Out of the Silent Planet, Part 1 in C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy

 'Out of the Silent Planet', the 1st in Lewis' Space Trilogy, was absolutely nothing like I expected it to be. The journey of Ransom I found quite delectable. Really, this book proves to me why vintage Sci Fi is the best!

I find several things of interest within that I believe are of importance in relating.

The most obvious is [ SPOILER ALERT ] that the book centers around the planet Mars. I find this ironic given today's Mars conspiracy theorists such as Richard C. Hoagland. Hoagland is quite interesting to listen to, though I highly suspect mass pareidolia. I might throw in that Tesla suspected life on Mars, as does NASA, though they have failed to prove it (or have succeeded in hiding it) . It is a fascinating planet, Mars.

I found Lewis' description of the eldila, Oyarsa, and Maleldil to be quite thought provoking. They, nearly invisible beings, were hindered from being whole in our world as we are hindered from even perceiving theirs—which is the Heavens. As Lewis put it, if you go so fast, you become still. They were creatures of Light, different from ours. His digression on Light and the Universe was quite stimulating.

Essentially, Malacandra is a Garden of Eden with not one but 3 intelligent races. Lewis did an excellent job at developing each race. We had the Thinkers (Giants), Builders (Dwarves), and Poets (Beast-like).

The Fall had never happened on Malacandra, though they did experience repercussions from Earth's fall—which was in fact the fall of Earth's Oyarsa.

Within this peculiar world, Lewis is able to look back to Earth and reflect upon its inhabitants, its history, and its future. He succeeds in illuminating the failures of humanity and why postmodern materialism and the humanist's goals (Weston) are not logical (think of London's Wolf Larsen as the example of modern man).

Ransom's eventual meeting with Oyarsa reveals much— not only to the story, but to Christian thought, and to Lewis' own unique and deep thoughts on God an the Universe.

I can't imagine where the other 2 books in the trilogy will go from here, though I suspect Weston (as well as Ransom) will play a part!