C.S. Lewis, The Discarded Image:The fascinating story of  the medieval  picture, or image, of the universe, which inspired the great literature of that period –  told by a man who delighted in and revered that image and who saw clearly its points of superiority to the modern view which has displaced it. This was the last book C.S. Lewis wrote, and many consider it his best. It was meant to provide a real understanding of the way the medievals viewed the universe, so that modern readers could properly appreciate the literature they wrote. And it does that job magnificently. But it does something more. It explores the problems of world models – in any age – and their influence on the mind. And it celebrates one principle in the medieval model above all others, the principle of Order (for which the Greek name is Logos).

As reviewer Helen Gardner observed: “His wonderful gusto [and] the range of his learning are displayed to the full. Nobody else would have imposed such form on such a mass of matter, and written a book so wide in scope and implication.”