July 4th 2008

Happy July 4th! God bless America and America, please start trusting God!

We are going to a baseball game later on. It's going to have the "best" fireworks so I will bring my ear plugs (ie my fingers. but those always go with me so nevermind.)

Well here is a book report I recently finished! Great book. I am not a big reader, but this is a book I may read again some time.

That Hideous Strength by CS Lewis 
Book Report by Robert Blaine Cochran III

 That Hideous Strength was first published in 1945, four years before he finished writing The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I really enjoyed this third and final novel in the Space (or Cosmic) Trilogy. It delves deep into the philosophy of objective science and man's hunger for power beyond physical limits.
  The fantasy takes place in early 19th century England, shortly after the World War The two main characters, Mark and Jane Studdock are both struggling through their early married life, wondering why the ever bothered with loving each other. Lewis created a brilliant tension by painting Mark as an “all work and no play” university professor, and Jane is an avid feminist who is constantly telling herself that she doesn't really need Mark.
  Things get worse when Mark gets in involved with the sinister, Nazi like, NICE ( National Institute of Co-ordinated Experiments). By subtly controlling the press and the universities worldwide, the NICE plans to ultimately demolish nature as we know it, and replace it with an artificial, non-organic world, run by human brains that are mechanically supported. I found it quite interesting that the NICE had no clear goal for themselves. All they seemed to want to do was wipe nature off the planet and establish a barren world like the moon, which they think is inhabited by great mind forces that keep it clean and organized. But as the book goes on, you find that the NICE is being told what to do by the demons, who only care about destroying the world, and will use any means, like the NICE to reach their goal. Jane on the other hand joins the “good guys” who are led by the main character of the first two books, Dr Ransom. Ransom and his followers are led by angelic spirits who give Ransom instruction and council on how to defeat their hideous enemy.
 CS Lewis's writing style is very enjoyable to read. You really get to know the characters and situations so well, that you feel as though you are right there in the story yourself! Also, Lewis subtly makes some very good points in this book about the dangers of putting science before values or reason and trusting in one's own self to be able to save them. 
 Reading this book was both enjoyable and thought provoking. We all can fall subject to the idea that things we have made can save us. And we are all in need of redemption. This story is somewhat intense in places, so I do not advise that children read it. But it should be an enjoyable experience for mature teenagers to adults.  

(ps. ..... It was longer in double spaced)