At Home: A Short History of Private Life - Bryson, Bill Review & Synopsis

 Synopsis

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 makes At Home one of the most entertaining books ever written about private life.

Review

 Amazon Best Books of the Month, October 2010 : Bill Bryson (A Short History of Nearly Everything) turns his attention from science to society in his authoritative history of domesticity, At Home: A Short History of Private Life. While walking through his own home, a former Church of England rectory built in the 19th century, Bryson reconstructs the fascinating history of the household, room by room. With waggish humor and a knack for unearthing the extraordinary stories behind the seemingly commonplace, he examines how everyday items--things like ice, cookbooks, glass windows, and salt and pepper--transformed the way people lived, and how houses evolved around these new commodities. "Houses are really quite odd things," Bryson writes, and, luckily for us, he is a writer who thrives on oddities. He gracefully draws connections between an eclectic array of events that have affected home life, covering everything from the relationship between cholera outbreaks and modern landscaping, to toxic makeup, highly flammable hoopskirts, and other unexpected hazards of fashion. Fans of Bryson's travel writing will find plenty to love here; his keen eye for detail and delightfully wry wit emerge in the most unlikely places, making At Home an engrossing journey through history, without ever leaving the house. --Lynette Mong

 

Bill Bryson's bestselling books include A Walk in the Woods (now a major motion picture starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte), Notes from a Small Island, I'm a Stranger Here Myself, In a Sunburned Country, A Short History of Nearly Everything (which earned him the 2004 Aventis Prize), The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, At Home, and One Summer. He lives in England with his wife.

www.billbrysonbooks.com

At Home

What does history really consists of? Centuries of people quietly going about their daily business - sleeping, eating, having sex, endeavouring to get comfortable. And where did all these normal activities take place? At home. This was the thought that inspired Bill Bryson to start a journey around the rooms of his own house, an 1851 Norfolk rectory, to consider how the ordinary things in life came to be. And what he discovered are surprising connections to anything from the Crystal Palace to the Eiffel Tower, from scurvy to body-snatching,from bedbugs to the Industrial Revolution, and just about everything else that has ever happened, resulting in one of the most entertaining and illuminating books ever written about the history of the way we live.

        At home. This was the thought that inspired Bill Bryson to start a journey around the rooms of his own house, an 1851 Norfolk rectory, to consider how the ordinary things in life came to be."

At Home: Special Illustrated Edition

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 fig\u00adured 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 exposi\u00adtion imaginable. His wit and sheer prose fluency make At Home one of the most entertaining books ever written about private life.

        His wit and sheer prose fluency make At Home one of the most entertaining books ever written about private life."

At Home (Illustrated Edition)

What does history really consist of? Centuries of people quietly going about their daily business - sleeping, eating, having sex, endeavouring to get comfortable. And where did all these normal activities take place? At home. This was the thought that inspired Bill Bryson to start a journey around the rooms of his own house, an 1851 Norfolk rectory, to consider how the ordinary things in life came to be. And what he discovered are surprising connections to anything from the Crystal Palace to the Eiffel Tower, from scurvy to body-snatching, from bedbugs to the Industrial Revolution, and just about everything else that has ever happened, resulting in one of the most entertaining and illuminating books ever written about the history of the way we live, enhanced in this new edition by hundreds of stunning photographs and illustrations.

        And what he discovered are surprising connections to anything from the Crystal Palace to the Eiffel Tower, from scurvy to body-snatching, from bedbugs to the Industrial Revolution, and just about everything else that has ever happened, ..."

Mother Tongue

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Bill Bryson's Mother Tongue is a hymn to the English language. In examining how a second-rate, mongrel tongue came to be the undisputed language of the globe. Bryson explores English from America to Australia and looks at, among other things, swearing, spelling, spoonerisms and Scrabble. No self-respecting English speaker should open his mouth without reading it.

        Bill Bryson's Mother Tongue is a hymn to the English language."

Troublesome Words

With Troublesome Words, journalist and bestselling travel-writer Bill Bryson gives us a clear, concise and entertaining guide to problems of English usage and spelling. Originally published as The Penguin Dictionary of Troublesome Words, it has been an indispensable companion to those who work with the written word for nearly twenty years. Now fully updated and revised, it is better than ever. So if you want to discover whether you should care about split infinitives, are cursed with an uncontrollable outbreak of commas or were wondering if that newsreader was right to say 'an historic day', this superb book is the place to find out.

