At Home: A Short History of Private Life

This is a really interesting book that covers a wide range of subjects, all held together by the author's home in the English countryside. Moving from room to room in the house, Bryson basically takes us through a history of the Industrial Revolution and how it affected everything from the food we eat to the clothes we wear to the diseases we get.

It is a long book - 400-plus pages - and I admit to skimming some of it (I pretty much skipped the part about bugs and other creepy crawly things). But Bryson tells a story well, and he has a sense of humor I enjoy, so it was pretty fast reading. Bryson also obviously did a great deal of research, and tells about the real inventors of various household items and the real stories behind why we wear or don't wear certain things. For example, I now know why every business suit has those totally useless rows of buttons on the sleeves.

Even if you aren't a big history buff, this is just a really interesting book. I think everyone will find something in it that makes them say, "gee, I wondered about that." And that's pretty cool.

At Home: A Short History of Private Life