At Home《趣味生活简史》(ISBN=9780767919388)pdf/txt下载_在线阅读全文

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Starred Review. Bryson (A Short History of Everything) takes readers on a tour of his house, a rural English parsonage, and finds it crammed with 10,000 years of fascinating historical bric-a-brac. Each room becomes a starting point for a free-ranging discussion of rarely noticed but foundational aspects of social life. A visit to the kitchen prompts disquisitions on food adulteration and gluttony; a peek into the bedroom reveals nutty sex nostrums and the horrors of premodern surgery; in the study we find rats and locusts; a stop in the scullery illuminates the put-upon lives of servants. Bryson follows his inquisitiveness wherever it goes, from Darwinian evolution to the invention of the lawnmower, while savoring eccentric characters and untoward events (like Queen Elizabeth I's pilfering of a subject's silverware). There are many guilty pleasures, from Bryson's droll prose--"What really turned the Victorians to bathing, however, was the realization that it could be gloriously punishing"--to the many tantalizing glimpses behind closed doors at aristocratic English country houses. In demonstrating how everything we take for granted, from comfortable furniture to smoke-free air, went from unimaginable luxury to humdrum routine, Bryson shows us how odd and improbable our own lives really are.
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内容简介

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

“Houses aren’t refuges from history. They are wherehistory ends up.”

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

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作者简介

BILL BRYSON’s books include A Walk in the Woods, I’m a Stranger Here Myself, In a Sunburned Country, Bryson’s Book of Troublesome Words, A Short History of Nearly Everything (which earned him the 2004 Aventis Prize), The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, and Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors. Bryson lives in England with his wife and children.

目　　录

INTRODUCTION
I THE YEAR
II THE SETTING
III THE HALL
IV THE KITCHEN
V THE SCULLERY AND LARDER
VI THE FUSE BOX Ill
VII THE DRAWING ROOM
VIII THE DINING ROOM
IX THE CELLAR
X THE PASSAGE
XI THE STUDY
XII THE GARDEN
XIII THE PLUM ROOM

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At Home《趣味生活简史》(ISBN=9780767919388)

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