Dale Ahlquist, the President of the American Chesterton Society, and author of G.K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense, presents a book of wonderful insights on how to “look at the whole world through the eyes of Chesterton”. Since, as he says, “Chesterton wrote about everything”, there is an ocean of his material to benefit from GKC’s insights on a kaleidoscope of many important topics.
Chesterton wrote a hundred books on a variety of themes; thousands of essays for London newspapers, penned epic poetry, delighted in detective fiction, drew illustrations, and made everyone laugh by his keen humor. Everyone who knew Chesterton loved him, even those he debated with. His unique writing style that combines philosophy, spirituality, history, humor, and paradox have made him one of the most widely read authors of modern times.
In Common Sense 101: Lessons from G.K. Chesterton, we learn just how much this most quoted writer of the 20th century has to share with us on topics covering politics, art, education, wonder, marriage, fads, poetry, faith, charity and much more.
Eric Johnson –
What a perfect follow-up to The Apostle of Common Sense! Where that book introduces you to Chesterton’s works, this really lays the groundwork for understand his thought and the way he sees the world. For the neophyte, it’s a great introduction, and for the old fan, it’s a really satisfying new perspective and insight to help you appreciate GKC even more. Can’t recommend it highly enough!
Dennis (verified owner) –
Dale Ahlquist does a wonderful job of introducing Chesterton’s commentary, wit and wisdom to the new reader of Chesterton, and I think it may very well be the best book to start reading on Chesterton. In fact, it’s probably better than reading Chesterton cold turkey, because it takes various Chesterton comments and principles and organizes it into a unified whole so that the new reader can understand him better and more completely. I’m a newcomer to Chesterton, but am amassing a small but treasured collection of works by and about him. As a Southern Baptist, I never accepted some of the more banal beliefs sometimes heard about Catholocism, and now, due to Chesterton and Ahlquist, I understand Catholocism possibly better than a good many Catholics do, and I value that greatly. I don’t believe I could ever turn away from the Church that brought me to Jesus some 52 years ago, but I sure can appreciate the value of the Catholic church now, and its wholeness and clear theology. That ain’t no small thing, folks! This is probably the best book to start out with to come to an understanding of Chesterton. He clarifies so much that I’ve always known, inately, but could never quite put into words. He truly has a gift that I’ve found in no other author, anywhere. I very highly recommend this book. It may challenge you, and it must be read with a strict and earnest and whole-hearted search for the simple Truth, but other than that, it’s very easy reading, very entertaining, at times very humorous, and wholely worth the time to read. I don’t say that about many books, but this one, and this author, has EARNED it!