The Screwtape Letters
by C. S. Lewis · first published 1942
47% recommend53% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Letters from a senior demon to a junior tempter that expose everyday moral failings and self-deception. Readers value the sharp psychology and prose, and say it works even for non-Christians and on rereading.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A milestone in the history of popular theology, The Screwtape Letters is an iconic classic on spiritual warfare and the dynamics of temptation.This profound and striking narrative takes the form of a series of letters from Screwtape, a devil high in the Infernal Civil Service, to his nephew Wormwood, a junior colleague engaged in his first mission on earth, trying to secure the damnation of a young man who has just become a Christian. Although the young man initially looks to be a willing victim, he changes his ways and is "lost" to the young devil.Dedicated to Lewis's friend and colleague J.
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Any claimed author who's not read The Screwtape Letters has no business writing modern literature.
on “Excuse me but why are you eating so many frogs” ↗Besides Dostoevsky, there is abundant wisdom and deep truths to be found in the classics of Christianity. The apologetics of C.S. Lewis (Screwtape Letters, The Problem with Pain, The Great Divorce), Augustine's Confessions and City of God, Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton and G.K. Chesterton's Everlasting Man. These are seldom read (or known) by…
on “Why read Dostoevsky? A programmer's perspective” ↗I reread “The Screwtape Letters” by CS Lewis for the first time since high school and appreciated it even more. Although it’s written from a Christian point of view, the principles are applicable to any moral framework.
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗C. S. Lewis writes along similar lines in The Great Divorce and The Screwtape Letters, two very different books, but both of which of I'd credit as changing my life. The common theme in both is that to be damned is not to sin greatly, but to become comfortable with the abandonment of good.
on “I Bootstrapped My Side Project to $6k/Month (2017)” ↗Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman Streams of Living Water by Richard Foster Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗…Augustine 13th century: Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas 14th century: The Divine Comedy (includes Inferno) by Dante Alighieri 20th century: Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton, Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, Humanae Vitae (Theology of the Body) by Pope Paul VI
on “Ask HN: Which is the best spiritual book you have read?” ↗…making characters real and captivating that I've ever met. Mistborn Series (The Final Empire, Well of Ascension, Hero of Ages) by the same author as The Stormlight Archives and for the same reasons. The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis, even if you aren't religious it has helped me see so much clearly the tactics and obstacles that prevent me from being the person I want to be. I've read quite a few more books more often…
on “Ask HN: Which books have you read more than once?” ↗One of my favorite books is The Screwtape Letters, by C. S. Lewis[0]. I'm not a Christian, and don't agree with everything, therein, but the book is a great treatise on general decorum and a thoughtful approach to basic morality. That is exactly how…
on “I'm Publishing My Next Book on Substack” ↗For Christianity, that would be the Screwtape letters by C.S. Lewis. It pokes and prods at the hypocrisy many cary out while revealing the actual theology.
on “Ask HN: What's the Best Book on Religion” ↗…Eckhart Tolle's concept of the "Pain-body" manifesting itself in my thoughts and actions helped me kill self-destructive behavior at the source. A decade+ later, I would also recommend C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters" because I rather enjoy the idea that "demons" are competing for my energy, and I am beating them. I watched plenty of YouTube content from positive male role-models, such as Elliott Hulse (his content…
on “Ask HN: Those who were broke and lost in life in 20s. How'd you find way again?” ↗…couple of years now but I know that I am not close to maxing its capacity. I would like to supercharge my vim skill with more advanced macros and less keystrokes. Fiction: I am currently reading the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. I love the way the book plays with logic in a fictional style. The dialogues with the little demon, Wormwood, are super interesting. More like psycho analysis in fictional form. It reminds…
on “Ask HN: What are you reading these days?” ↗> The association between him and me in the public mind has already gone quite as deep as I wish Perhaps he is talking about The Screwtape Letters[0]? I find that book to be awesome stuff. It is definitely Christian moralism, which I could do without, but it is mainly guidance on basic self-appraisal; regardless of the religious (or non-religious)…
on “Inner Ring – CS Lewis” ↗Circling back to partially-relatable depictions of devilry, Lewis' The Screwtape Letters has it's own mix in the eponymous author Screwtape. I recommend it even to the non-religious since many of the human errors/temptations it discusses can still be understood through an agnostic lens.…
on “It's Dante's hell – we're just living in it” ↗While not Sci-Fi, I found that The Screwtape Letters could actually be enjoyed even from a fairly agnostic perspective, as an allegorical dive into human cognitive foibles. Though I suspect Lewis would be unhappy to hear that, especially since he wrote…
on “Sci-fi books that you may never have heard of, but definitely should read” ↗I second your recommendation of 'Politics and the English Language', it is absolutely essential reading. His prose is phenomenal. C.S. Lewis is another whose prose is a pleasure to read, with 'The Screwtape Letters' being his best IMO.
on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