much, to be quite believed, and we have a secret suspicion that the great passion or the iron resolution is partly a put-up job." (237.)

Looking back on Joy, Lewis wrote, "I now know that the experience, considered as a state of my own mind, had never had the kind of importance I once gave it. It was valuable only as a pointer to something other and outer." The experiences of Joy were relegated to the "lower life of the imagination." They conveyed no spiritual knowledge and imparted no spiritual life "This lower life of the imagination is not a beginning of, nor a step toward, the higher life of the spirit, merely an image. In me, at any rate, it contained no element either of belief or of ethics; however far pursued, it would never have made me either wiser or better." (167.) No wonder, then, that the subject of Joy had lost nearly all interest for Lewis as a Christian.

What leaves this book on a somewhat minor note is that Lewis never describes a real Christian spiritual experience that comes anywhere close to uplifting the soul as Joy did. Nowhere does Lewis speak of Christian experience that compared in any way to the Joy that had filled him with enormous bliss, created inconsolable longing, made all else insignificant in comparison, and of which he would say "the central story of my life is about nothing else." The book ends with the impression that the existential act of belief was the definitive mark of Lewis's Christian experience. There seemed to be no analog for Joy in his own Christianity as there was, for example, with Bernard of Clairvaux who could write

"We taste Thee, O Thou Living Bread
and long to feast upon Thee still
We drink of Thee the Fountain Head
and thirst our souls from Thee to fill"
I only give this two stars to represent the content itself being very good - otherwise I would give it one. I rarely take the time to review books, as a busy Mom of four, I barely get time to read them much less review them. But I thought customers should know this book is strangely and terribly printed. If there are other reviews saying this then I guess I should have read them. It has missing words, missing or wrong punctuation, numbers in the place of letters sometimes..! What?? I can still make out the story so I will deal with it, but it sure is annoying. I have attached a couple photos so you can play the see-how-many-typos-you-can-find game. Undoubtedly more than in this hurried review. It's like a college paper before any edits, typed in haste and delirious from lack of sleep... Order from another seller and enjoy intriguing autobiographical writing from dear old Jack (Lewis).
Take note - this product is "print to order" which means that when you order, it is printed and shipped out.
Mine has a production date of November 4, 2016.

Unfortunately, there are several attributable flawsSurprised by Joy The Shape of My Early Life which make this a poorly produced item. The first printed page contains a simple listing of the content and a forward by C.S.L.
1 - There are no page numbers
2 - The typeset and layout are fatiguing to the reader with indistinct paragraphs and only vague chapter divisions with no break in pagination.
3 - There are many typos and "orphaned" words and sentences. I counted five on the 12th printed page alone.

I suggest you seek a standard published and printed version of the book.
I made the mistake of purchasing this printing of C.S. Lewis' book without checking reviews. Although the book written by C.S. Lewis is a good one, I would encourage buyers of this book to purchase one from a different publisher. This edition was very difficult to read, because it has many, many typographical errors, uses very small font size that is hard to read, and on every page, substitutes parts of words with symbols or the wrong letters, and occasionally leaves out words altogether. There is no editor or publishing house mentioned in the book itself.