        So if you want to discover whether you should care about split infinitives, are cursed with an uncontrollable outbreak of commas or were wondering if that newsreader was right to say 'an historic day', this superb book is the place to find ..."

The Road to Little Dribbling

Bill Bryson returns to his internationally beloved topic, Britain, with his first travel book in fifteen years. In 1995, Bill Bryson went on a trip around Britain to celebrate the green and kindly island that had become his home. The hilarious book he wrote about that journey, Notes from a Small Island, became one of the most loved books of recent decades. Now, in this hotly anticipated new travel book, his first in fifteen years and sure to be greeted as the funniest book of the decade, Bryson sets out on a brand-new journey, on a route he dubs the Bryson Line, from Bognor Regis on the south coast to Cape Wrath on the northernmost tip of Scotland. Once again, he will guide us through all that's best and worst about Britain today--while doing that incredibly rare thing of making us laugh out loud in public.

        The hilarious book he wrote about that journey, Notes from a Small Island, became one of the most loved books of recent decades."

Down Under

Bill Bryson recounts his escapades in Australia, the only island that is also a continent and the only continent that is also a country.

        Bill Bryson recounts his escapades in Australia, the only island that is also a continent and the only continent that is also a country."

One Summer

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In the summer of 1927, America had a booming stock market, a president who worked just four hours a day (and slept much of the rest), a devastating flood of the Mississippi, a sensational murder trial, and an unknown aviator named Charles Lindbergh who became the most famous man on earth. It was the summer that saw the birth of talking pictures, the invention of television, the peak of Al Capone's reign of terror, the horrifying bombing of a school in Michigan, the thrillingly improbable return to greatness of an over-the-hill baseball player named Babe Ruth, and an almost impossible amount more. In this hugely entertaining book, Bill Bryson spins a story of brawling adventure, reckless optimism and delirious energy. With the trademark brio, wit and authority that has made him Britain's favourite writer of narrative non-fiction, he brings to life a forgotten summer when America came of age, took centre stage, and changed the world for ever.

        In this hugely entertaining book, Bill Bryson spins a story of brawling adventure, reckless optimism and delirious energy."

A Walk in the Woods

In the company of his friend Stephen Katz (last seen in the bestselling Neither Here nor There), Bill Bryson set off to hike the Appalachian Trail, the longest continuous footpath in the world. Ahead lay almost 2,200 miles of remote mountain wilderness filled with bears, moose, bobcats, rattlesnakes, poisonous plants, disease-bearing tics, the occasional chuckling murderer and - perhaps most alarming of all - people whose favourite pastime is discussing the relative merits of the external-frame backpack. Facing savage weather, merciless insects, unreliable maps and a fickle companion whose profoundest wish was to go to a motel and watch The X-Files, Bryson gamely struggled through the wilderness to achieve a lifetime's ambition - not to die outdoors.

        In the company of his friend Stephen Katz (last seen in the bestselling Neither Here nor There), Bill Bryson set off to hike the Appalachian Trail, the longest continuous footpath in the world."

Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors

What is the difference between cant and jargon, or assume and presume? What is a fandango? How do you spell supersede? Is it hippy or hippie? These questions really matter to Bill Bryson, as they do to anyone who cares about the English language. Originally published as The Penguin Dictionary for Writers and Editors, Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors has now been completely revised and updated for the twenty-first century by Bill Bryson himself. Here is a very personal selection of spellings and usages, covering such head-scratchers as capitalization, plurals, abbreviations and foreign names and phrases. Bryson also gives us the difference between British and American usages, and miscellaneous pieces of essential information you never knew you needed, like the names of all the Oxford colleges, or the correct spelling of Brobdingnag. An indispensable companion to all those who write, work with the written word, or who just enjoy getting things right, it gives rulings that are both authoritative and commonsense,all in Bryson's own inimitably goodhumoured way.

        Here is a very personal selection of spellings and usages, covering such head-scratchers as capitalization, plurals, abbreviations and foreign names and phrases."

