He'd already contributed to humanity by writing the definition of wanker for the Oxford English Dictionary by the age of 28, though.
this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2025
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Wanker, n. CS Lewis
Ex: Shut up Lewis you massive wanker
Accurate.
I’d say he lived a pretty remarkable life before that;
He was constructing his own languages and scripts in his teens, after having learned Anglo Saxon and Latin (and seeing how those fed into modern English), plus Esperanto.
He traveled all over Europe in the summers between university semesters, taking in the different landscapes, cultures, and languages.
He was a British Army Officer for World War I, leading units consisting of men from different backgrounds (class, education, trade) from his own. He devised a code system to bypass Army censors to keep his wife updated on his location and movements. And he experienced the horrors of being in the front lines of one of the most horrific wars in history.
Then after the war he became an accomplished academic, worked on the Oxford English Dictionary, specialized in Middle English and Old English translations, and translated several major works (including the definitive translation of Gawain and the Green Knight).
So by the time he started formally working on Lord of the Rings, he had built up such a rich set of experiences, skillsets, and knowledge that everything he knew was going into that world building.
No way a 25-year-old could have written Lord of the Rings. He needed 20+ years of adult experience to get to the point where he could write it.
And honestly, this is just as encouraging. Some of this is stuff you cant exactly list on a CV for a job application. A lot of people have interesting experiences, hobbies and special interests under their belt and still feel bad about themselves because their unique skills/knowledge isn't exactly marketable or something your mum would brag about to other parents. And the stuff that actually does fall under the category of classic success (being in academia, working on the dictionary) isn't at all what he's famous for. If it's cool when Tolkien has a life like this, your unique experiences and skills are cool, too.
There's a book I read, Range by David Epstein, that really reinforces the idea that lots of experiences that don't cleanly fit into a CV are still very valuable. The core idea is that late specialization makes for better specialists, because very few fields stand alone. Having contextual background makes it so that you can better mix and match cross disciplinary skills, with your own experience and knowledge of yourself, to be better at whatever it is you're doing.
The examples used in the book are Roger Federer (played many sports and didn't specialize in tennis until much later than the typical pro), Django Reinhardt (never formally schooled in music but an amazing jazz guitarist even after he lost 3 fingers), Van Gogh (many failed careers before finding success as a painter), and a bunch of others.
But the core principle is the same: the real world is messy and doesn't boil down to simple factors, so having breadth is important when the system you come up in changes underneath your feet. The book also uses the counterexamples of Tiger Woods and the Polgar sisters who were dominant chess players, to describe how the fields of golf and chess give immediate, true, and objective feedback in a way that most of the world doesn't.
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I genuinely believe the real hurdle future generations will have to solve is this: chances are you will never be as bored as Tolkien likely spent the majority of his life. Being bored today is a choice; before the information age it was a reality. When people are desperately trying to escape boredom it makes the incentive to do crazy shit like make up your own language considerably more tangible.
Hops off soapbox
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You don't need to have the level of success of Tolkien to have value. You can live a completely "ordinary" life and as long as you find meaning and enrich the life experience of those around you then your existence is extremely valuable.
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You can be awesome at any age. It's never too late to find something new you might excel at.
I'm 52. ಥ_ಥ
it's ok grandpa, let's get you to bed
Colonel Sanders didn't start KFC until he was 65.
And he didn't curse a Japanese baseball team until he had been dead for 5 years.
But, but I am 45!
Damn, 119622220865480194561963161495657715064383733760000000000 is pretty old.
Don't worry, Nyarlythotep didn't start their Scroll of Infinite Madness until they were 46!.
I thought this was just going to be a dead link, but I am delightfully surprised.
So I have 3 years to become a world renowned linguist and write a genre-creating triumph of humanity after being shot at by the troops of a German emperor?
Might be a bit difficult..
Does the emperor have to be German?
'Fraid so
Eh, why not give him a little leeway. I'm willing to allow for a wannabe emperor too.
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He'd already written The Hobbit by 45, which was quite successful. So you're already falling behind.
This probably wasn't helpful.
So I only have 5 years left? 😩
I should be writing right now....
You are lending credence to my theory that everyone here is between the ages of 43 and 48.
Just turned 26 today :(
31 here
Welcome young fellow!
Conversely, for younger folks who need motivation, Christopher Paolini wrote Eragon at 14.
Yeah he was also largely a product of nepotism. His mom literally owned a publishing company.
And it was perfectly fine YA regardless. Editors are the real magicians.
Just because someone successful was a late bloomer doesn't mean you will be one too.
Follow me for more life advice.
ITT: Pagliacci
But I’m already past that.
Also he was already a respected academic
I like this wolesome version of this meme way more.
Until you turn 45
45yo here, this meme stressing me out
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Also he had been a professor for like years. That was his second carreer.
Not just a professor, but a professor at Oxford and a leading linguist of his time. He edited the Oxford Dictionary.
Im set up in this job im stuck at, cause the job comes with housing and full benefits for my family and I. But man do I want to change up my career, im 41. I wish I knew how to podcast or become a niche historian. I work from home so I have the time but I don’t even know where to begin. I honestly love wrestling history, from the birth of Greco Roman, to its evolution in the west through military, to British shoot clubs, to American catch and release to Abe Lincoln being a wrestling champion, to the days it went from a real contest to an exhibition to a secret worked match, to a full on scripted wrestling like we have today.
Wrestling as people know it is what the wwe brought to mainstream in 1984 which was all sizzle and no steak as Vince McMahon himself put it. Just a mainstream wrestling themed tv show. but wrestling in the 1900s was crazy stuff
I was so ready for this to end in a shittymorph mankind hell in a cell meme
It was about that time I noticed that sweet little Lemmy commenter was actually undertaker throwing mankind fifteen feet through the announcer's table.
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Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species at age 50
Darwin was also born into wealth and could spend his life studying whatever piqued his interest. Do you have the funds to spend five years circumnavigating the globe studying cool wildlife? Because I sure as fuck don't.
but I'm 69 🙃
nice. [/obligatory]
Some terrific 90s* albums released by artists at the ripe old age of "around 40":
Cosmic Thing
Auberge
Kamakiriad
The Boatman's Call
Beyond
* more or less
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