Book Recommendation

At Home, A Short History of Private Life

By Bill Bryson 

One of the benefits of belonging to a book club is having to read books you wouldn't normally pick.  

During the six years I was part of a local book club, someone suggested this book. Being a lover of history does not necessarily mean you want to know how the ordinary things in our lives and in our private homes evolved. But trust me, it is fascinating stuff! And the author deserves credit for his talent in presenting these facts with touches of wit and satirical humor.  He introduces us to a variety of individuals who played a major part in this transformation, some like Prince Albert of Britain and Thomas Jefferson are well known names. Others have been forgotten in time, but they were often some very interesting people!

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003F3FJGY/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 

Are you already aware of the part Queen Victoria's beloved husband played in bringing glass windows into a home, or how long it took for glass to become commonly used?

How about this: a separate room from the kitchen and eating area evolved because ladies of the house who became affluent enough to afford fine coverings on their divans got tired of the fabrics being ruined by greasy hands. That's part of the story anyway...

Consider this quote from the chapter on The Fuse Box: "We forget just how painfully dim the world was before electricity. A candle... provides barely a hundredth of the illumination of a single 100 watt lightbulb. Open your refrigerator door and you summon forth more light than the total amount enjoyed by most households in the eighteenth century. The world at night for much of history was a very dark place indeed."  

And I love the quote Bryson provides from another book, an old French expression that says, "By candle-light a goat is ladylike."

Perhaps the biggest eye-opener will be the history of the bedroom. Really? Bedrooms are for sleeping, right? What's changed? Let me give you a hint as to just one of the functions of a bedroom through time; childbirth. There are so many more ways our bedrooms are more comfortable these days, but the facts of giving birth at home as it was in days gone by will have you revering your great-great- grandmas for getting through that process not only once but usually many times. 

There may be no other book that has impressed upon as much as this one has, how the common man's home life has improved over the past several hundred years, far beyond indoor plumbing.