Name: At Home
Price: 59.72 NZD
Availability: InStock
Author: Bill Bryson
ISBN: 9780552777353

Type

Physical Book

Author

Bill Bryson

Publisher

Random House Export

Synopsis "At Home "

In "At Home", Bill Bryson applies the same irrepressible curiosity, irresistible wit, stylish prose and masterful storytelling that made "A Short History of Nearly Everything" one of the most lauded books of the last decade, and delivers 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 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.

Bill Bryson

(Author)

View Author's Page

Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951. He started a Journalism career in the United States, but interrupted it to travel through Europe. In 1977, he settled in North Yorkshire, England, where he lived for two decades and worked as a journalist. Although he has also been involved in teaching (he was the chancellor of Durham University), he currently dedicates himself mainly to writing. He is the author, among other bestsellers, of Shakespeare, A Short History of Nearly Everything, At Home: A Short History of Private Life, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, A Walk in the Woods, and One Summer: America, 1927 and Down Under.

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