With this introduction, Bill goes on to tell the story of the Paxton's Crystal Palace and the great exhibition for which it was built. Right at the start of the book Bill rightly points out that history generally ignores all the things we do most of the time such as eating, sleeping, socializing, having sex, etc.
Why Bill? It is like having Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio in a movie wearing Burkas. In addition only rarely did Bryon flex his fantastic humor. While I did indeed learn quite a lot about things that you don't get from traditional history books, the book seemed rather disorganized, which was frustrating. So maybe my disappointment with this book, in part, stems from my high expectations. In addition I feel that there is a bias in my historical knowledge towards war and despair and I hoped that this book might remedy that.
At Home sounded like it would be a book both funny and educational at the same time. I also liked his short history of nearly everything, which provides an enjoyable introduction to science history, albeit not as funny as his travel books. All his travel books are absolutely amazing and I recommend them to anyone. His writing has caused me to laugh out loud in inappropriate situations time and time again. His wit and sheer prose fluency make At Home one of the most entertaining books ever written about private life. Whatever happens in the world, he demonstrates, ends up in our house, in the paint and the pipes and the pillows and every item of furniture.īill 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 an occasion for the most diverting exposition imaginable. The bathroom provides the occasion for a history of hygiene the bedroom, sex, death, and sleep the kitchen, nutrition and the spice trade and so on, as Bryson shows how each has figured in the evolution of private life. 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.” Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home. They are where history ends up.”īill 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. From one of the most beloved authors of our time-more than six million copies of his books have been sold in this country alone - a fascinating excursion into the history behind the place we call home.
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