Rating: 
Summary: What Now My Love?
Review: Doing a book review on CS Lewis' "The Four Loves" brings forth an entire new meaning on 'a writer's block'. To expound this extraordinary Lewis' work on the four New Testament Greek "love" words - storge (natural affection), philia (friendship, love), eros (attraction, sexual love), and agape (love, charity) - amounts to nothing more than a leaky version of the Cliff Notes at best. There are Lewis' scholars who could do far more justice to this work than I. The long and short of "The Four Loves" is this. The three "loves" (storge, philia, and eros) are stemmed from agape (God's perfect love). Each is fractured and flawed since the Fall. Underlying all that we do, in both good and not so good, are these shades of loves. All are a fragment of and a divagation from the origin. The agape. Our forms of love have fallen short and are in need of mending. Only God's love mends. If your affectionate other were to ask after a romantic candlelit dinner, "What now my love?" Don't sing. Lean forward and cup her hand, you segue to say, "Eros makes promises. Romance must die in marriage, and that marriage requires affection." Saying this may or may not take you to places you've never been - for the better or for the worst. Your look of love, however, could only change for the better. Thanks to Lewis.
Rating:
Summary: What Now My Love?
Review: Doing a book review on CS Lewis' "The Four Loves" brings forth an entire new meaning on 'a writer's block'. To expound this extraordinary Lewis' work on the four New Testament Greek "love" words - storge (natural affection), philia (friendship, love), eros (attraction, sexual love), and agape (love, charity) - amounts to nothing more than a leaky version of the Cliff Notes at best. There are Lewis' scholars who could do far more justice to this work than I. The long and short of "The Four Loves" is this. The three "loves" (storge, philia, and eros) are stemmed from agape (God's perfect love). Each is fractured and flawed since the Fall. Underlying all that we do, in both good and not so good, are these shades of loves. All are a fragment of and a divagation from the origin. The agape. Our forms of love have fallen short and are in need of mending. Only God's love mends. If your affectionate other were to ask after a romantic candlelit dinner, "What now my love?" Don't sing. Lean forward and cup her hand, you segue to say, "Eros makes promises. Romance must die in marriage, and that marriage requires affection." Saying this may or may not take you to places you've never been - for the better or for the worst. Your look of love, however, could only change for the better. Thanks to Lewis.
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating study of the various types of love
Review: Everything from the love of a mother for her children to the love of husbands and wives is covered in this book. Lewis ponders the ways in which we show affection and brotherly love, etc. A deeply rewarding read!
Rating:
Summary: If You Love C.S. Lewis, You Must Have These Tapes
Review: Far more than merely a "book on tape", these tapes contain a series of lectures which (I'm guessing) were delivered before the writing of the book "The Four Loves". The words of the book are more polished and the ideas more expanded but I actually find these talks more accessible than the book itself, although both are very fine. These tapes are also the only professional recordings of the actual voice of C.S. Lewis which we still have, and as such are a priceless treasure. His voice sounds a little like Winston Churchill's and his droll sense of humor sparkles throughout. Though not a Christian myself, I find a lot of inspiration in Lewis's thoughts. I know that whenever I reread any of his books from now on, I will hear his rich, warm, dry baritone voice in my head.
Rating:
Summary: Work of Genius
Review: First off, this book is not for the simple minded. I had to read over some paragraphs a couple of times to understand what Lewis was saying. But nevertheless it is thought provoking, insightful and very engaging. This goes down as one of my all time favorite reads. Excellent book!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: For those parents who have "encouraged" their teenage children to read "I Kissed Dating Goodbye", I would recommend "The Four Loves" far more. I am sixteen, and I read this book not long ago - I was absolutely speechless when I finished the last page. It is, by far, one of the most profound books I have ever read on ANY subject, not just love. C.S. Lewis seems to get stronger with each page, and his observations about today's understanding of love are right on. His insight as he places the four loves in priority with God and fellow man is astounding. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone.
Rating:
Summary: With Agape for All
Review: I approached this writing with some prior experience and formal study of love. Consequently, I cannot judge with complete objectivity, how one might feel about The Four Loves if this was one of their first exposures to the concept. The book made perfect sense to me and was as captivating as any of Mr. Lewis's writings. While the book was not entirely ordered in the way that I would have liked, he adds his own concepts to the Greek notions of agape, storge, philos and eros. These additions help to explain the Greek notions to the modern reader and are at least as meaningful. They even suggest further ways in which to better understand that extremely nebulous word. He sees much farther in matters of loves than the typical modern writer. His knowledge of Renaissance and Medieval literature and history gives him a deep well of insights from which to draw and reveals how deficient the English language is in some basic areas of humanity despite having over 1/2 million words. Lewis points us clearly in the direction of Christianity and the necessary selflessness it prescribes. Until we are truly selfless in attitude and not only in deed, we miss the Christian point of view.
I like the way he makes me think. This was my second Lewis book, after Screwtape, and it firmed my resolve to read more.
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: I own nearly 1000 books, of which a few I have multiple copies of: The Bible, Sun Tzu's The Art of War, The Prince. This book I have only one copy of, but have bought at least 5 that I can recall off-hand. That's because I loan it out, and it rarely gets returned (folks always return the Bibles, for some reason...). Anyone concerned with the nature and types of love should read this book. C.S. Lewis compares and contrasts love of God, Family, Lovers, and Friends in a way that makes good sense, is easy to understand, and is practical in real life. Should be required reading for anyone that has just started a relationship of any kind, or just ended a relationship for any reason.
Rating:
Summary: What IS Love?
Review: I wish I could thank C.S. Lewis for writing this book! Not only was it a joy to read, but it has helped change my life as a person and as a Christian. Those who are not Christians would even enjoy this book! His analysis of the different types of love from an academic and a theological viewpoint is very gentle to the soul and easy on the mind. I didn't expect it, but reading this book caused me to examine the types of love in my life, both in giving and receiving, and after doing so, lessened so much of the heartache I had before reading its pages. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wonders what love is, or if love is even worth having.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretentious to the core
Review: If writing is a form of communication, C.S. Lewis must be talking gibberish. I think this book was not intended to simplify the meaning of love but to add complexity to it. Lewis' writing is so pretentious that you could hardly understand 'what...' he is talking about. Since this book is quite old, if your looking for a book to help you understand love, this book is not it! If your looking for a writing to rival Shakespeare, then maybe this book is up to par (the author qoutes Shakespear mind you). Before you even think of buying this book I suggest you read the "excerpt" that Amazon.com is providing, just to see if you can stand Lewis' writing style. After spending 30 minutes reading it, I could barely understand what he is talking about. The book is very disorganized, although it does proclaim to define love into four categories: "affection, friendship, eros, charity". Each section is written like an essay that you get the feeling Lewis must be writing as the thoughts comes to him, thus everything is in disarray. Either that or the author 'really' is trying to confuse its readers, take this introduction for example: "There was no doubt which was more like Love Himself. Divine Love is Gift-love. The Father gives all He is and has to the Son. The Son gives Himself back to the Father, gives Himself to the world, and for the world to the Father, and thus gives the world (in Himself) back to the father too." Wow, try expressing this statement in First Order Logic! The author also often makes his own definitions of words (ex. 'maternal vampire? pg 66). This book is very hard to understand and those who claim to understand it are either just pretending or just as confused and mistake confusion with 'understanding'. Since the book is written so ambiguously, anyone can make generalizations as to what the author truly means. Writing is a form of communication after all. What good is it if not a lot of people can understand what he is talking about, this book truly is outdated in its style of writing. At least today's self-help books are writen more coherently. I don't even think the author knows what he is talking about.
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