Notes From A Small Island

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In 1995, before leaving his much-loved home in North Yorkshire to move back to the States for a few years with his family, Bill Bryson insisted on taking one last trip around Britain, a sort of valedictory tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home. His aim was to take stock of the nation's public face and private parts (as it were), and to analyse what precisely it was he loved so much about a country that had produced Marmite; a military hero whose dying wish was to be kissed by a fellow named Hardy; place names like Farleigh Wallop, Titsey and Shellow Bowells; people who said 'Mustn't grumble', and ‘Ooh lovely’ at the sight of a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits; and Gardeners' Question Time. Notes from a Small Island was a huge number-one bestseller when it was first published, and has become the nation's most loved book about Britain, going on to sell over two million copies.

        Notes from a Small Island was a huge number-one bestseller when it was first published, and has become the nation's most loved book about Britain, going on to sell over two million copies."

The Body: Panduan bagi Penghuni

Bill Bryson lagi-lagi membuktikan diri sebagai kawan seperjalanan yang berharga selagi dia mengajak kita menjelajahi tubuh manusiaÑbagaimana fungsinya, kemampuan luar biasanya menyembuhkan diri, dan (sayangnya) cara-cara tubuh bisa gagal. Penuh fakta luar biasa (tubuh Anda membuat sejuta sel darah merah sejak Anda mulai membaca tulisan ini) dan anekdot Bryson yang menarik, The Body akan membawa Anda ke pemahaman lebih mendalam atas keajaiban kehidupan dan tubuh Anda. Dia menulis, ÒKita menjalani hidup di dalam gumpalan daging hangat ini tapi menganggapnya biasa saja.Ó The Body akan menyembuhkan sikap abai itu dengan dosis tinggi fakta dan informasi menakjubkan yang asyik dibaca.

        KARYA LAIN BILL BRYSON The Lost Continent The Mother Tongue Neither Here Nor There Made in America Notes from a Small ... Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors At Home: A Short History of Private Life At Home: A Short History of ..."

The Social History of the American Family

The American family has come a long way from the days of the idealized family portrayed in iconic television shows of the 1950s and 1960s. The four volumes of The Social History of the American Family explore the vital role of the family as the fundamental social unit across the span of American history. Experiences of family life shape so much of an individual’s development and identity, yet the patterns of family structure, family life, and family transition vary across time, space, and socioeconomic contexts. Both the definition of who or what counts as family and representations of the “ideal” family have changed over time to reflect changing mores, changing living standards and lifestyles, and increased levels of social heterogeneity. Available in both digital and print formats, this carefully balanced academic work chronicles the social, cultural, economic, and political aspects of American families from the colonial period to the present. Key themes include families and culture (including mass media), families and religion, families and the economy, families and social issues, families and social stratification and conflict, family structures (including marriage and divorce, gender roles, parenting and children, and mixed and non-modal family forms), and family law and policy. Features: Approximately 600 articles, richly illustrated with historical photographs and color photos in the digital edition, provide historical context for students. A collection of primary source documents demonstrate themes across time. The signed articles, with cross references and Further Readings, are accompanied by a Reader’s Guide, Chronology of American Families, Resource Guide, Glossary, and thorough index. The Social History of the American Family is an ideal reference for students and researchers who want to explore political and social debates about the importance of the family and its evolving constructions.

        Further Readings Bryson , Bill . At Home: A Short History of Private Life . New York: Anchor Books, 2010. Gans, Herbert J. The Levittowners: Ways of Life and Politics in a New Suburban Community. New York: Pantheon Books, 1967."

Read On...History

Make history come alive! This book helps librarians and teachers as well as readers themselves find books they will enjoy—titles that will animate and explain the past, entertain, and expand their minds. This invaluable resource offers reading lists of contemporary and classic non-fiction history books and historical fiction, covering all time periods throughout the world, and including practically all manner of human endeavors. Every book included is hand-selected as an entertaining and enlightening read! Organized by appeal characteristics, this book will help readers zero in on the history books they will like best—for instance, titles that emphasize character, tell a specific type of historical story, convey a mood, or are presented in a particular setting. Every book listed has been recommended based on the author's research, and has proved to be a satisfying and worthwhile read. Provides succinct, accessible overview information to make finding the right book efficient Selectively arranges the most interesting books into lists that will entice readers to return to reading about the past Organizes lists in sections based on appeal features of character, setting, story, language, and mood

         At Home: A Short History of Private Life . 2010. Doubleday. 978-0767919388. 512pp. With his trademark wit and gentle spirit, Bryson takes a tour of his home, an aging parsonage in England, and uses his wandering as a way to look at the ..."

