This 1905 collection of articles focuses on the era's "heretics": those who pride themselves on their superiority to conservative views. G.K. Chest...
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Dec 04, 2011
Jericho "Jack" Aleksandr
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Within a very short length of time, Chesterton went from "a famous writer I'll get around to reading one of these days" to "that writer I'm always bringing in to conversations and trying to get other people to read," and this bundled edition of Heretics & Orthodoxy is largely at fault.
Orthodoxy is the better book of the two, by far, but Heretics lays extremely helpful groundwork for it: Heretics is more work to read and understand, but it can be valued by its own we More...
Orthodoxy is the better book of the two, by far, but Heretics lays extremely helpful groundwork for it: Heretics is more work to read and understand, but it can be valued by its own we More...
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Dec 04, 2011
Kjersti
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G.K. Chesterton's prose is always great. The man was a rather brilliant individual, and his ideas are some of the most interesting - and most challenging - I've run into. He turns the world on its head, and you find you enjoy it... Aside from a few minor impracticalities anyway.
If you read these books, or even just one of them, prepare to have your mindset examined, rearranged and then put together again in a completely different way. Don't worry though, 90% of the time the result will be More...
If you read these books, or even just one of them, prepare to have your mindset examined, rearranged and then put together again in a completely different way. Don't worry though, 90% of the time the result will be More...
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Jan 24, 2012
Kevin
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G. K. Chesterton’s Heretics ended up at the head of my slightly non-deterministic reading queue. It was a quick read, due in equal parts to fascination and frustration.
Chesterton’s lament is that “everything is important, except everything” – that we had come to care more about the tiny details and positions one might hold rather than one’s overarching and all-encompassing philosophy of life. Furthermore, we have ceased to care about being right, about being orthodox. He argues that th More...
Chesterton’s lament is that “everything is important, except everything” – that we had come to care more about the tiny details and positions one might hold rather than one’s overarching and all-encompassing philosophy of life. Furthermore, we have ceased to care about being right, about being orthodox. He argues that th More...
Jul 19, 2009
Peter
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A common hesitation in our day touching the use of extreme convictions is a sort of notion that extreme convictions specially upon cosmic matters, have been responsible in the past for the thing which is called bigotry. But a very small amount of direct experience will dissipate this view. In real life the people who are most bigoted are the people who have no convictions at all. The economists of the Manchester school who disagree with Socialism take Socialism seriously. It is the young man inMore...
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Dec 20, 2011
Sandra
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This was the first book I read from Chesterton and I have to admit that, even though it was a bit difficult to follow, I found it genius. It is very difficult to classify this book, but I believe it is a great source of criticism to some modern addictions such as progress, beauty, democracy and anti-religion. I liked it very much by the fact that he manages to criticize in a very respectful and objective way. He destroys the ideals of several important novelists and philosophers by using charact
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Feb 09, 2012
Bob
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I love reading Chesterton both for his ability to turn ideas upside down and for the fact that he was the archetypal happy warrior. He could argue vigorously with a George Bernard Shaw and then film a silent western with him.
Heretics consists of Chesterton's commentary on the heretics and heresies of his day. He considers figures like George Bernard Shaw, Rudyard Kipling, George Moore, Lowes Dickinson and others. He had a wonderful ability to see both what was commendable in others More...
Heretics consists of Chesterton's commentary on the heretics and heresies of his day. He considers figures like George Bernard Shaw, Rudyard Kipling, George Moore, Lowes Dickinson and others. He had a wonderful ability to see both what was commendable in others More...
Jul 17, 2009
John
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Chesterton, let's face it, is thematically ataxic. He can't keep to one idea; in the words of an acquaintance of mine, he sidesteps issues by making sense. Reading Orthodoxy was an experience analogous to hearing an inebriated genius swerve through celestial ideas. The book's only lack is that its subject demands a structure it doesn't provide.
Heretics is a different story. Here Chesterton is truest to his form. He's free to roam the world of his improvised ideas as he surveys More...
Heretics is a different story. Here Chesterton is truest to his form. He's free to roam the world of his improvised ideas as he surveys More...
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Jul 31, 2008
Christopher
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I listened to this book on LibriVox.org.
