Typical Chesterton essays: often tendentious, but often hitting the nail on the head. In the introductory chapter he claims that "if all goes well this book will be unintelligible gibberish. For it is mostly concerned with attacking attitudes which are in their nature accidental and incapable of enduring". Sadly perhaps, a lot of what he says is still quite true and topical more than a century later. ( )

Classic Chesterton - always a pleasure to read and although this book was published over 108 years ago, the content is still current. My favourite chapter in this book is entitled 'The Fallacy of Success' and I am in full agreement with it; the sad thing is that no-one was listening then and they still aren't - our bookshops remain crammed with books on how to be successful. Chesterton writes, and rightly so, that “...there is no such thing as Success.” and states that “... there is nothing that is not successful ... That a thing is successful merely means that it is; a millionaire is successful in being a millionaire and a donkey in being a donkey.” With various other examples and observations it is hard to refute his logic or his advice that those who have purchased such books have a “moral if not legal right to ask for their money back.” The other chapters on various subjects are all treated to the hallmark Chesterton wit and insights, by which the reader cannot fail to be impressed, amused and edified. ( )

Bought from Notting Hill Books at 33rd Annual Chesterton Conference, St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein, Illinois ... inside book a gift from MW on December 25, 1908