# Bill Bryson's latest book, "At Home" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 7, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309 "2010-10-07T00:22:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/21 "2010-10-09T01:42:47Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > I’ve read it and I loved it. But he’s turning into a sort of QI author Sorry, what does “QI” stand for? ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/22 "2010-10-09T07:27:37Z")
> [@GameHat](#): > > > [@NineToTheSky](#): > > > > I’ve read it and I loved it. But he’s turning into a sort of QI author > > Sorry, what does “QI” stand for? It’s a quirky British gameshow hosted by Stephen Fry that tends to involve lots of amusing, quirky, and “I did not know that!” type factoids. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/23 "2010-10-09T07:50:00Z")
> [@GameHat](#): > > > [@NineToTheSky](#): > > > > I’ve read it and I loved it. But he’s turning into a sort of QI author > > Sorry, what does “QI” stand for? Quite Interesting ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/24 "2010-10-09T07:51:37Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > > [@GameHat](#): > > > > Sorry, what does “QI” stand for? > > It’s a quirky British gameshow hosted by Stephen Fry that tends to involve lots of amusing, quirky, and “I did not know that!” type factoids. And it stands for [Quite Interesting](http://www.qi.com/). ETA: the show was tied in with a bookshop, bar and club in Oxford, of which I was once a member. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/25 "2010-10-09T08:16:18Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > > [@GameHat](#): > > > > Sorry, what does “QI” stand for? > > It’s a quirky British gameshow hosted by Stephen Fry that tends to involve lots of amusing, quirky, and “I did not know that!” type factoids. …and like Bill Bryson, it has been known to drop some real groaners, but it’s damn funny in spite of that. It’s a panel-style show featuring permanent chew-toy Alan Davies and an assortment of mostly British comedians and television personalities, with the idea that contestants win points for answers that are either correct or interesting, and lose major points for giving the wrong answer that “everyone knows” - accompanied by klaxons and flashing lights. There are clips of QI available on a certain well-known video-sharing website. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/26 "2010-10-10T22:14:33Z")
I just got it, totally free, from the library. I can’t wait to read it! Bill Bryson is one of those rare authors where I want a copy of every one of his books. ---
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/27 "2010-10-10T22:39:01Z")
I just bought it on Amazon rather than waiting forever to get it through the library. I get free 2 day shipping because I signed up for that student thing, and I must say my book buying has skyrocketed while my freetime has diminished considerably. I’m really looking forward to it. I just have 2 books to finish before I’m allowed. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/28 "2010-10-10T23:54:23Z")
Just a slight negative note. Not about this book, but about Bryson in general. He’s a truly gifted writer. Makes things seem interesting. But, you can’t trust his “facts” on word origins, etymology, etc. He does a pretty good job, but he’s a writer of popular books, not a researcher. Again, his books are a great read. Just don’t trust everything you read. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/29 "2010-10-11T00:34:08Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > But, you can’t trust his “facts” on word origins, etymology, etc. He does a pretty good job, but he’s a writer of popular books, not a researcher. > > Again, his books are a great read. Just don’t trust everything you read. No research writer (at least not one writing for the general public) is going to be 100% right. Some of the stuff he comes up with is going to be contentious (The origin of the word “Loo”, in reference to the toilet, for example) but overall I can’t say I’ve noticed his work to be especially unreliable. Got any specific examples? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/30 "2010-10-11T03:01:42Z")
For Chicago’s Bryson fans, I have heard that he will be at the Harold Washington Library at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, October 13th. It says limited seating so show up early. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/31 "2010-10-11T16:00:04Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > For Chicago’s Bryson fans, I have heard that he will be at the Harold Washington Library at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, October 13th. It says limited seating so show up early. Where would one park for this? Or should I just take a train instead? ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/32 "2010-10-11T16:10:36Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Just a slight negative note. Not about this book, but about Bryson in general. > > He’s a truly gifted writer. Makes things seem interesting. > > But, you can’t trust his “facts” on word origins, etymology, etc. He does a pretty good job, but he’s a writer of popular books, not a researcher. > > Again, his books are a great read. Just don’t trust everything you read. I like him but I’ve noticed errors in his writing. In this book he refers to two heiresses that married English Dukes: Lily Hammersley and May Goelet. He claims Lily was very ugly and May was unhappily married. According to the book, _In a Gilded Cage: From Heiress to Duchess_ by Marian Fowler, neither one of these statements is true. I just finished reading his latest and enjoyed it very much. My only quibble is that I wish he would have occasionally broadened his focus to include other countries besides English. Then again the book is over 400 pages so I’m not surprised he did not. