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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
Interesting but I could've gone down the wiki hole myself
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
It is a really interesting idea to tell stories about history through everyday items and the concept is unique.
Bryson uses rooms of an old victorian house as loose jumping-off points to talk about all topics concerning private life through the centuries and especially during the last 150 years. I came away feeling extremely lucky to live in the time I am living in, since every aspect of life seemed to hold fresh horrors.
Bryson writes well and his pacing is good. This 700-page non-fiction book seemed to fly by. At times it did feel like a bit of a barrage of names that I could not really keep track of, but that is inherent to history - many people shaped it.
Bryson uses rooms of an old victorian house as loose jumping-off points to talk about all topics concerning private life through the centuries and especially during the last 150 years. I came away feeling extremely lucky to live in the time I am living in, since every aspect of life seemed to hold fresh horrors.
Bryson writes well and his pacing is good. This 700-page non-fiction book seemed to fly by. At times it did feel like a bit of a barrage of names that I could not really keep track of, but that is inherent to history - many people shaped it.
Bryson is as wonderful as ever, connecting dots and sharply illuminating the subject matter of why we live the way we do. This time, it's sort of about homes and why they are the way they are, but it's really about our quest for comfort and security in our daily lives. He's a talented at witty writer.
Only loosely tied to the home theme, and missing the laugh out loud humor of Notes from a Small Island or In a Sunburnt Country. Still, for a lover of trivia and history this was a very enjoyable read - interesting, witty and rarely dragged.
What's not to like? In typical Bryson form, he engages anyone who has ever wondered why about the evolution of the home as we know it today. Great stories, great history, a lot of "incidentally" asides. I'd recommend it to anyone with an enquiring mind.
This book suffered from "I put it down to read something else and didn't feel like picking it back up" disease.
adventurous
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
While normally rambling tangents are delightful from Bill Bryson, too many left me wondering what the connection was to the larger narrative.