At Home by Bill Bryson: 9780767919395 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books (2024)

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A Short History of Private Life

A Short History of Private Life

A Short History of Private Life

By Bill Bryson

By Bill Bryson

By Bill Bryson
Read by Bill Bryson

Best Seller

Category: | World History | Home

Category: | World History | Home

Category: | World History | Home | Audiobooks

Paperback $19.00

Oct 04, 2011 | ISBN 9780767919395

Ebook $9.99

Oct 05, 2010 | ISBN 9780385533591

Audiobook Download $25.00

Oct 05, 2010 | 993 Minutes

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    At Home by Bill Bryson: 9780767919395 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books (4)

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    Oct 04, 2011 | ISBN 9780767919395

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    About At Home

    In these pages, the beloved Bill Bryson gives us a fascinating history of the modern home, taking us on a room-by-room tour through his own house and using each room to explore the vast history of the domestic artifacts we take for granted. As he takes us through the history of our modern comforts, Bryson demonstrates that whatever happens in the world eventually ends up in our home, in the paint, the pipes, the pillows, and every item of furniture. Bryson has one of the liveliest, most inquisitive minds on the planet, and his sheer prose fluency makesAt Homeone of the most entertaining books ever written about private life.

    About At Home

    In these pages, the beloved Bill Bryson gives us a fascinating history of the modern home, taking us on a room-by-room tour through his own house and using each room to explore the vast history of the domestic artifacts we take for granted. As he takes us through the history of our modern comforts, Bryson demonstrates that whatever happens in the world eventually ends up in our home, in the paint, the pipes, the pillows, and every item of furniture. Bryson has one of the liveliest, most inquisitive minds on the planet, and his sheer prose fluency makesAt Homeone of the most entertaining books ever written about private life.

    About At Home

    From one of the most beloved authors of our time—more than six million copies of his books have been sold in this country alone—a fascinating excursion into the history behind the place we call home.

    “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.

    Bill Bryson has one of the liveliest, most inquisitive minds on the planet, and he is a master at turning the seemingly isolated or mundane fact into an occasion for the most diverting exposi­tion imaginable. His wit and sheer prose fluency make At Home one of the most entertaining books ever written about private life.

    Listen to a sample from At Home

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    About Bill Bryson

    BILL BRYSON’s bestselling books includeA Walk in the Woods,The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, andA Short History of Nearly Everything(which won the Aventis Prize in Britain and the Descartes Prize, the European Union’s highest literary award). He was… More about Bill Bryson

    About Bill Bryson

    BILL BRYSON’s bestselling books includeA Walk in the Woods,The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, andA Short History of Nearly Everything(which won the Aventis Prize in Britain and the Descartes Prize, the European Union’s highest literary award). He was… More about Bill Bryson

    About Bill Bryson

    BILL BRYSON’s bestselling books includeA Walk in the Woods,The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, andA Short History of Nearly Everything(which won the Aventis Prize in Britain and the Descartes Prize, the European Union’s highest literary award). He was… More about Bill Bryson

    Product Details

    Category: | World History | Home

    Paperback | $19.00
    Published by Anchor
    Oct 04, 2011 | 592 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780767919395

    Category: | World History | Home

    Ebook | $9.99
    Published by Anchor
    Oct 05, 2010 | 512 Pages | ISBN 9780385533591

    Category: | World History | Home | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $25.00
    Published by Random House Audio
    Oct 05, 2010 | 993 Minutes | ISBN 9780307707505

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    Praise

    “Delightful. . . . Bryson’s enthusiasm brightens any dull corner. . . . Hand over control and simply enjoy the ride.” –The New York Times Book Review

    “An exuberant, shared social history. . . . Told with Bryson’s habitual brio. . . . A personal compendium of fascinating facts, suggesting how the history of houses and domesticity has shaped our lives, language, and ideas.” –The New York Review of Books

    “A treasure trove. . . . Playful, yes, but Bryson is also a deft historian.” –Los Angeles Times

    “If this book doesn’t supply you with five years’ worth of dinner conversation, you’re not paying attention.” –People

    “Bryson is fascinated by everything, and his curiosity is infectious. . . . You can take this class in your pajamas—and, judging by the book’s laid-back, comfy tone, I have a sneaking suspicion that Bryson wrote much of it in his.” –New York Times Book Review

    “The experience of reading a Bill Bryson book is something you don’t want to stop—a pip and a spree and, almost incidentally, a serious education. And never tiresome, for Bryson has the gift of being the student and not the tutor.” –Washington Post

    “At Home is both insightful and entertaining, leaving a deeper appreciation of the stuff of home life that will never again be viewed as mundane.” –Seattle Times

    “Readers who enjoyed Mr. Bryson’s apparently inexhaustible supply of nifty facts in such previous books as “A Short History of Nearly Everything” (2004) or “The Mother Tongue” (1991) will be happy to find the author’s pen as nimble and his narrative persona as genial as ever.” –Wall Street Journal

    “Bryson serves up a rich banquet of utterly fascinating and sometimes horrifying facts of where and how people have slept, eaten, made a living, built homes and monuments, frolicked, traveled, given birth and been laid to rest.” –Bookreporter.com

