history of architecture

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


Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Jun 2, 2011

Another great non-fiction book from one of my favorite authors.  The author grabs inquisitive readers’ attention from the beginning:  It starts by Bryson pondering why all of our dining tables display salt and pepper shakers rather than other equally common spices, where the expressions “sleep tight” and  “room and board” generated, and why does he have decorative buttons on the end of his jacket sleeves.  His curiosity is justified; according to his diaries, even Albert Einstein was more preoccupied with the places where he lived and where he vacationed rather than his research.

With the