Pass The Pandowdy, Please: Chewing on History with Famous Folks and Their Fabulous Foods

*CBC/NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book* What do Napoleon, Cleopatra, George Washington, Gandhi, Queen Victoria, Columbus, Neil Armstrong, Montezuma, Paul Revere, Babe Ruth, Abraham Lincoln, Sacagawea, and Katsushika Hokusai have in common? They are all among the historical figures portrayed in this delightful book by writer Abby Ewing Zelz and cartoonist Eric Zelz. Just like us, the great movers and shakers of history had to eat, and their favorite foods turn out to be a highly entertaining thread to follow through the history of our small planet. History and biography have never been this tasty! Includes do it yourself historic Pandowdy recipe Includes backmatter with brief bios of featured historic figures Fountas & Pinnell Level W

         Bryson , Bill . At Home : A Short History of Private Life . New York : Random House , 2010 . Bryson , Bill . One Summer : America , 1927. New York : Anchor Books , 2014 . Bushman , Richard L. The Refinement of America : Persons , Houses ..."

거의 모든 사생활의 역사

Korean edition of AT HOME: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson. From one of the most beloved author of our timemore than six million copies of his books have been sold in this country alonea fascinating excursion into the history behind the place we call home - Product Description. Translated by Park Jung Seo. In Korean. Distributed by Tsai Fong Books, Inc.

        Korean edition of AT HOME: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson."

Home: A Very Short Introduction

Thoughts and feelings about home traditionally provided people of all cultures with a firm sense of where they belonged, and why. But with the world rapidly changing, many of our basic notions are becoming problematic. Both internationally and within countries, populations are constantly on the move, seeking better opportunities and living conditions, or an escape from violence and war. In spite of, or perhaps even because of these trends, ideas about home continue to shape the way people everywhere frame an understanding of their lives. In this Very Short Introduction Michael Allen Fox considers the complex meaning of home and the essential importance of place to human psychology. Drawing on a wide array of international examples he discusses what dwelling is and the variety of dwellings. Fox also looks at the politics of the concept of 'home', homelessness, refugeeism and migration, and the future of home, and argues that home remains a central organizing concept in human life. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

         Bill Bryson , At Home: A Short History of Private Life (London: Black Swan, 2011), p. 504. 'Urban population growth', World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory (GHO) data; http://www.who.int/gho/urban_ ..."

The Body

#1 Bestseller in both hardback and paperback: SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 ROYAL SOCIETY INSIGHT INVESTMENT SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE _______ 'A directory of wonders.' - The Guardian 'Jaw-dropping.' - The Times 'Classic, wry, gleeful Bryson...an entertaining and absolutely fact-rammed book.' - The Sunday Times 'It is a feat of narrative skill to bake so many facts into an entertaining and nutritious book.' - The Daily Telegraph _______ 'We spend our whole lives in one body and yet most of us have practically no idea how it works and what goes on inside it. The idea of the book is simply to try to understand the extraordinary contraption that is us.' Bill Bryson sets off to explore the human body, how it functions and its remarkable ability to heal itself. Full of extraordinary facts and astonishing stories The Body: A Guide for Occupants is a brilliant, often very funny attempt to understand the miracle of our physical and neurological make up. A wonderful successor to A Short History of Nearly Everything, this new book is an instant classic. It will have you marvelling at the form you occupy, and celebrating the genius of your existence, time and time again. 'What I learned is that we are infinitely more complex and wondrous, and often more mysterious, than I had ever suspected. There really is no story more amazing than the story of us.' Bill Bryson

        Collis, John Stewart, Living with a Stranger: A Discourse on the Human Body. ... Davies, Jamie A., Life Unfolding: How the Human Body Creates Itself. ... Enders, Giulia, Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Under-Rated Organ."

When Things Go Wrong: Diseases

In this selection from The Body, his compulsively readable and bestselling owner’s manual to the human body, Bill Bryson introduces us to the mysterious, and often devastating, world of disease. Written with extraordinary insight and filled with remarkable facts, When Things Go Wrong deepens our understanding of the maladies that afflict us--what they are and how they work. A Vintage Short.

        BOOKS BY BILL BRYSON The Lost Continent The Mother Tongue Neither Here Nor There Made in America Notes from a Small ... Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors At Home: A Short History of Private Life At Home: A Short History of ..."

