Lisp syntax is very close to the lambda calculus, and that's intentional.
The lambda calculus, being a tool for formal analysis and proof about computation, is probably not the best formalism to describe real world problems. Yet there are quite a few Lisp junkies out there.
I never bothered to learn it beyond a little bit of dabbling in Emacs Lisp. One of these days I'll pick up OCaml or Haskell.
