At Home is a rambling stroll through history, using the author's vicarage home as a launching point for each chapter. I thought this would be a more targeted history of the things we commonly find in our homes, but this was only partly the case. Bryson takes a common item, and uses it to tell selected stories from the history of the world. Though i was hoping for a more thorough explanation of why we have certain objects in our home, this was a thoroughly enjoyable telling of the stories that brought many common things to our lives. I particularly enjoy how Bryson takes many of our national heroes and exposes some of the dirt in their lives and characters. Among the fascinating things you can learn here: how vitamins came to be called vitamins; why there are 4 tines on a fork; the rationale for Edison's (yes, that Edison) concrete house and why it failed; the extent of the human excrement market prior to the 1900s; guano mania; the exquisite mechanics of stairs; why we have the expression "room and board". I loved it. I can enjoy history from this perspective. This is another example of an author who can narrate a book well, even if his prose is a bit rambling.
audio: 16.5 hours
print: 512 pages
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