At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson
Nonfiction
What it is: Bill Bryson takes readers on a tour of his home in England, a former parsonage, and explores how homes reflect history. What is a parlor and why do we have them? Why did people wear wigs? Among lots of other interesting tidbits, Bryson shares that flushing toilets were the most popular feature at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851. Who knew?
Reviewers say: “Informative, readable and great fun” (Kirkus Reviews); “explores everything from the spice trade to the toilet bowl, revealing the hilarious and revolting details of our private lives from Roman times to the present (Library Journal).
Want a taste? “If a potato can produce vitamin C, why can't we? Within the animal kingdom only humans and guinea pigs are unable to synthesize vitamin C in their own bodies. Why us and guinea pigs? No point asking. Nobody knows.” “Part of the reason people could eat so well was that many foods that we now think of as delicacies were plenteous then. Lobsters bred in such abundance around Britain's coastline that they were fed to prisoners and orphans or ground up for fertilizer.”