Heretics

By: G. K. Chesterton

Narrated by: Ulf Bjorklund

Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

"Nothing more strangely indicates an enormous and silent evil of modern society than the extraordinary use which is made nowadays of the word orthodox. In former days the heretic was proud of not being a heretic. It was the kingdoms of the world and the police and the judges who were heretics. He was orthodox. He had no pride in having rebelled against them; they had rebelled against him. The armies with their cruel security, the kings with their cold faces, the decorous processes of State, the reasonable processes of law - all these like sheep had gone astray. The man was proud of being orthodox, was proud of being right. If he stood alone in a howling wilderness he was more than a man; he was a church. He was the centre of the universe; it was round him that the stars swung. All the tortures torn out of forgotten hells could not make him admit that he was heretical. But a few modern phrases have made him boast of it. He says, with a conscious laugh, "I suppose I am very heretical," and looks round for applause. The word heresy not only means no longer being wrong; it practically means being clear-headed and courageous. The word orthodoxy not only no longer means being right; it practically means being wrong. All this can mean one thing, and one thing only. It means that people care less for whether they are philosophically right. For obviously a man ought to confess himself crazy before he confesses himself heretical. The Bohemian, with a red tie, ought to pique himself on his orthodoxy. The dynamiter, laying a bomb, ought to feel that, whatever else he is, at least he is orthodox." - Gilbert K. Chesterson

Public Domain (P)2011 eChristian, Inc.

Unusual pronunciations distracting

The narrator’s accent and unusual pronunciation of English words was distracting because I could not envision G K Chesterton pronouncing the words that way.

An amazing work by GKC

GKC is amazing as he goes through various unhealthy and inhumane ways of thinking. He is the master of sanity. There is a Word document I filled with my favorite quotes from this book and his Orthodoxy. Now that I've finished both, I will definitely listen to Everlasting Man.

The narrator is pretty good too. It's a very enjoyable listen.

Like having Steven Hawking read poetry

Where does Heretics rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's an astute book of Catholic philosophy and apologetics, on par with his better known works, "Orthodoxy" and "The Everlasting Man", but shorter.

What did you like best about this story?

Not a story, but his metaphors and thought experiments are interesting and engaging.

How could the performance have been better?

The performance is where this recording really suffers. Ulf Bjorklund speaks in a clipped Scandinavian accent with some confusing pauses and mis-chosen points of emphasis. The words themselves are very clearly spoken and there is no mispronunciation, but often the reading is very flat, as if he spent all his prep time for the recording making sure the words were spoken clearly, but without knowing what they were trying to convey. Imagine if Christopher Walken were reading a book on quantum physics.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

n/a

Any additional comments?

worth listening to for the content, but the narrator is going to make you work that much harder for your understanding.

Poor reading of a great book!

Wooden reading and weird mispronunciations. Luckily, G.K. Chesterton is amazing. Interesting character sketches of the early 20th c, still applicable!

Horrible reading

What didn’t you like about Ulf Bjorklund’s performance?

The reader has little inflection and repeatedly mispronounces words throughout the recording. If this is the best the publisher can offer, they should close up shop.

Qualitatively Quaint

Interesting how one can obtain a breath of fresh air from an archaic age.
This is vintage heady and joyful thinking, with tangential twists and turns that puzzlingly stays on point.
Chesterton is the Bach of prose.

interesting how history repeats

interesting thoughts in sonewhat arcaic language. i found the accent of the reader distracting. However it is amazing how there is nothing new under the sun.

Presenter is peculiar for this author.

Presenter is not a great voice for a 300 lb cigar chomping Chesterton. Deeper British voice begged.