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Feb 12, 2012
George
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"Heretics" by G.K. Chesterton is a bit of a tough read. The author addresses issues and personalities of his time (1905), many of which are no longer of interest to us, or have faded into history. Of course, the names we all know, H.G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Charles Dickens, and several others are instantly recognizable.
There is a richness to Chesterton's writing that is at once quite tasty and simultaneously overwrought, at least by today's standards of Spartan-like More...
There is a richness to Chesterton's writing that is at once quite tasty and simultaneously overwrought, at least by today's standards of Spartan-like More...
Apr 05, 2011
Noël
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But in order that life should be a story or romance to us, it is necessary that a great part of it, at any rate, should be settled for us without our permission. If we wish life to be a system, this may be a nuisance; but if we wish it to be a drama, it is an essential. It may often happen, no doubt, that a drama may be written by somebody else which we like very little. But we should like it still less if the author came before the curtain every hour or so, and forced on us the whole trouble of
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May 02, 2011
Ali
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Being a collection of essays, some struck me with more force than others. But overall, this is a wonderful representation of how Chesterton functioned as a debater: each essay "slams" either a single person or a group of people for their thinking, but Chesterton slams so good-naturedly, and with such respect for his opponents, that in the end it doesn't feel like a slam at all. If only today's thinkers would be so gracious and generous with each other! Chesterton always points out his
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Feb 26, 2010
Jim
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This is a re-read for me, though it has been over thirty years since I first encountered it. G. K. Chesterton makes the point that the most important thing about a person is his philosophy, whether it is spurious or sustaining. "We think that for a general about to fight an enemy, it is important to know the enemy's numbers, but still more important to know the enemy's philosophy. We think the question is not whether the theory of the cosmos affects matters, but whether, in the long run, an
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Jul 27, 2009
Tess
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G.K. Chesterton was such a genius. He blows my mind repeatedly in his books, and gets me thinking about things in a completely different light from that which I am used to thinking about them. Amazing. Here are the greatest hits from this book, at least as far as I'm concerned:
-- For with the removal of all question of merit or payment, the soul is suddenly released for incredible voyages.
-- And this gay humility, this holding of ourselves lightly and yet ready for an i More...
-- For with the removal of all question of merit or payment, the soul is suddenly released for incredible voyages.
-- And this gay humility, this holding of ourselves lightly and yet ready for an i More...
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Jul 19, 2008
Paula
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G. K. Chester was one of the most influential writers of his time. Yet, few have ever heard of him. Why is that? Well, it is because he defended what has come to be considered indefensible--Orthodox Christianity. His writings have enormously influenced the great Christian appologetics of our time like C. S. Lewis and Peter Kreeft, who have each publically acknowledged their great debt to him. As Dale Alquist has said, "G.K. Chesterton was the best writer of the 20th century." If you ar
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Dec 22, 2010
I really like Chesterton and i like to read him write chapter after chapter dedicated each to some of my favorite people. He is a Christian apologist and I like to hear him eloquently craft arguments against some of the foremost minds of the time. I usually end up on the other side of the wall from him, but i always feel like i get a well reasoned perspective from the process of following him down the path.
May 28, 2011
Naomi
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I actually read an early US edition of this book, but I'm too lazy to look for the exact match edition. I mention this because there may be an edition that has what makes the final star fall off for me: explanatory notes or a gloss to help this reader look back a century and understand certain allusions to persons and events that would have been clear to Chesterton's contemporaries.
Dec 04, 2011
Daniel
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Note: This is the copy of Orthodoxy I own. This review is not for Heretics.
An excellent exploration of the Christian faith. Chesterton is a master of the English language, in my opinion, and it is evident here. Witty and intelligent writing that shows Chesterton's strongly Catholic-leaning views (Anglican, officially, when he wrote it) without displaying disrespect for his philosophical opponents (e.g. Mr. George Bernard Shaw.) The book is not one for those seeking a complete logical e More...
An excellent exploration of the Christian faith. Chesterton is a master of the English language, in my opinion, and it is evident here. Witty and intelligent writing that shows Chesterton's strongly Catholic-leaning views (Anglican, officially, when he wrote it) without displaying disrespect for his philosophical opponents (e.g. Mr. George Bernard Shaw.) The book is not one for those seeking a complete logical e More...
