This book analyzes the inner workings of the writing group, The Inklings, showing specific examples of how they encouraged and influenced each other's writing. We learn about Lewis' and Tolkien's individual writing styles, and how their group read aloud portions of their writing. The process of writing, revising, and editing was intimately connected with the influence of the Inklings, despite Lewis famously saying that it was impossible to influence Tolkien: "...you might as well try to influence a bandersnatch." This book proves Lewis wrong, giving specific examples of times when Tolkien took criticism from the Inklings very seriously and altered major sections of his writing accordingly.

I really loved that this book gives specific examples of how the Inklings influenced each other, sometimes even showing the manuscript before and after revision, with little notes from their fellow authors in the margins.

Tolkien said that he loved "hobbit talk", but Lewis urged him to cut down on the silly hobbit dialogue since it slowed down the plot. Tolkien listened, and his earlier manuscripts of the Lord of the Rings show a lot more hobbit dialogue and a slower pace. Although there might be readers who would enjoy a little more silly "hobbit talk", all of that was cut down for the final version of the book. It was fascinated to read an early scene from Fellowship of the Ring as the hobbits are trekking across the Shire happily chatting amongst themselves, but in the end, only a handful of those lines were kept.

Another interesting section of the book was about how the Inklings would collaborate on humorous poems, composed on the spot during walking tours, never written down, but just recited or reeled off for their own amusement in the moment. They would also play a game of round-robin storytelling, inventing part of a story and then the next person would have to concoct the next leg of the tale. For these creative geniuses, imagination was like breathing.

But their close friendship did not mean that they always agreed. There is a whole chapter about how the Inklings often argued and butted heads. Most famously, Tolkien didn't like the Narnia books. Although Tolkien had a deep respect for Lewis, both as a writer and as a scholar, he admitted that the style of the Narnia books was just not his cup of tea, mainly because he disliked allegory so vehemently. But when Tolkien saw how popular Narnia was becoming, he acknowledged that they "are deservedly very popular".

There are also sections about Charles Williams, with his enigmatic personality and his deep influence on each of the Inklings; and about Owen Barfield, and his delightful intellectual skirmishes with Lewis (apparently they loved to argue good-naturedly over everything). There is also a focus on Warren Lewis and his scholarly writings about French history. We really get to know the intimate details of how these people talked and worked and interacted.

You can tell that this book is extremely well-researched. In fact, the author has published another similar book with a more scholarly tone, and they wrote this book to be more geared towards the fans, rather than scholars. We have some fun anecdotes, and the writing style is engaging.

There is one thing that makes this book stand out from all other books about the Inklings: the application. At the end of each chapter there is a section that talks about applying lessons we can learn from the Inklings group to your own creative group. No creative journey should be attempted alone, and we can learn from the example of the Inklings to see what works and what doesn't work, and what practices allow creativity to thrive and what kills creativity.

I enjoyed this book so much! It really got me inspired to take on some creative projects, and look about me for like-minded people to encourage me on my writing journey.

If you are looking for a creative breakthrough, this book is wonderfully insightful and helpful. Or if you are just wanting to learn more about the Inklings and their work, you will definitely discover something new in these pages!