Not too long ago I read the very good Notes From A Small Island. Inspired by how good it was I bumped At Home, Bryson’s look at the history of houses and how they came to be, to the top of my pile.
At Home… the Blurb
Bill Bryson was struck one day by the thought that we devote a lot more time to studying the battles and wars of history than to considering 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.This inspired him to start a journey around his own house, an old rectory in Norfolk, wandering from room to room considering how the ordinary things in life came to be.
Along the way he did a prodigious amount of research on the history of anything and everything, from architecture to electricity, from food preservation to epidemics, from the spice trade to the Eiffel Tower, from crinolines to toilets; and on the brilliant, creative and often eccentric minds behind them. And he discovered that, although there may seem to be nothing as unremarkable as our domestic lives, there is a huge amount of history, interest and excitement – and even a little danger – lurking in the corners of every home.
Above board
Like so many of Bill Bryson’s books At Home is well researched. It’s jam packed with little nuggets of information such as why the English are referred to as Limeys, what it means to be above board and why we have stupid buttons on the sleeves of our suit jackets. I love this sort of dinner party trivia. It sticks in the mind and makes 480 pages of non fiction easier to read.
What I wasn’t expecting was quite how far off topic Bryson strayed. I didn’t expect to be reading about cotton picking in America, Christopher Columbus or opium trade with China. What is clear from the book is how linked all these things are to our past. And our today.
All things American
The book is based around a rectory in Norfolk, Bryson’s then, if not now home. Given its English origins At Home spends considerable time devoted to America. Its inventors, its water systems and its president’s homes. Bryson is an American and so it is only natural for a certain amount of America to be included in this detailed account. After all modern history without America in it is unthinkable. Yet I didn’t expect it to that extent and found it jolted me at times out of the book. I wasn’t sure who Bryson was writing for, an English audience, an American one, or both?
The epic Victorians
Not so long ago I read Victoria which highlighted how much change Queen Victoria experienced in her life time. Bryson in a way mirrored this but looked at the finer details such as candles, hair pieces (oh the hair pieces) and wallpaper. I wouldn’t want to have lived through it (the limitations on women were flabbergasting) Yet it was a really fascinating time to be alive. It’s also a really fascinating book. You will learn from it. You will raise an eyebrow or two and your next dinner guest (goodness knows when that will be) will thank you for it.