At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson

3.93 AVERAGE

amywon's review against another edition

0.5
funny informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

larakai's review against another edition

4.0
It took me forever to finish this book. I did enjoy it, though. It was VERY long, and I think the chapters were too long. I read it digitally, and being told that a chapter is going to take 40 minutes to read makes me not want to start unless I know I have 40 minutes of time and attention span.
Also, it was definitely not at all what I expected. Not that that's a bad thing, it just threw me off. The "room-to-room journey" through the house was a bit of a stretch. Sometimes, the thing he ended up talking about had barely even the faintest connection to the room he started with.
Anyway. It was very interesting. It's full of fun facts. I sent excerpts to some friends while reading it, and I've already used a bunch of the things I learned from it in conversation. The topics it covers are so broad that there really is a fact for just about every situation.

wolfram's review against another edition

3.5
challenging informative slow-paced

adrieee's review against another edition

4.75
funny informative

chloj_805's review against another edition

4.0
Pretty good falling asleep book!

jeh641's review against another edition

5.0
funny informative lighthearted medium-paced

mhorsfall's review against another edition

3.5
informative slow-paced

davidgoldblum's review against another edition

4.0
Meanderings into history related to each room in a particular house. So, for example, when he gets to the room with a fireplace he talks about the history of the use of fire within homes that leads to the development of the fireplace. If you really like random historical information, especially about England in the 18th and 19th centuries, it is great. If you don't, you probably won't like it.

terri_wood8's review against another edition

4.0
I thought this book was really interesting! Bill Bryson crams in a lot of information about daily life throughout history as well as many other facts!

jessicalhaney's review against another edition

3.5
funny informative lighthearted relaxing slow-paced