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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
http://dsbs42.wordpress.com/2011/07/17/at-home-a-short-history-of-private-life-%E2%80%93-review-%E2%80%93/
I’ll be damned if this wasn’t a timely pick (you know, before we got trapped in the prisons of our own making) Bryson walks you through the home, room by room, with focus on the room and pieces within and the historical detail of all of those combined.
It’s run-on history. Facts and details pour into other facts and details so you’re never on one subject for too long. Nice lil bit on epidemics and plagues as well
It’s run-on history. Facts and details pour into other facts and details so you’re never on one subject for too long. Nice lil bit on epidemics and plagues as well
funny
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
Just so truly enjoyable!
As all the other Bill Bryson books this one is packed with interesting information, about history, science and language. It is really gripping from the beginning but some parts drag on a little and I found it necessary to read some fiction in the meantime. What I liked a bit less about this book was the slightly depressing tone, while focusing on many terrible events of the past, like diseases and the disgraced lives of the poor. I obviously still commend Bryson for the hard work and extensive investigation behind this book. Learned a lot, just wish it hadn't left me so down.
This dense but digestible tome by Bill Bryson is the perfect elixir for those of us who love esoterica, especially as it relates to the daily lives of the everyman and everywoman from history--basically, almost all of us. Filled to the brim with quick sketches of the characters that had something to do with the development of anything related to home life, I found myself chuckling out loud at his dry observations or conclusions about the often zany and oddball, but also inspiring, pursuits of those who helped invent modern quotidian life.
It's amazing to me how the Victorian era produced such an explosion of new thinking and inventiveness that informs how we live in our private and public spaces still today. I'd recommend this book to anyone who loves the UK, micro-history, interesting but obscure innovators, the origin of English language words, and how homes got to be the way they are.
It's amazing to me how the Victorian era produced such an explosion of new thinking and inventiveness that informs how we live in our private and public spaces still today. I'd recommend this book to anyone who loves the UK, micro-history, interesting but obscure innovators, the origin of English language words, and how homes got to be the way they are.