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At Home: A Short History of Private Life
by Bill Bryson
- Used
- as new
- Paperback
- first
- Condition
- As New
- ISBN 10
- 0385661649
- ISBN 13
- 9780385661645
- Seller
-
WESTBANK, British Columbia, Canada
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Anchor Canada, 2011. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Soft cover. As New. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. First Edition-First Printing with full number line- A tight, square and unmarked copy."Houses aren't refuges from history. They are where history ends up." Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to "write a history of the world without leaving home." The bathroom provides the occasion for a history of hygiene; the bedroom, sex, death, and sleep; the kitchen, nutrition and the spice trade; and so on, as Bryson shows how each has figured in the evolution of private life. Whatever happens in the world, he demonstrates, ends up in our house, in the paint and the pipes and the pillows and every item of furniture.
Synopsis
BILL BRYSON ’s books include A Walk in the Woods , I’m a Stranger Here Myself , In a Sunburned Country , Bryson’s Book of Troublesome Words , A Short History of Nearly Everything (which earned him the 2004 Aventis Prize), The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid , and Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors . Bryson lives in England with his wife and children.
Reviews
On Nov 20 2014, CloggieDownunder said:
“…centuries and centuries of people quietly going about their daily business - eating, sleeping, having sex, endeavouring to be amused – ant it occurred to me….that that’s really what history is: masses of people doing ordinary things”
At Home: a short history of private life is the fifteenth book by American author, Bill Bryson. With his uniquely individual style, Bryson takes the reader around his house, an 1851 Norfolk rectory, and he explores the history of activities that are (sometimes very loosely) associated with each room’s designation. Thus he touches on a vast array of topics and presents all sorts of noteworthy, sometimes surprising and occasionally hilarious facts.
At over six hundred pages of content, this is quite a brick, but is, as with many Bryson books, easy to read and thoroughly fascinating. Bryson has a talent for making the most ordinary, everyday subject interesting, and in this book he also explains the origin of many terms in common usage that we seldom think about, along with their meanings. Another excellent Bryson offering.
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Details
- Bookseller
- MAD HATTER BOOKSTORE
(CA)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 007488
- Title
- At Home: A Short History of Private Life
- Author
- Bill Bryson
- Format/Binding
- Soft cover
- Book Condition
- New
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Edition 1st Printing
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 0385661649
- ISBN 13
- 9780385661645
- Publisher
- Anchor Canada
- Place of Publication
- Toronto
- Date Published
- 2011
- Pages
- 592
- Size
- 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall
Terms of Sale
MAD HATTER BOOKSTORE
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
MAD HATTER BOOKSTORE
Biblio member since 2019
WESTBANK, British Columbia
About MAD HATTER BOOKSTORE
Established 1983. All genres of used books.
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