Home: A Short History of an Idea - Softcover

Rybczynski, Witold

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140102310 ISBN 13: 9780140102314

Publisher: Penguin, 1987

Synopsis

Walk through five centuries of homes both great and smallfrom the smoke-filled manor halls of the Middle Ages to today's Ralph Lauren-designed environmentson a house tour like no other, one that delightfully explicates the very idea of "home."You'll see how social and cultural changes influenced styles of decoration and furnishing, learn the connection between wall-hung religious tapestries and wall-to-wall carpeting, discover how some of our most welcome luxuries were born of architectural necessity, and much more. Most of all, Home opens a rare window into our private livesand how we really want to live."

About this title

Review:

"Here is a book that will change thew ay you look at your house or apartment--for the better."
--People

"Rybczynski's style is as loose and, yes, as comfortable as a down-filled comforter."
--The Christian Science Monitor

"Sensible and stylish"
--Newsweek

"It's a bracing, irreverent, worldly wise book."
--Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Home is serious, historically minded, and exquisitely readable. It is a triumph of intelligence."
--The New Yorker

About the Author:

Witold Rybczynski of Polish parentage, was born in Edinburgh in 1943, raised in Surrey, and attended Jesuit schools in England and Canada. He received Bachelor of Architecture (1960) and Master of Architecture (1972) degrees from McGill University in Montreal. He is the author of more than fifty articles and papers on the subject of housing, architecture, and technology, including the books Taming the Tiger, Paper Heroes, The Most Beautiful House in the World, Waiting for the Weekend, and Looking Around: A Journey Through Architecture (all available in Penguin), and most recently, City Life. He lives with his wife, Shirley Hallam, in Philadelphia and is the Martin and Margy Myerson Professor of Urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0140102310
• ISBN 13: 9780140102314
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272