Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old. And I would give him this advice precisely because he is an amateur and therefore much less protected than the expert against the dangers of an exclusive contemporary diet. A new book is still on its trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old. And I would give him this advice precisely because he is an amateur and therefore much less protected than the expert against the dangers of an exclusive contemporary diet. A new book is still on its trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it." in the context of "C. S. Lewis, Introduction to The Incarnation of The Word of God (Macmillan, 1946) https://archive.org/details/incarnationofwor0000csle/page/6/mode/2up" to mean that wisdom is timeless.