Summary by Matt Davis

This book, by GK Chesterton, is a book that challenges us all to not be “men who had long been unconsciously imprisoned in the common place.” Or, as Michael Moon says, “Madness does not come by breaking out, but by giving in; by settling down in some dirty, little, self-repeating circle of ideas; by being tamed.” Instead, we need to keep our sense of boyish awe and wonder at creation’s beauty, and life’s unexpectedness. We should feel “that [we have] come into eternity, and that eternity was very like topsy-turvydom.” We need to be enraptured by the whimsical!

True happiness lies in the pursuit of righteousness—keeping the commandments; “capturing the trick of coveting [our] own goods” and creatively loving our wives. “Leave off buying and selling, and start looking! Open your eyes, and you’ll wake up in the New Jerusalem.”

My hope and prayer for all of us is that people will say we are crazy because we really are happy, we really are hilarious, and we really are a manalive.