The Narnia Code: C. S. Lewis and the Secret of the Seven Heavens Paperback – November 1, 2010

This is a very easy and fun book to explain the medieval mind of C.S. Lewis' views on the planetary model and how it influenced the writing of the Narnia novels! If you want the more academic text then go and read Michael Ward's longer book called Planet Narnia. But the Narnia Code is a perfect primer on the subject for a quick understanding.

Did CS Lewis have a grand plan in mind as he wrote The Chronicles of Narnia? Was there some underlying theme that guided him as he created characters, scenes and details? And why did he have Father Christmas appear in a world that would not know the nativity story?Intriguing questions, all of them; some pondered by Lewis scholars, others by fans of the series. Michael Ward, in his book The Narnia Code: CS Lewis and the Secret of the Seven Heavens, offers fascinating answers. Written as "the little brother" of Planet Narnia, Ward takes his doctoral dissertation and condenses it into a very readable and informative book.Ward explains that Lewis, as a scholar of medieval literature, was well versed in classical mythology. Lewis loved the idea of the planets as influencers over men, each with its own character and images. Ward proposed that each of the Chronicles are inspired by one of the planets included in the ancient understanding of our solar system: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the sun and the moon.Chapter after chapter, Ward makes his case. It is a compelling one. The writer in me delights in learning that seemingly meaningless details, like the redness of a robin's breast, ties into the symbolism of the planet inspiring that particular chronicle (in this case, red being the color associated with Jupiter.)Some might think that use of classical mythology can hardly be fitting for a Christian author. Lewis takes the old myths and uses them for his own purpose. Each Chronicle either shows a different aspect or facet of God, or teaches a lesson about faith in Him.As a reader who has long loved The Chronicles of Narnia, I was fascinated by The Narnia Code and read nearly all of it in one sitting. As a writer, I was stunned by the layers Lewis used to construct the Narnian world and the stories he told, all working in harmony with the myths and images from classical and medieval literature. Understanding the meaning behind some of Lewis' images add even more to an already rich and enjoyable series.

After page 83 the pages are out of order. It is brilliantly written, the thinking and research behind this small tomb is astonishing. I think and feel this book is significant and important. It is revelatory! It is one of the rare books in life crossing all the boarders, maybe we get a glimpse of Aslan's Land! Thank you Michael Ward for decades of work well done. Now you can notice your breath. Thank you very much. On the first note, please get the publishers to fix the folio problem with page assembly. I'd buy another copy but don't want a repeat of the same assembly errors. My "return" to Amazon timed out as I didn't start reading it immediately after receiving it. All great good wishes, Come see my Narnia lantern some day if you get to Alaska! Joseph

In THE SILVER CHAIR, the three main characters stumble through a ruinous city in a snowstorm; only later, looking down from a great height, do they realize that all the channels and walls they traversed were spelling out the very sign they were looking for: "UNDER ME." Reading either of Ward's books, PLANET NARNIA or THE NARNIA CODE, is a rather similar experience. With Ward's help the long romp through the seven books of Narnia (much more pleasant than trudging through a snow storm, of course) can be seen as from a great height or distance. And what do we see; what does Ward show us? What, in fact, good readers of Lewis can't believe they didn't see years ago -- the medieval heavens that delighted Lewis's fertile mind and formed the core of his academic life. We stand dumbstruck at any number of things -- our own blindness, Ward's audacity, his thoroughness, and his complete success.Though his insights are just a few years old and the field of Lewis studies is large and growing, Ward's view of the Narniad seems poised to sweep the field. Alan Jacobs, author of THE NARNIAN, treats Ward's view as established fact in the new Cambridge Companion to Lewis -- high and serious praise indeed.If you find PLANET NARNIA, which I believe is essentially his PhD dissertation, daunting, this is the book for you. It is masterful; virtually every page brings a gasp of "Oh, how clever!"; and, for adult readers for whom Narnia is a familiar country, it offers an experience close to seeing Narnia again for the first time.