What's wrong with the world
by Gilbert Keith Chesterton, CrossReach Publications · first published 1910
29% recommend71% neutral
I originally called this book "What is Wrong," and it would have satisfied your sardonic temper to note the number of social misunderstandings that arose from the use of the title. Many a mild lady visitor opened her eyes when I remarked casually, I have been doing 'What is Wrong' all this morning. And one minister of religion moved quite sharply in his chair when I told him (as he understood it) that I had to run upstairs and do what was wrong, but should be down again in a minute.
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…Heretics, on some contemporary trends and errors of thought—Shaw, Nietzsche, Tolstoy, nihilism etc. It's just brilliant, and very funny, like most of his stuff, though more so. Endlessly re-readable. Also What's Wrong with the World. His Autobiography. Full of wonderful bits. Most of his books are collections of his newspaper articles, some good, some amazingly good. All worth reading. All Things Considered, Alarms and Discursions,…
on “A Convivial Chap Led Easily Astray: On G. K. Chesterton” ↗…feels like preaching to the choir. As part of the choir there is a lot I agree with, but I don't quite get the point of his fiction. But Chesterton's non-fiction books, The Everlasting Man, Orthodoxy, What's Wrong With the World and Heretics are some of the best and most insightful books I have ever read, and they really took me by surprise because I did not expect them to be what they are. They are full of speculation, and misunderstandings,…
on “George Bernard Shaw by G. K. Chesterton (1909)” ↗It's interesting to read some of Chesterton's more dated opinions in works like "What's Wrong With The World." Consider his take on feminism: one key fear was that a part of it was just a way to exploit more people in the workforce. He was, indeed, quite skeptical of "the workforce" generally, observing with…
on “A Convivial Chap Led Easily Astray: On G. K. Chesterton” ↗…The group Jesus is harshest with in the Gospels is in fact the hypocrites. He even calls them white washed tombs full of dead men's bones! What a lamentable state of things. G.K. Chesterton's words in "What's Wrong with the World" come to mind where he points out "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried." Perhaps this applies to all major belief systems though,…
on “Gallup: U.S. church membership dips below 50% for first time” ↗Per a sibling, it is Chesterton, from his work What's Wrong with the World: * https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1717/1717-h/1717-h.htm An explanation: > Chesterton consistently defended the amateur against the professional, or the “generalist” against the specialist, especially…
on “Ask HN: How to optimize your career for happiness?” ↗> if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly I also keep coming back to this phrase. I believe this is the source (G.K. Chesterton, What's Wrong with the World): https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1717/1717-h/1717-h.htm#link2...
on “Shoshikantetsu” ↗“Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” — G.K. Chesterton, What’s Wrong With the World (XIV) * https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1717/1717-h/1717-h.htm#link2... * https://www.chesterton.org/a-thing-worth-doing/
on “Make Something With Your Hands (Even if It’s Hideous)” ↗