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/33 "2010-10-11T18:56:33Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > > [@samclem](#): > > > > But, you can’t trust his “facts” on word origins, etymology, etc. He does a pretty good job, but he’s a writer of popular books, not a researcher. > > > > Again, his books are a great read. Just don’t trust everything you read. > > No research writer (at least not one writing for the general public) is going to be 100% right. Some of the stuff he comes up with is going to be contentious (The origin of the word “Loo”, in reference to the toilet, for example) but overall I can’t say I’ve noticed his work to be especially unreliable. Got any specific examples? Well, in his _[A Short History of Nearly Everything](http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0)_, Bryson erroneously writes: > [@](#): > > …It may not look it, but all the glass on Earth is flowing downward under the relentless drag of gravity. Remove a pane of really old glass from the window of a European cathedral and it will be noticeably thicker at the bottom than at the top. :rolleyes: Bryson wrote this in 2003. As far back as 1998, I was teaching my chemistry students that this was a scientific urban legend, as noted in this [article](http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_arc98/5_30_98/fob3.htm) at the time about a May 1998 study published in the _American Journal of Physics_: > [@](#): > > A new study debunks the persistent belief that stained glass windows in medieval cathedrals are thicker at the bottom because the glass flows slowly downward like a very viscous liquid. > > Edgar Dutra Zanotto of the Federal University of Sao Carlos in Brazil calculated the time needed for viscous flow to change the thickness of different types of glass by a noticeable amount. Cathedral glass would require a period “well beyond the age of the universe,” he says. > > Suffice it to say that the glass could not have thickened since the 12th century. Zanotto reports his finding in the May American Journal of Physics. You’d think that a writer of a popular science book would keep up with this sort of thing rather than perpetuating factual inaccuracies. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/34 "2010-10-11T19:10:11Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Maybe, but I’ll be disappointed if Bryson never does Canada. He’s probably waiting for Debbie. I think she has dibs. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/35 "2010-10-11T23:18:06Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > > [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > > > For Chicago’s Bryson fans, I have heard that he will be at the Harold Washington Library at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, October 13th. It says limited seating so show up early. > > Where would one park for this? Or should I just take a train instead? There are lots around but they’re expensive. Take the train if you can. The Red Line stops right there at Jackson. Also the Brown, Orange, and Purple are right next to the library on the El. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/36 "2010-10-11T23:43:32Z")
> [@robby](#): > > You’d think that a writer of a popular science book would keep up with this sort of thing rather than perpetuating factual inaccuracies. Depends when he wrote the book. It’s entirely possible that he did his research years ago before the theory had been debunked and never got around to checking up on it later. That doesn’t make the information in it any less wrong, of course, but I’m going to reiterate the point that he’s writing a readable overview for the layperson, not a Peer Reviewed Article for _The Lancet_. There are going to be errors. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/37 "2010-10-16T00:51:07Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > > [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > > > It’s a quirky British gameshow hosted by Stephen Fry that tends to involve lots of amusing, quirky, and “I did not know that!” type factoids. > > And it stands for [Quite Interesting](http://www.qi.com/). ETA: the show was tied in with a bookshop, bar and club in Oxford, of which I was once a member. Thanks to the several for telling me what QI stood for. I had a long, long, long, boring week in Atlanta. Just got home. One of two bright spots was that I had time to blaze through _At Home_. I enjoyed it, with caveats. It was a fun read, I was never bored. But out of all the Bryson that I’ve read (history of everything, sun burnt land, shakespeare) this was the least focused. He just bounced around, using rooms in a house as a launch pad for whatever interesting thing he felt like writing about - archeology, sociology, anthropology, whatever. Like I said, I enjoyed it, but the chapters seemed like they would work fine as stand-alone essays. Also it was a bit too anglo-centered. Minor quibbles, it was a fun read. But it ain’t gonna displace _short history_ in my list of Bryson’s greatest. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/38 "2010-10-16T15:15:00Z")
I’ve had it for a few days and read parts of each chapter as caught my fancy. Very interesting and enjoyable to read. The only quibble _I_ have is, I’ve read a lot of this kind of stuff before. (I’m one of those rare women, I guess, who don’t care for chick lit, or sex n’ shopping, or whatever women are supposed to read, and have been more into non-fiction.) There have been no new surprises, so far. (I finally found out exactly what a “ha-ha” is, out in the fields and gardens!) Still, must be an eye-opener for the average reader. Wanted to take a shower after reading about the sewers of London! ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/39 "2010-10-17T00:50:13Z")
Guess who got to meet him?:D:D:D:D Went to Boston Book Fest today…WOW! Highly highly reccomended. Had I been a bit bored I would have wandered over to Hynes to hear Obama and James Taylor. But it was very fun. Went to see the Preppy Handbook chick and the memoirs. One of the memoirists was the mom of a disabled boy who’d had an IEP in school. My mom was there and we were both nodding at EVERYTHING she said. Got to hear Spencer for Hire’s widow speak too! I wasn’t gonna buy a book…was gonna tell Santa to buy me one…but his presentation was AWESOME and I had to get the book! I got it AUTOGRAPHED!!! And I got to shake his hand too! It was hilarious…there were at least five people in the line with their entire Bryson collection. One person said they were going to have him autograph their arm, and she would then get a tatoo. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309/40 "2010-10-17T00:53:02Z")
> [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](#): > > Guess who got to meet him?:D:D:D:D Went to Boston Book Fest today…WOW! Highly highly reccomended. Had I been a bit bored I would have wandered over to Hynes to hear Obama and James Taylor. But it was very fun. Went to see the Preppy Handbook chick and the memoirs. One of the memoirists was the mom of a disabled boy who’d had an IEP in school. My mom was there and we were both nodding at EVERYTHING she said. Got to hear Spencer for Hire’s widow speak too! > I wasn’t gonna buy a book…was gonna tell Santa to buy me one…but his presentation was AWESOME and I had to get the book! I got it AUTOGRAPHED!!! And I got to shake his hand too! > It was hilarious…there were at least five people in the line with their entire Bryson collection. One person said they were going to have him autograph their arm, and she would then get a tatoo. Was he funny in person? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-brysons-latest-book-at-home/556309.md?page=3)