Bill Bryson — At Home

Transworld Publishers Limited 2011 Paperback, 259pp. Bill Bryson applies his irrepressible curiosity, irresistible wit and masterful storytelling to deliver one of the most entertaining and illuminating books ever written about the history of the way we live. Bill Bryson was struck one day by the thought that we devote a lot more time to studying battles and wars than to what history really consists of: centuries of people quietly going about their daily business - eating, sleeping and merely endeavouring to get more comfortable. And that most of the key discoveries for humankind can be found in the very fabric of the houses in which we live. So he embarked on a journey around his own house, an old rectory in Norfolk, wandering from room to room to 'write a history of the world without leaving home'. Along the way he did a prodigious amount of research on the history of anything and everything, from architecture to electricity, from crinolines to toilets. And he discovered that there is a huge amount of history, interest and excitement - and even a little danger - lurking in the corners of every home. Spine creased, foxing to page edges. (ISBN: 9780552772556). Good.