A Rural Revolution

Take one family, a Staffordshire village and a society going through changes of world-shaking proportions. Add a nasty road traffic accident, a family of seventeen children, a notorious canal murder, a prevailing aristocratic connection, a riot of cross-dressing men, a narcoleptic delivery driver and a cycling regiment sent to the most dangerous place on earth. What you get is a fresh perspective on the history of Britain from the mid-1700s to the First World War and beyond, a period of rapid and momentous change that overturned British society. Seen through the lives and work of the ordinary people involved, it is also the true story of several generations of a single family and their adoptive village. From itinerant boat people to respected locals, Nel’s family is transformed by the world’s first industrial revolution and its aftermath. It’s all change for her rural community, too. Tracing a crucial historical journey, David R Roberts shows it wasn’t only the people trapped in Britain’s dark mills and smoky towns who faced the upheavals and challenges of the times. The physical and social contours of Nel’s village, and of the entire nation, were redrawn by the booms in road and canal construction and the coming of the railways. The author’s entertaining accounts of these revolutionary developments in transport and communications show how they impacted on everything from where and how we live to fish and chips and football. Also revealed are stories of child mortality and rural depopulation, of wealthy merchants and the slave trade, of 19th century bankers bailed out with public funds, and of enduring tragedies of the Great War. Along the way there are brief histories of inns and alehouses, land enclosures, early mass education, the suffragettes, the significance of salt, and more.

        A Hearsay History Part II: The Haywoods and Colwich 1939-1945, Haywood Society, 2008. Brown, Pete, Man Walks Into a Pub: A Sociable History of Beer, Pan Books (2nd edition), 2010. Bryson , Bill , At home: A Short History of Private Life , ..."

The Bathroom: A Social History of Cleanliness and the Body

This book gives a complete history of the American bathroom and describes how the smallest yet most complex room in the American house is at the nexus of personal behavior and public investment. • Offers a comprehensive overview of the history of the American bathroom • Provides a detailed look at the material culture of the bathroom • Focuses on the bathroom as a social space of consumers • Includes chapters that connect the bathroom with the public infrastructure (e.g., sanitation, technology) that surrounds it • Features 20 images that show the historical progression of the bathroom in American homes

        Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards. Bryson , Bill . 2010. At Home: A Short History of Private Life . New York: Doubleday. Building Code of Baltimore. 1908. Privately printed. Busch, Jane C. 2008."

Happier at Home

In the spirit of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin embarks on a new project to make home a happier place. In The Happiness Project, she worked out general theories of happiness. Here she goes deeper on factors that matter for home, such as possessions, marriage, time and parenthood. How can she control the cubicle in her pocket? How might she spotlight her family's treasured possessions? And it really was time to replace that dud toaster. And what does she want from her home? A place that calms her, and energises her. A place that, by making her feel safe, will free her to take risks. Also, while Rubin wants to be happier at home, she wants to appreciate how much happiness is there already. So, starting in September (the new January), Rubin dedicates a school year - September through May - to making her home a place of greater simplicity, comfort and love. Each month, Rubin tackles a different theme as she experiments with concrete, manageable resolutions - and this time, she coaxes her family to try some resolutions, as well. With her signature blend of memoir, science, philosophy and experimentation, Rubin's passion for her subject jumps off the page, and reading just a few chapters of this book will inspire readers to find more happiness in their own lives.

        This list doesn't attempt to cover all the most important works, but instead highlights some of my personal favorites. ... Bryson , Bill . At Home: A Short History of Private Life . New York: Doubleday, 2010. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly ..."

Healing Waters

Modern spas are wellness resorts that offer beauty treatments, massages and complementary therapies. Victorian spas were sanitariums, providing "water cure" treatments supplemented by massage, vibration, electricity and radioactivity. Rooted in the palliative health reforms of the early 19th century, spas of the Victorian Age grew out of the hydrotherapy institutions of the 1840s--an alternative to the horrors of bleeding and purging. The regimen focused on diet, rest, cessation of alcohol and foods that upset the stomach, stress reduction and plenty of water. The treatments, though sometimes of a dubious nature, formed the transition from the primitive methods of "heroic medicine" to the era of scientifically based practices.

        A History of Victorian Spas Jeremy Agnew ... Ackerknecht, Erwin H. A Short History of Medicine. ... Bryson , Bill . At Home: A Short History of Private Life . New York: Anchor Books, 2011. Byrenheidt, A. Hydropathy; or, The Treatment of ..."