    “Its lasting impression is the author’s delightful, boundless curiosity. . . . The best nonfiction illuminates what we found impossible to see without it, and perhaps more so than any of his other wonderful books, At Home proves that Bryson writes some of the very best.” –”The AV Club,” The Onion

    “Bryson writes with his usual slyly sassy humor. . . . The result makes for reading that charms as it informs.” –St. Louis Post-Dispatch

    “Reading Bill Bryson is like having one of those friends around who’s always discovering something new—some pastime or place or piece of information—and can’t wait to breathlessly pass it along.” –Dallas Morning News

    “Deliciously informative. . . . A treasure trove of facts in an engaging history of how we once lived.” –Richmond Times-Dispatch

    “At Home is terrific. Bryson is a brilliant writer.” –The Charlotte Observer

    “Bryson is the ultimate fact-filled uncle. . . . A delightful book filled with humor and astonishing facts.” –Vancouver Sun

    Awards

    YALSA Best Books for Young Adults WINNER 2014

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    At Home by Bill Bryson: 9780767919395 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books (2024)

    FAQs

    What is the summary of at home by Bill Bryson? ›

    Brief summary

    'At Home' by Bill Bryson offers a fascinating insight into the history of daily life at home. From the invention of bed to the evolutionary quirks hiding in modern kitchens, Bryson examines the objects we take for granted revealing how they changed the way we live.

    How many pages is At Home by Bill Bryson? ›

    At Home: A Short History of Private Life
    First edition (UK)
    AuthorBill Bryson
    Media typeHardcover, paperback, E-book
    Pages536
    ISBN978-0-385-60827-5
    6 more rows

    Is Bill Bryson still writing books? ›

    Des Moines, Iowa, U.S. In 1995, while in the United Kingdom, Bryson authored Notes from a Small Island, an exploration of Britain. In 2003, he authored A Short History of Nearly Everything. In October 2020, he announced that he had retired from writing books.

    What is the story at home a short history of private life about? ›

    The book covers topics of the commerce, architecture, technology and geography that have shaped homes into what they are today, told through a series of "tours" through Bryson's Norfolk rectory that quickly digress into the history of each particular room.

    What is the theme of this side of home? ›

    This Side of Home is a gorgeous and thought provoking book about gentrification, community, and identity.

    What is the story of this way home? ›

    Together, the three work on a plan to destroy Blood Street and rebuild the community they all call home. This Way Home is a story about reclamation. It's about taking a stand for what matters most, and the discovery that, in the end, hope, love, and courage are our most powerful weapons.

    How many pages is the most fun we ever had? ›

    At over 500 pages, this novel is just way too long. Granted, it's a family saga covering decades with multiple narratives of a husband and wife, their four grown daughters and a fifteen year old grandson who comes into the mix.

    How many pages is one summer by Bill Bryson? ›

    One Summer: America, 1927
    First edition
    AuthorBill Bryson
    Publication dateOctober 2013
    Media typeHardcover, paperback, e-book
    Pages528
    5 more rows

    How many pages are in a walk in the woods by Bill Bryson? ›

    A Walk in the Woods (book)
    First edition
    AuthorBill Bryson
    Media typeHardcover
    Pages274 pp (first edition)
    ISBN0-7679-0251-3
    9 more rows

    Does Bill Bryson have a degree? ›

    He studied Political Science at Drake University in Des Moines and was, quote, so far from being an exceptional student that he took 7 years to complete a 4-year degree. Bill left Des Moines simply because life seemed to be more exciting elsewhere.

    Is Bill Bryson's wife English? ›

    There he met and soon married his English wife, Cynthia, a hospital nurse. Together they returned to the USA in order for Bryson to complete his college degree, after which they settled in England in 1977, remaining there until 1995.

    How does Bill Bryson end up? ›

    4. How does Bill Bryson end up in a “crash position” in the aircraft? Answer: Bill Bryson leans down to tie his shoelaces. In the meantime the person on the seat ahead of him pushes back his seat.

    What is a private life? ›

    Noun. private life (plural private lives) The aspects of one's life that are personal, such as family, friends and other personal relationships, as opposed to the elements that make up one's public or professional life.

    Why live a private life? ›

    Research indicates that establishing personal boundaries and limiting information sharing can contribute significantly to mental well-being. By creating a psychological barrier between your private life and external scrutiny, you foster a sense of control and tranquility.

    What is a book that a person writes to tell the story of his own life? ›

    Typically in book form, an autobiography is an account of a person's life told by the himself or herself. An autobiography tends to be a more general history, while a memoir focuses on a specific piece of the author's life.

    What is the synopsis of Home Home by Lisa Allen Agostini? ›

    Fans of Monday's Not Coming and Girl in Pieces will love this award-winning novel about a girl on the verge of losing herself and her unlikely journey to recovery after she is removed from anything and everyone she knows to be home. Moving from Trinidad to Canada wasn't her idea.

    What is the summary of the house in the woods? ›

    After sneaking off to Epping Forest to find an abandoned house, Eve, Tom, and Clovis spend the evening using a ouija board to contact spirits. What they experienced that night wasn't quite what they expected. Nor did they expect the spirit to follow them home.

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