Not too many books take 30 years to get through, not even the ten-volume Lincoln biography I took on some years ago, but this is one book that did. I must have gotten it soon after this edition came out in 1988, and have ||: picked it up and put it down :|| more times than I can remember. This time I was determined to finish it, and have.

My main motivation was to better see the world and its seemingly mundane happenings from a wholly different perspective, that is, a micro one. In this, the book is very successful. It introduces the reader to all kinds of science to describe and explain what happens daily in an average Westerner's life, from walking across a wooden floor, to drinking coffee, to putting on and removing makeup, and finally the mattress bounces that welcome us into bed at night. Because of this it is quite dense in parts, though I don't know if that's the main reason why it took me so long to finish it, since I've read many a dense academic tome in my day and it took nowhere near this long. But in any case, I'm glad I did finally finish it.

One star taken off for 1. the sometimes goofy prose, which even took a turn for the grisly when discussing what you could do to get rid of tiresome houseguests – some times the humor succeeded better than others; but more importantly 2. English does not have 5 1/2 vowels (p. 145), American English has 13 or 14, depending on your dialect, and standard British English has more if you count in all the diphthongs. When I see a writer relying on lifelong stereotyped assumptions instead of checking *everything*, regardless of how sure you think you are of something, I start to wonder what other gross inaccuracies slipped through.

Still, it's a book that makes me see and experience the world in a different, more mindful way, and for that I think it is definitely worth reading. Just resist the temptation to put it down in favor of some other shiny volume that crosses your path, if you can, so it doesn't follow you all the way into retirement.

Along the lines of the Secret Garden, but indoors. I enjoyed this one more. more interesting range of subject matter, including the origins of blue-jeans, forks, and cola, and the ingredients of toothpaste, lipstick, and bakery cakes. This would almost make me reconsider my choice of chocolate flavored anything that comes from a store.

This book should have been categorized as a horror story. We are not alone. A 24 hour journey into the microscopic world of an average home. We start with the spherical shock wave generated by an alarm clock in the morning and end with our homeowner trying to stop the shock waves caused by a dripping tap, before returning to bed. In between these two events, David Bodanis tells us of the bacteria, radiation, chemicals, mites, etc. that we (and our house) are exposed to throughout the day. Throw in descriptions of what is in our food, and you'll wonder if there's anything safe to eat.
The female member of the household comes home at midday, sits in the back yard, drinking Coca-Cola and eating potato chips. When the male member of the household comes home in the late afternoon, he prepares dinner (because guests are coming), while she watches television. After getting dressed for dinner, he vacuums the house while she sets the table, breaking a glass in the process. There was no mention of children in the book, so the female does not contribute equally to the household duties in this "normal" house.
Was this vignette meant to be amusing for all readers, or just for the male reader? Was the author assuming that females would not be reading this book, because the pictures of bacteria, live fungi and mites, etc. were too "yucky" to look at. I would have rated the book 4 stars, but reduced my rating, as I did not appreciate the humour in this vignette.

A description of all the micro- actions that happen inside the typical house in the course of a day: micro-chemical reactions in food, cosmetics, building materials, micro-biological actions in clothing, even the air, micro-mechanical reactions in the building, etc.

Wow! This book is amazing and packed with trivia. Invaluable and delightful.

Stuff about mites and how margarine is made etc. Not too interesting but relatively painless read.

Quite dated in many of the references, but still terrifying, amusing and fascinating

Muy interesante libro que revela el detrás de escena de un día común y corriente. Historia, física y química ayudan a explicar lo que sucede en una casa: desde las millones de criaturas que comparten nuestra cama hasta el origen del jabón o el porqué los libros se ponen amarillos con el tiempo o porqué los jeans son azules.
En muchas ocasiones el autor busca el efectismo, y eso le quita un poco de precisión a lo que narra (por ejemplo, al decir que los muebles "saltan" al caminar alguien cerca). Tampoco sabemos si los procesos industriales descriptos, como el de la fabricación de la pasta dental o el de las papas fritas
(el libro fue escrito en los 80s) siguen siendo utilizados en el presente. No obstante es algo que yo consumí en esa década, y no deja de causar impresión.

I've only read parts of this book; it is mesmerizing but not for the faint of heart.

Don't read this if you ever want to breathe air and not know what microbes are in it, cook food and remain blissfully ignorant of what particles fall into it, or wash your hair without being concerned about the electrical consequences... among other things. I will say one thing though: Yay for soap! :)

Gran libro que aprovechando un tema tan aburrido como una casa (la estructura de una casa y sus habitantes) nos da mil lecciones de ciencia, empezando por la formación y composición de las pelusas, siguiendo por la resistencia de materiales y su comportamiento térmico... un montón de cosas muy interesantes y bien contadas. Libro muy recomendable.

Probably a bad idea to read this if you have any Howard Hughes-like tendencies, given the detail of what goes on out of sight on the average human body and in our homes. However, lots of great factoids and deep detail on how all kinds of things in our houses work, from toothpaste to clothing to cooking and vacuum cleaners.