The Four Loves

By: C. S. Lewis

Narrated by: C. S. Lewis

Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

A remarkable audio edition of C.S. Lewis' beloved classic - the only existing recording of Lewis reading his own work.

C.S. Lewis - the great British writer, scholar, theologian, broadcaster, Christian apologist, and bestselling author of Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many other beloved classics - explores the essence of love and how it works in our daily lives in one of his most famous works of nonfiction based on his series of radio talks from 1958.

With penetrating logic and charming wit, Lewis explores the four aspects of love: affection, the most basic form; friendship, the rarest and perhaps most insightful; Eros, passionate love; and charity, the greatest and least selfish.

Lewis exposes the pitfalls in our loves, leading us to the agape love that God has for humankind and the type of love we must develop to nurture our relationships. Throughout this compassionate and methodical study, he encourages readers to open themselves to all forms of love - the key to understanding that brings us closer to God.

• Features vintage BBC narration by C.S. Lewis
• New introduction and commentary by Charles Colson
• Discussion questions available in the audiobook companion PDF download

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio. 

©1960 C. S. Lewis (P)1970, 1982, 1994, 2004 The Episcopal Media Center

Critic Reviews

"The chapter on charity (love of God) may be the best thing Lewis ever wrote about Christianity." (Amazon.com)

Insightful Views on Love

It is a great treat to hear Lewis' voice. But be aware that this is not the exact same material as his book that bears the same title. Rather it is from a series of radio broadcasts prior to the publication of the book.
The material is still very insightful, even though the book itself contain additional material.

Not the full book

This is an incomplete recording of the printed version of the book - the introductory chapter and the chapter on love for the sub-human are missing. Presumably there is no recording of Lewis reading those. The chapters on the respective four loves are present, together with a largely unhelpful introduction and commentary by Charles Colson (one wonders why he was chosen for this role). The commentary detracts considerably from Lewis's own readings, and certainly did not make up for the missing content. Colson's comments are interjected before each chapter, and one wishes that Lewis had been left to read through the chapters on offer without interruption. Thankfully, Colson offers no closing thoughts, so Lewis is at least permitted the final word. Unfortunately, this recording seems to be the only one available. Because the book is a must-read (or listen), and if the printed version is not an acceptable option for any reason, then this recording will have to suffice.

Lewis's Own Voice: an Acquired Taste

Any additional comments?

C. S. Lewis is my favorite author, but I was almost horror-stricken the first time I heard his voice. He sounded to me like he was looking down his nose, and unfriendly. But I kept listening, mostly out of sheer novelty. And now, all sorts of qualties, tones, colors, nuances, and inflections have settled in and I find that not only do I enjoy his voice, but I almost can't understand how I had such an aversion to it. I think there's just been a lot lost in the lecture manner of 1950's Oxford/Cambridge, until what was excellent, clear, and forceful once comes off as cold and affected now. But in his day, nobody packed the house for lectures like Lewis. And it wasn't just his ideas, but his voice they loved. There are many accounts of this. So, if you are turned off at first, keep going and see if you don't end up loving it.I know, by the way, that this wasn't just a matter of "getting used to it" or forcing myself to like it because I like Lewis. Because I tried to apply the same acclimation to a particularly obnoxious narrator who happened to perform my favorite novel of all time. But try as I might, I couldn't take the guy.Lastly, if you find the commentary (I believe it's Dobson, but I could be wrong) before each of the loves to be jarring - as I did - you can order a CD version of these recordings plus two other CD's of Lewis reading a paper on The Pilgrim's Progress and a longish paper he wrote when he took his position at Cambridge, all for 20 bucks from the folks at Episcopal Media Center. They call the collection "C S Lewis Speaks His Mind." In addition to the extra material, the Four Loves recordings are presented without commentary. (I hope Audible doesn't mind my plugging their version here, but Audible doesn't have those other recordings available.) Just google "C S Lewis Speaks His Mind" and it'll pop right up.

Hearing this book in his own voice was incredible.

CS Lewis is such a profound thinker, and his insight into the types of love and how they grow or fail is so perceptive. While the reading isn't up-tempo or fast paced, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Lewis himself reading this. It was more like having your grandfather give you really great insight into a matter than hearing a motivational speaker talk about it, and this seemed to make it more tangible.

C.S. Lewis read by C.S. Lewis

This is an amazing piece. Considering it was recorded over 50 years ago, the quality is pretty good. I highly recommend it.

Lewisneeds no introduction

Lewis was superb, erudite and easy to follow. Coleson should be deleted. His voice is irritating and his introductions to the four sections, which should be divided into four chapters, deleted. He leads the listener down HIS path, instead of allowing the listener to be lead down the path he himself needs to hear. Delete the commentaries and you have an excellent book. Unfortunately, Coleson destroys this aspect unless you rise up and hit fast forward multiple times until you get to Lewis himself, by which time I was totally irritated. Find me a different Audible version, please.

A classic. Lewis reading Lewis

Thanks for preserving for us this classic recording of insight into how we truly love and must love as we grow in Christian maturity.

