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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
funny
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
I love love Bill Bryson, being the first nonfiction author I ever read close to 30 years ago! I would be curious on an update of this book that reviews facts in light of recent awareness of the people that lived in community on the current Central Park who were removed to make way for said park …
I’d also be interested in an update in the realm of birth. History shows that birth became markedly more dangerous when women were required to lay on their backs after the introduction of the male doctor who required this position for his convenience. Forceps are no friend to the birthing human.
I appreciate the structure of moving through the home to outline a range of historical interests. As the world seems overly complex with SO much happening in the present … it’s a good reminder that it has always been thus … famous and relatively unknown characters interacting and small and big changes (at times not clear which category the event or discovery falls into contemporaneously) are happening simultaneously all the time.
I’d also be interested in an update in the realm of birth. History shows that birth became markedly more dangerous when women were required to lay on their backs after the introduction of the male doctor who required this position for his convenience. Forceps are no friend to the birthing human.
I appreciate the structure of moving through the home to outline a range of historical interests. As the world seems overly complex with SO much happening in the present … it’s a good reminder that it has always been thus … famous and relatively unknown characters interacting and small and big changes (at times not clear which category the event or discovery falls into contemporaneously) are happening simultaneously all the time.
This book was on my reading wishlist for a year before I finally bought it, and it exceeded all of my expectations. I thought the book would be a little more dry and straight-forward like, "This is the fireplace. Here is the history of fireplaces." Instead, Bill Bryson goes on entertaining and joyful tangents loosely connected by the room featured in each chapter. We learn about the history of sugar, presidential estates, refrigerated trucks, gardening, and much more all in a single book. This is a perfect read for enjoyers of fun facts, which might be a downfall for someone looking for a more comprehensive, detailed history of private life.
Funny, well-researched, a good follow-up to a Short History of Nearly Everything, and a step up from his book about Shakespeare.
Enjoyable, 3.5 stars. I've read most of Bryson, and this book just seemed like "an excuse to write a book." Name every room in the house he's been living in, and then tell related stories (some well-connected, in easy rooms like the bedroom; others tenuous in connection at best, like "the hallway) about human and English history. So, the bedroom might talk about sex, the kitchen talk about the servant class and lifestyle in England, the dining room talk about the excesses of the Victorian era, etc.
The audiobook is read by Mr. Bryson, which was a very pleasant treat. Some of the book is just common trivia that, if you have read "The Great American Bathroom Reader" or other well-done compilations of factoids, you will now already. He borrows little bits here and there from other non-fiction works, like those of Erik Larson, and it's pretty light on science, but as a history of relatively-modern Great Britain (it is majority about our Atlantic neighbors, but by no means all), it's got some really cool facts in there!
One of my favorites is that there was a book (I dont have the reference in front of me) published in either the late 1800s or very early 1900s by a woman who "hated cooking and had no idea how to do it." It was kind of a home reference, a mix of Joy of Cooking, YouTube searches, and the Physician's Desk Reference that housewives and households could pick up. How do you boil pasta (the author thought it was for an hour and a half, if I recall correctly)? Need to remove an old nail from a wall? Etc, etc. A giant compendium of self-help. Here was the fun part.. Since this was a stuffy English housewife, anything more exciting than pasta and cream (TOMATOES? My god! Chili peppers! Get thee behind me, devil!) the author advised the English to stay away from. It became the best-selling reference work of its kind in England, and DIRECTLY led to the stereotype of bland food. English that grew up across the "Empire" (Ghana, India) definitely kept English traditions, but also brought back tastes for the local cuisine. But of course, curry powders and hot peppers were foods of those primitive, lustful, unChristian people, and so this guide said to EAT BLAND FOOD. The British did (you, too, Ireland), and the running gag has its roots in truth, and in this reference book that everyone bought, and that dished out HORRIBLE cooking and other advice.
The audiobook is read by Mr. Bryson, which was a very pleasant treat. Some of the book is just common trivia that, if you have read "The Great American Bathroom Reader" or other well-done compilations of factoids, you will now already. He borrows little bits here and there from other non-fiction works, like those of Erik Larson, and it's pretty light on science, but as a history of relatively-modern Great Britain (it is majority about our Atlantic neighbors, but by no means all), it's got some really cool facts in there!
One of my favorites is that there was a book (I dont have the reference in front of me) published in either the late 1800s or very early 1900s by a woman who "hated cooking and had no idea how to do it." It was kind of a home reference, a mix of Joy of Cooking, YouTube searches, and the Physician's Desk Reference that housewives and households could pick up. How do you boil pasta (the author thought it was for an hour and a half, if I recall correctly)? Need to remove an old nail from a wall? Etc, etc. A giant compendium of self-help. Here was the fun part.. Since this was a stuffy English housewife, anything more exciting than pasta and cream (TOMATOES? My god! Chili peppers! Get thee behind me, devil!) the author advised the English to stay away from. It became the best-selling reference work of its kind in England, and DIRECTLY led to the stereotype of bland food. English that grew up across the "Empire" (Ghana, India) definitely kept English traditions, but also brought back tastes for the local cuisine. But of course, curry powders and hot peppers were foods of those primitive, lustful, unChristian people, and so this guide said to EAT BLAND FOOD. The British did (you, too, Ireland), and the running gag has its roots in truth, and in this reference book that everyone bought, and that dished out HORRIBLE cooking and other advice.
Very interesting, like any Bryson book. The organization felt a bit forced. I wish there had been more of a story to the rectory itself. I enjoyed it, though, and learned a few new things!
What is it about Bill Bryson that makes him so eminently readable? Is it that he doesn't take himself too seriously? Is it his tendency to come to the same conclusions we do? Is it his penchant for including humorous insights in parentheses and footnotes? Whatever it is, it's present in At Home in liberal doses.
The contents of this book are fascinating but I don't think that he quite achieves the conceit. Ostensibly, Bryson explores the rooms in his house (an old parsonage), matching each to its history. But it just ends up being a glorious jumble of history in general.
This is an excellent book on the history of rooms and the objects they contain. Bryson bores down vertically into micro-biographies of various domestic objects. YOu learn things you never expected about the history of bathrooms, kitchens, cement, light bulbs, etc.