Wild Nights

Why the modern world forgot how to sleep Why is sleep frustrating for so many people? Why do we spend so much time and money managing and medicating it, and training ourselves and our children to do it correctly? In Wild Nights, Benjamin Reiss finds answers in sleep's hidden history -- one that leads to our present, sleep-obsessed society, its tacitly accepted rules, and their troubling consequences. Today we define a good night's sleep very narrowly: eight hours in one shot, sealed off in private bedrooms, children apart from parents. But for most of human history, practically no one slept this way. Tracing sleep's transformation since the dawn of the industrial age, Reiss weaves together insights from literature, social and medical history, and cutting-edge science to show how and why we have tried and failed to tame sleep. In lyrical prose, he leads readers from bedrooms and laboratories to factories and battlefields to Henry David Thoreau's famous cabin at Walden Pond, telling the stories of troubled sleepers, hibernating peasants, sleepwalking preachers, cave-dwelling sleep researchers, slaves who led nighttime uprisings, rebellious workers, spectacularly frazzled parents, and utopian dreamers. We are hardly the first people, Reiss makes clear, to chafe against our modern rules for sleeping. A stirring testament to sleep's diversity, Wild Nights offers a profound reminder that in the vulnerability of slumber we can find our shared humanity. By peeling back the covers of history, Reiss recaptures sleep's mystery and grandeur and offers hope to weary readers: as sleep was transformed once before, so too can it change today.

         Bryson , Bill . At Home: A Short History of Private Life . New York: Doubleday, 2010. Buell, Lawrence. The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and the Formation of American Culture. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard ..."

Remembering the Cultural Geographies of a Childhood Home

Using an innovative auto-ethnographic approach to investigate the otherness of the places that make up the childhood home and its neighbourhood in relation to memory-derived and memory-imbued cultural geographies, Remembering the Cultural Geographies of a Childhood Home is concerned with childhood spaces and children's perspectives of those spaces and, consequentially, with the personalised locations that make up the childhood family home and its immediate surroundings (such as the garden, the street, etc.). Whilst this book is primarily structured by the author's memories of living in his own Welsh childhood home during the 1970s - that is, the auto-ethnographic framework - it is as much about living anywhere amid the remembered cultural remnants of the past as it is immersing oneself in cultural geographies of the here-and-now. As a result, Remembering the Cultural Geographies of a Childhood Home is part of the ongoing pursuit by cultural geographers to provide a personal exploration of the pluralities of shared landscapes, whereby such an engagement with space and place aid our construction of cognitive maps of meaning that, in turn, manifest themselves as both individual and collective cultural experiences. Furthermore, touching upon our co-habiting of ghost topologies, Remembering the Cultural Geographies of a Childhood Home also encourages a critical exploration of children’s spirituality amid the haunted cultural and geographical spaces and places of a house and its neighbourhood: the cellar, hallway, parlour, stairs, bedroom, attic, shops, cemeteries, and so on.

         Bryson , Bill (2010) At Home –A Short History of Private Life , Doubleday, London. Bullet (1976–1978) D. C. Thomson, Dundee. Burke, Catherine (2005) 'The edible landscape of school' in Mark Dudek (ed.) Children's Spaces, Architectural ..."

Letters and Lives of the Tennyson Women

Contradicting common perception of them as mere footnotes in Tennyson's career, this book examines the influence of his strong-minded female forebears on the young poet and reveals that the women in Tennyson's family circle were prolific and engaging correspondents. Their letters, preserved in archives in Lincoln and for the most part unpublished, cast a unique light on the Tennyson family's interrelationships and the times in which they lived. Focusing on the letters and lives of four Tennyson women – the poet's paternal grandmother, Mary Tennyson (1753-1825), her daughters Elizabeth Russell (1776-1865) and Mary Bourne (1777-1864), and her daughter-in-law Frances Tennyson, later Tennyson d'Eyncourt (1787-1878) - this book includes extensive and annotated extracts from the women's letters, linked by narrative passages providing context and continuity. The case studies cover six decades, from the marriage of Mary Turner and George Tennyson in 1775 to the death of George Tennyson in 1835, with brief Afterwords touching on the women's final years.

         Bryson , Bill , At Home: A Short History of Private Life (London: Doubleday, 2010). Buck, Anne, Clothes and the Child: A Handbook of Children's Dress 1500–1900 (Carlton: Bean, 1996). Calvocoressi, Peter, Who's Who in the Bible, ..."