The Elements of a Home

What a delightful coffee table book! I really enjoy the history of objects, and this book concisely tells the stories of how a variety of objects—from forks to jewelry boxes to windows—came to be staples in our households. Fun anecdotal information and quotes from several notable characters round out this highly recommendable and accessible history book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for making this ARC available to review.

This was a very cool read for me -- I only wished I had a better memory for retaining odd facts (that talent was given to a sibling unfortunately). The Elements of a Home should grace unique coffee tables/offices for sure. I'm not sure when I could talk about Marie Antoinette's bathing habits (again, I'm terrible at trivia), but it was incredibly cool to learn that chess is a direct descendant of a Hindu game, or what a chiavari chair is (chances are we've all seen one at some point), or the fact that a knock ('blow') to a door in medieval Europe was considered an assault on those who lived there. The Elements of a Home (which cracks me up when I compare it to my home) is a great resource book that makes a fantastic gift for those in your life who are (IMO) those who Trivial Pursuit players/winners.

First and foremost, this book is gorgeous. The illustrations, the type, the pull quotes....it's all beautiful.
And it's full of such fascinating little tidbits - a blast to flip through on a slow afternoon.
Some highlights include the instructions on how to fold a napkin boat, the history of that steel chair you see in every fast-casual TexMex restaurant (the Tolix Marais A chair), and in the section on door knockers, learning that in 18th century Versailles, it was common practice to scratch the door with your fingernails rather than knock, which is my personal nightmare.
Great coffee table book. If you stumble upon an item you want to know even more about, the author includes a bibliography.

I placed a preorder for a hard copy after reviewing this. The Elements of a Home is beautifully illustrated history of the ordinary objects that make up a home. The tone is light, but the content is rich. I look forward to paging through this, one topic at a time. It's nice as an ebook, but it belongs on a coffee table.

This book is full of lovely illustrations, well researched I appreciated the light tone.
I want it in paper because I think it must be great.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

In The Elements of a Home, Amy Azzarito offers up brief, trivia-centered histories of an eclectic mix of nearly 70 household objects, ranging from the small (wine goblets, spoons) to the large (sofas, rocking chairs, canopy beds, billiard tables). Some I’d say are more common than others — bathtubs versus topiaries for instance — but all were relatively common at one point, even if only to the aristocracy. Most entries are about 2-3 pages long, sharing their space and/or followed by a number of helpful illustrations. Most also include a brief (2-3 paragraph) insert on a related topic, such as explaining exactly what champagne is in the segment on the champagne coupe.

The style is conversational, always lucid and easy to follow and ss noted above, I’d call the entries more trivia-based than in-depth history. They’re interesting enough and offer up some fun facts and intriguing origins, such as how damaging a door in Roman times was a capital offense or how Spartans used dough as the original napkin. I would have liked more about many of the items, a deeper dive into their history, but that’s not the purpose here and for those like me Azzarito offers up a nice-sized bibliography at the end for further exploration. A good browsing book. 3.5

This is an interesting book but I'm not sure I'll ever really want to sit down and read an entire book telling the history of objects in my home. As such, I haven't added a read date since I ended up eventually just skimming it and only reading some sections in full. While it is cool to know about the accuracy of that old story of champagne glasses being modeled after women's breasts, after a while it feels like reading the backs of all the food packages in your cupboard.

It's fun and sometimes fascinating stuff, and perhaps would make a good coffee table book. Black and white illustrations accompany the text. I guess I am just not that interested in reading multiple pages of how everything from sofas to canopy beds to wallpaper came about, but this is a fun book if you're curious about these things.

I previewed a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

***Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
This is a lovely guide to homes and all that it encompasses. Classically beautiful illustrations, but a little too descriptive.

This was a really neat read. The author, Amy Azzarito brings to life the back story of many common and not so common house hold items and fixtures. There were many things in this book such as a jib door that I had never heard of before. It was interesting reading how different items in a way became trendy in different parts of the world at different times, which I suppose is still the case. Interesting trivia book for those who are curious about the origin of things.

Often we take the things around us for granted.  However, the author of this book does not.  Instead she reflects upon things found in a home and writes about them.  The list of what she looks at is extensive and includes everything from bathtubs to Turkish and Persian rugs, from picnic baskets to pillows and from fireplaces to rocking chairs. For each item, the author provides an evocative entry. 


The first entry in these alphabetical listings is bathtub.  Their history from earliest times is presented and from there she moves to the present day.  Similarly in an entry on bookshelves readers learn that at first books were scrolls without shelves; a history is then given that goes right up to the moment when we started putting together shelves from Ikea.


There is a lot to learn in this book.  It has simple illustrations that enhance the text and engage the reader.  If you are curious about the objects around you, dip into this book.  It is a treasure trove.


Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.


Pub Date 17 Mar 2020

If you like trivia or quizzes, you might want to read this book. It has a history of many things you have at home. A candle. A bed. You name it. I don't know if you want to read this at one go. I prefer to read this bit by bit because it has a lot of information, and I am afraid if I skim this book I might forget easily about the explanation.