[1][2] The book contains many anecdotes, largely about Shaw's friends and colleagues in the theatre and music world but also ones relating to other prominent figures such as the British statesman Viscount Grey.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Up to Now continued to be used as a source for biographical works on Gordon Craig, Isadora Duncan and Ellen Terry.

[6] Eighty years after its publication, the author's grandson, theatre director Robert Shaw, adapted Up To Now as a 45-minute monologue which was performed at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

"[9] The reviewer in Theatre Arts Monthly described Shaw's book as "an entertaining little autobiography, ambling and inconsequent, full of revealing anecdotes", and found the chapters on Gordon Craig and Isadora Duncan the most valuable.

[1] The Times Literary Supplement pronounced it "a commendable book of gossip" and likewise praised the anecdotes as well as Shaw's affectionate account of his childhood in Hampstead.