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.

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