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At Home: A Short History of Private Life

Bill Bryson

Discussion: 2010-Oct-Nov-Dec

Why we're reading this: October 14, 2010
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2010-Oct-Nov-Dec

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* December 2010
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 11 views

last updated Feb 26, 2011 12:22AM

* November 2010
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 11 views

last updated Feb 25, 2011 10:56PM

What Members Thought

Aug 25, 2012 Lee rated it it was amazing

This is my second Bill Bryson book. I previously read his The Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way. I really enjoy Bryon's voice, his wit is threaded throughout his books, giving a jovial and light quality to even the darkest moments. As a historian, I sometimes cringe at Bryson's boiling down of complex ideas... As a reader, I really enjoy how Bryson makes facts relatable for a general audience.

I know those too statements seem at odds, and I'm not exactly able to reconcile them for myse This is my second Bill Bryson book. I previously read his The Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way. I really enjoy Bryon's voice, his wit is threaded throughout his books, giving a jovial and light quality to even the darkest moments. As a historian, I sometimes cringe at Bryson's boiling down of complex ideas... As a reader, I really enjoy how Bryson makes facts relatable for a general audience.

I know those too statements seem at odds, and I'm not exactly able to reconcile them for myself either, but basically, I think academics could enjoy Bryson's narrative of factoids as long as they understand it's just that and sometimes take Bryson with a grain of salt. On the other hand, I think Bryson does something even more important, he makes history accessible and enjoyable for people who may not have loved US History 101: Discovery to 1830. My hope is always that someone will pick up a book like this just for a fun casual read, and find something in it that captures their interest and makes them go, "I need to know more!"

In the preface, possibly my favorite "chapter", Bryson explains that At Home will walk through each room of the house and give the history of each of the rooms and the things contained within the room. He then goes on to set the scene, explaining that he is going to focus in and around 1851 because it is a historically important era in general, with the industrial revolution, and a historically important year in particular with the Great Exhibition and the year his house was built.

My only really issue with the book is that Bryson doesn't exactly stick to that model. He wanders a bit in his narrative. In several rooms of the house, the chapter begins with a brief explanation of the room and then will dive into a wild tangent. For example, I'm thinking of on especially poignant, rememberable and somewhat gruesome section on medical procedures, where Bryson has an excerpt of a diary from a woman who underwent a mastectomy without anaesthesia. I'm not really sure how he got onto the subject, or what room he was in... the bathroom maybe? or possibly the bedroom, which had lead to a history of illness? The problem isn't that these passages don't flow or fit into the text. They actually flow like a conversation, you start in one place, end up in another and aren't really sure how you got there, despite it being and interesting point.

He also does not stick to modern history. By and large he says within the last 300-400 years. However, on several occasions he wanders back into the medieval period, ancient history and there are even long passages on prehistoric people. Again, not that this is inherently bad, it's just that the focus seems to wander a bit.

I found so much of this book interesting, from the transformation of words used to describe various rooms, to the construction and architecture of Mt. Vernon and Monticello, to the somewhat gory if not thought provoking descriptions of medicine and sanitation. I really loved this book! ...more

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Oct 09, 2011 Kazzy rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2011, non-fiction, history

I really enjoyed this. Bryson takes factoids about houses and uses them as clues to how people lived in the past. It could have been pretty dry but the author's sense of humor made it very entertaining. ...more

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