At Home by Bill Bryson

I purchased this book and very much looked forward to reading it. Bryson's earlier book A Short History of Nearly Everything has to be one of my favorite books of all time. I love the way he takes scientific theory and made it easier to understand in lay terms.

So reading this book which promised to tell the history of the home and things in it.

In short I was disappointed. Perhaps having the history of salt and pepper and such oddities is not the canvas to paint on that the universe and the creation thereof is.

The book was not terrible. There were several interesting factoids. The origin of many words and phrases such as Bakers Dozen, the history of spices salt and pepper and beyond as well as the history of bed and bedding. We learned much about bats, rats, mice and other vermin. Interestingly my wife did not appreciate hearing about these animals and the other bacteria and microscopic things that live on us as we lay in bed at night.

The book was interesting. Clearly the bar was too high. Still knowing what I know now I would not have bought this book.

Read A Short History of Nearly Everything. It is a wonderful book.

The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean

This book made my head hurt. The sub title is and other true tales of madness, love, and the history of the world from The Periodic Table of the Elements.

I never took Chemistry that I can remember and so my exposure to the Periodic Table is what my son tells me and hearing Tom Lehrer sing about them years ago on The Dr Demento show. However I am always wanting to learn new things.

This book reminded me of Bill Bryson's book A Short History of Nearly Everything which I have read a couple of times and treat at times like a reference book.

The first 100 pages of this book held me and I learned somethings I did not know about protons, nuetrons and electrons. I think I have a basic understanding of how electrons move from element to element and the sharing and combining of chemicals. I still am lost however. The book written for the uneducated still made my head hurt. I still do not know how they count the atoms in a n element to know how to place it on the chart.

The stories of various scientists were interesting. One of the most interesting quotes was that Hydrogen makes up 90 percent of the universe's matter and helium 10 percent. Everything else including all the metals on earth and presumably the rest of the planets is an rounded off amount of the total 100 percent. That puts us in perspective.

A good book. I enjoyed it. But perhaps the time for learning this stuff is when you don't want to and your brains are better when you are young.