The Inklings

I'm certainly not alone, but C.S. Lewis significantly affected and shaped how I think -- and how I want to think -- about the world.  It's not only the Narnia books and the Space Trilogy (though I still think they're wonderful) and it's also not the more famous apologetics works, like Mere Christianity.  For me, a little book (his last) called The Discarded Image, along with a short essay called "The Weight of Glory," were key.  I've cited often, both in published work and in talks, the following passage from the latter:

“There are no ordinary people.  You have never talked to a mere mortal.  Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat.  But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.”

(In fact, "Everlasting Splendours" is the title of this chapter I did in a really nice volume on Catholic legal thought edited by our own Michael Scaperlanda and Teresa Collett.) 

Anyway . . . the Chronicle has this review of this new book, by Carol and Philip Zaleski on "The Inklings."  Check it out.