At home: a short history of private life

Book Cover
Average Rating
Publisher
Varies, see individual formats and editions
Publication Date
2010
Language
English

Description

From one of the most beloved authors of our a fascinating, excursion into the History behind the place we call homeBill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as found in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to "write a history of the world without leaving home." The bathroom provides the occasion for the history of hygiene, the bedroom for an account of sex, death, and sleep, the kitchen for a discussion of nutrition and the spice trade, and so on, showing how each has figured in the evolution of private life. From architecture to electricity, from food preservation to epidemics, from the telephone to the Eiffel Tower, from crinolines to toilets-the brilliant, creative, and often eccentric talents behind them-Bryson demonstrates that whatever happens in the world ends up in our houses, in the paint and the pipes and the pillows and every item of furniture.Bill Bryson has one of the liveliest, most inquisitive minds on the planet, and he is a master at turning the seemingly isolated or mundane fact into the occasion for the most diverting exposition imaginable. His wit and sheer prose fluency make At Home one of the most entertaining books about private life ever written.

More Details

Contributors
Bryson, Bill Author, Narrator
ISBN
9780767919388
9780739315262
9780307707383
9780385533591

Discover More

Also in this Series

Checking series information...

Reviews from GoodReads

Loading GoodReads Reviews.

Staff View

Loading Staff View.