《All Things Considered》 - 免费有声读物

All Things Considered is a book of essays by G. K. Chesterton, published in 1908. Most of the pieces first appeared in his weekly column for the Illustrated London News, which he wrote for decades, and they show him at his most conversational: short, quick to set up a paradox, and fond of turning a small observation into a large argument.

The subjects range widely. Chesterton writes on the joys of chasing a hat blown away in the wind, on the jokes of working-class Londoners, on Oxford as seen by an outsider, on the false promise of books that sell the secret of success, and on the relationship between science and religion. He takes on fashionable opinions of his day, defends tradition and common sense against experts and reformers, and often argues that the things people dismiss as trivial or old-fashioned are the most important. Each essay stands alone, so the book can be read in any order.

The collection is a good introduction to Chesterton's style before his longer works such as Orthodoxy. Some topical references belong to Edwardian England, but the humour and the habit of looking at familiar things from an unexpected angle carry well. It suits lovers of the essay form, readers of Chesterton's Father Brown stories, and anyone who enjoys lively argument.