I LOVE C.S. Lewis!

Being able to hear my favorite author was truly a treat for me! I have already listened to this recording several times and I get something new from it each time. C.S. Lewis puts a concept that has been convoluted and scrambled for so long into such beautiful terms that it is nearly impossible to not understand at least one part of loves spectrum.

Personally, I would be ok without Chuck Coulson's input during the section breaks... But other than that I absolutely
Love this audiobook.

Not the actual book!

Totally got dubbed...was fully expecting the actual audio book to find out these are lectures. Great for what they are, but NOT AN AUDIO BOOK!

Fascinating

I had to listen to this more than once to get all the nuances of Lewis speaking. That said, it is very applicable to everyday life. A clear understanding of the concepts of love and how they are portrayed in daily life

Lewis at his incisive best

This series of four readings, which I think were originally broadcast on the radio, give Lewis' thoughts on the four types of love. His analysis is incisive and intelligent, but at the same time witty and not at all dry. I have certainly learned a lot from this recording, and you'll probably find you need to listen to it more than once to get the gain of it. Highly recommended.

Ashling

It is so wonderful to hear C.S Lewis read his own piece. Only he can read it the way he truly intended it and i wish there were more recordings of his voice. This is great to listen to, i've enjoyed it so much i've listened to it quite a number of times now. Only Lewis can accomplish this brilliant mix of profound wit and wisdom, which brings so much insight into our relationships and our relationship with God...of course, i'm convinced to God's delight, without taking ourselves so seriously.

Excellent

Plain, understandable and erudite. A thoroughly enjoyable book

Very interesting!

I leaned a lot! The study guide that comes with it helps things stick.

5 for C.S. Lewis 0 for abhorrent Introductions!

These recordings are priceless. They are beautifully recorded, well preserved and the content and performance of C. S. Lewis are perfect! 5 Stars!!!

Unfortunately, some imbecile has taped onto this a series of "commentaries" or rather Introductions that are Appalling in three ways:
1) Although recorded nearly 50 years later than C. S. Lewis's talks the sound quality is disgraceful! The buzzy, muffled voice sounds like it was scratched onto a wax cylinder!
2) These are called commentaries but rather than coming after each talk they come before. Alright, but then give a summary (the majority of them are direct quotes) of what you are about to hear (including the conclusions!) and adds NOTHING original or additional to Lewis's own observations.
This would make sense if Lewis was an ancient, academic theologian that needed explanation to a modern audience but Lewis was The great populist theologian! His great acclaim came from his ability to communicate ideas previously the domain of scholars and priests to the ordinary man or woman on the street (it's why he was asked to do the talks in the first place). It's like sticking a post it note on a book by Dickens with a summary of the plot (ending and all). Underminding the "thought experiment" Lewis is taking us through.
3) Finally, it isn't even accurate or basically researched. They continually say that these talks are based on Lewis's book 'The Four Loves' but it is the other way around! He gave these talks and Later decided to go deeper into the subject by writing a book.

So 5 star performance, content and overall to Lewis.
0 star for the brainless, talentless clowns whose hands these gems have fallen into and have set in a cheap plastic bangle.

Loved it!!

I absolutely love this book. Makes you think about the theology of the afterlife and also of the now.😀

The 4 loves

A theologian ,a philosopher And an apologetic christian describes the four emotions human beings have.

Another Great Read from Lewis.

What made the experience of listening to The Four Loves the most enjoyable?

Authors narrating their own books are always a better experience - first time I got to hear CS Lewis' voice.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Four Loves?

It's all good could have elaborated more on agape.

What does C.S. Lewis bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Himself.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

All of it.

Classic, appealing Lewis

What made the experience of listening to The Four Loves the most enjoyable?

It was wonderful to hear the voice of C.S. Lewis reading his own book - I've never heard a recording of him before.

What did you like best about this story?

The Four Loves is an interesting little book. I'm not sure I agree with all that Lewis says in it, and I think I'll need to listen to it again before I understand some things, but everything is clear, well-defended and sensible in classic Lewis style. It isn't a difficult book in the sense that it can only be understood by the very intelligent or the philosophically-minded (neither of which descriptions ought to be applied to me), but it still managed to give me a feeling of having listened to something important.

What does C.S. Lewis bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

His voice! Some of the points he makes in The Four Loves are very simple and everyday, but some take more thought to get your head around. Listening to what he places most emphasis on helps to highlight the important bits in places where fools like me blink in confusion!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No - the book itself is very conveniently divided up into four distinct chapters (the Audible version pairs these up to have two chapters). I stopped after each one to let what had been said sink in a bit.

Any additional comments?

I could have done without the inane 'commentary' of the guy who popped up a few times to say 'Hey! Here's another chapter! C.S.Lewis is totally awesome'. It was unnecessary and added nothing whatsoever to The Four Loves. On the other hand, there was so little of it that it really didn't impact on the book itself at all.

must read by all people who want to love

learn to love what you really mean to love and let people love you the way you want to be loved.