Many knowledge appetizers packaged nicely

In his book "At Home" Bryson moved intellectually from room to room and writes -Suitable for any room - something that lies on the history of housing and the backgrounds behind Alltagsgesgenständen and -gebräuchen. The breadth is enormous: from the importance of salt for the human body through the mystery of the corn plant (No one knows how the Mayans were able to cultivate this plant) to issues such as child labor is all there in the book. The tour serves as a loose thread.

And "loose" is to be taken very seriously: Even more than usual tendency Bryson in this book to digress and weaves here an anecdote and there are some funny details on the life of a protagonist. A reference book is "At Home" is not indeed. But this is actually exactly the strength of the book: There will be none of that is. On the contrary: It is obvious that Bryson at the research had fun and want to share as much of the interesting finds with readers. Here the lockerre style that you feel are in an interesting conversation to have with the author helps.

For me, not least because of the scale and breadth of subject matter of the best books of Bryson!