Feb 04, 2009
Mnanderson01
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This isn't the edition I read. Mine was the from the Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading, which I recommend. And I commend them for including Chesterton in their publications. I also recommend his books "The Everlasting Man" and "Orthodoxy" as well as his biographies of Sts. Thomas Aquinas and Francis of Assisi.
Oct 29, 2011
John
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Same with Orthodoxy... Chesterton has a wit and imagination that are killer combos in arguing for his theological position. Even for those who disagree with him, as I do on some points, his insatiable use of analogies that are easy to understand offers excellent debate points, and shorten the book considerably. If you've ever read a book, especially a book on philosophy or theology, and thought, "it was ok, but it could have been a lot shorter," then Chesterton is your guy. The anal
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Sep 11, 2011
Ruthette
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What I love about Chesterton is not that he is always right (nobody is), but that he is always perfectly clear. In addition, if he is going to bother making an argument, he will not only offer magnificent support, but also state his points in a series of hugely quotable (and often chuckle-worthy) rapier-like sentences.
Dec 04, 2011
Karen L.
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Heresy: Well it had some chapters that I liked and some that I did not. Heresy critiques Chesterton's contemporaries of his day, writers, poets and play writes, such as H.G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw & Kipling. There were bits of wisdom here and there that I jotted down. Overall, the book didn't grab me like some. I'd give this a 2 star rating
Orthodoxy: Much better than Heresy. I'd give this a 4 star rating. Chesterton seems to get to the point a little quicker in this book, still h More...
Orthodoxy: Much better than Heresy. I'd give this a 4 star rating. Chesterton seems to get to the point a little quicker in this book, still h More...
Dec 19, 2011
P.M.
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This is a book of philosophy. It is not an easy read as it addresses a number of issues that were contemporary to the time of its writing (early 1900s). But Chesterton does a good job of laying out his position. Certainly made me think.
Jan 18, 2010
Sarah
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This collection of essays was more of a mixed bag for me and nowhere near as wonderful as Orthodoxy. (Much of that probably had to do with my failure to catch turn-of-the-twentieth-century references.) However, the chapters I liked were indeed wonderful (such as "On Certain Modern Writers and the Institution of the Family"), and I'll be able to reread Orthodoxy now with a better appreciation of what he was about. I'd certainly still call it essential reading for any Chesterton fan.
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Mar 19, 2008
Sean
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"Never has there been so little discussion about the nature of men as now, when, for the first time, anyone can discuss it. The old restriction meant that only the orthodox were allowed to discuss religion. Modern liberty means that nobody is allowed to discuss it. Good taste, the last and vilest of human superstitions, has succeeded in silencing us where all the rest have failed...Emancipation has only locked the saint in the same tower of silence as the heresiarch...But there are some peo
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Jan 09, 2011
Jaye
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I really enjoyed this. It is easier to read than Everlasting Man.
I enjoyed the insights Chesterton gives on contemporary issues...which amazingly remain contemporary to us.
I enjoyed the insights Chesterton gives on contemporary issues...which amazingly remain contemporary to us.
Oct 29, 2009
Chris
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I really got into this book, despite the age becoming apparent with the references to figures more known in Chesterton's days.
Some excellent essays which really make you think about the reaility of what others say and do.
Chesterton had a gift for turning things on their head to show you waht they really should be.
Some excellent essays which really make you think about the reaility of what others say and do.
Chesterton had a gift for turning things on their head to show you waht they really should be.
Aug 09, 2011
Chad
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A terrific entry into the Chesterton oeuvre. When he sets his pen on dismantling a viewpoint as he does here, he does it like no other. While his opponents views have quietly faded into obscurity, Chesterton still stands supreme.
Sep 18, 2011
Rob
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Funny and flamboyant. Quotable and often Quixotic. Chesterton is one of those writers (I think of Christopher Hitchens) I read not because I agree with him always, but because he forces me page after page to pick up, look at, and sharpen my beliefs. He is like a literary gypsy, who quoting parables about fairies and singing odd paradoxes about the Universe, comes into my room and offers to sharpen the edges of all my dogmas. After finishing his books most all my doctrines are wickedly sharpe
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Dec 03, 2009
Matthias
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see my review of "orthodoxy" by g.k. chesterton for my opinion of this book.
