Heretics: Centennial Edition

Continuously love to see Chesterton point out the obvious that is as plain as the nose on a face. Most, including me, are just unaware until it is pointed out. Almost soul crushing to have missed the point and the logic leading to the point. It is one of his many talents.

Much of what he has discussed sailed over my head, but what landed made me appreciate where he was coming from and it's depth.

Yes, it helps to know the contemporaries of Chesterton. And one must have a love of language and the ability to slow down and turn a phrase in your mind more than once before racing on to the bottom of the page. Given that...I love Chesterton's gentle skewering of the ideas of friends. But it is not the cynical crassness of today's late night comics. It is the reasoned critique of the unreasonable modern notions of 1905, notions that have flowered and rotted 100 years later. No one can turn a phrase like GKC. Hold a yellow highlighter as you read...you will find a gem on every page.Example: "The curse that came before history has laid on us all a tendency to be weary of wonders. If we saw the fun for the first time it would be the most fearful and beautiful of meteors....We are inclined to increase our claims. We are inclined to demand six suns, to demand a blue sun, to demand a green sun. Humility is perpetually putting us back in the primal darkness."And you can see GKC laughing as he writes: "...if an editor can only make people angry enough, they will write half his newspaper for him for nothing."Take your time. And be ready to come back and read again.

Heretics is basically a collection of essays written in response to the worldview, socio-political philosophies, and/or religious stances of G.K. Chesterton's contemporaries (like George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells). Chesterton enjoyed an ongoing and lively public debate with many of these fellows throughout his writing life. To that end, if you're a Chesterton-fan, you'll enjoy this as much as anything else you've probably read by the undefeated heavyweight champion of linguistic pugilism. If you're not a Chesterton fan (usually because you've yet to hear of the man), this is probably as good a place as any to start. Heretics is the book that sort of necessitated Orthodoxy; a more famous, much-beloved piece.I would recommend this book for those interested in exploring the arena of worldview debate. It isn't a long book, at only about 150 pages. The essay are broken up into nice little chunks that you can read in a half-hour or so, spend some time mulling, and maybe read through again, if you'd like. I could attempt to describe the content of the essay's, but it would take way too long, and I'd fail to do it anywhere near as well the Big Man himself.

There will be moments when reading this book that is 114 years old that you will forget you are reading articles written for authors in the distant past. Its almost uncanny. Chesterton has a way of speaking to the heart of issues that he cant speak a century into the future and it seems he is speaking to modern politics and culture.Highly recommended.

Well written and enjoyable ; the writing style is dated ( and why not ; it was written over a century ago !) but the content is informative and serves as a warning to all who drift away from the clear instructions of The Bible.

Wish it was something easier to read.

Even though this was written so long ago, in England and references current figures, it is still revelant about what goes on today!