An engaging literary and very clever book. It begins with an interesting discussion of what an Irishman is from an English point of view. Secondly, I was interested in GKC's view of Puritanism, which is very negative. I fancy this is due to its socio-cultural "baggage" as well as its protestantism. It's interesting to see Shaw, an atheist, critiqued as a Puritan, doubtless on the basis of psychology and upbringing. The middle part of the book deals with Shaw's plays and theatre criticism, much of which was lost on me. The latter part speaks of Shaw's religious views and is where GKC shines most brightly. The golden nugget I found is the following quote:
"You are free in our time to say that God does not exist; you are free to say that He exists and is evil; you are free to say that He would like to exist if He could. You may talk of God as a metaphor or a mystification; you may water Him down with gallons of long words, or boil Him to the rags of metaphysics; and it is not really that nobody punishes, but nobody protests. But if you speak of God as a fact, as a thing like a tiger, as a reason for changing one's conduct, then the modern world will stop you if it somehow can. We are long past talking about whether an unbeliever should be punished for being irreverent. It is now thought irreverent to be a believer."
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