Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Harper (2006), Edition: First Edition, 352 pages
Description
Ethan Allen and HGTV may have plenty to say about making a home look right, but what makes a home feel right? In House Thinking, journalist and cultural critic Winifred Gallagher takes the reader on a psychological tour of the American home. By drawing on the latest research in behavioral science, an overview of cultural history, and interviews with leading architects and designers, she shows us not only how our homes reflect who we are but also how they influence our thoughts, feelings, and actions. How does your entryway prime you for experiencing your home? What makes a bedroom a sensual oasis? How can your bathroom exacerbate your worst fears? House Thinking addresses provocative questions like these, enabling us to understand the homes we've made for ourselves in a unique and powerful new way. It is an eye-opening look at how we live . . . and how we could live.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member jcbrunner
This book is a great addition to any library interested in home design, but it is far from perfect. The market, however, does not offer many alternative books besides glossy interior decoration/feng shui picture books and philosophical musings by architects.
Gallagher offers a tour of a typical
It is a very personal book. The author is very present and her biases show, warts and all - positively and negatively. I like her personal engagement, her enthusiasm, her touristy experiences and her citing a lot of female voices. I like less her narrow points of view as an American, upper middle class, suburban, working mom. This starts with derogatory terms such as "low-income people" (apart from her people) and ends with her inability to be "irritated" (as anthropologists call it). Her inside-out view prevents her appreciating and even noticing differences and pecularities. She seems to have trouble to understand why people like living in cities, citing for instance New York's renovated Times Square as a main attraction for New Yorkers (whereas in reality it serves mostly tourists). In discussing individual rooms, it might have helped if she had experienced European or Asian homes (outside-in view). She might have learned something about US obsessions. Thus, the quintessential American garage is given only quaint treatment in the chapter on basements (the kingdom of men, duly noted but hardly explored in the book). Or in the kitchen, she might have noticed the room-sized refrigerators. Or the ubiquity of TV sets (or earlier phone lines). Or the constant turnover of house owners. I wish this book would have written not by a journalist but by an expert.
Gallagher offers a tour of a typical
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suburban house through the individual rooms and places (chapters on entry, living room, kitchen, dining room, great room, bedroom, bathroom, child's room, basement, office, garden, second home). The individual room serves as a launching pad into the history and development of that particular room, sociological insights and conversations with experts.It is a very personal book. The author is very present and her biases show, warts and all - positively and negatively. I like her personal engagement, her enthusiasm, her touristy experiences and her citing a lot of female voices. I like less her narrow points of view as an American, upper middle class, suburban, working mom. This starts with derogatory terms such as "low-income people" (apart from her people) and ends with her inability to be "irritated" (as anthropologists call it). Her inside-out view prevents her appreciating and even noticing differences and pecularities. She seems to have trouble to understand why people like living in cities, citing for instance New York's renovated Times Square as a main attraction for New Yorkers (whereas in reality it serves mostly tourists). In discussing individual rooms, it might have helped if she had experienced European or Asian homes (outside-in view). She might have learned something about US obsessions. Thus, the quintessential American garage is given only quaint treatment in the chapter on basements (the kingdom of men, duly noted but hardly explored in the book). Or in the kitchen, she might have noticed the room-sized refrigerators. Or the ubiquity of TV sets (or earlier phone lines). Or the constant turnover of house owners. I wish this book would have written not by a journalist but by an expert.
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LibraryThing member starmist
House Thinking is masterfully written. I have enjoyed every chapter and learned quite a lot about how I relate to my own home. What a joy to confirm I’m not alone in my love of my bathtub. Ms Gallagher managed to incorporate famous homes many of us know well with insightful commentary from
She makes her point especially well by way of the short pieces between chapters when she details how simple changes she made in her own home impacted her life positively. House Thinking inspires me to make some changes in my own home.
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experts while always sounding as if she was having a conversation with the reader. She made me feel cozy in the homes she took me to tour. And she graciously provided website references to be certain that I would fully comprehend the insights offered. Brilliant. She makes her point especially well by way of the short pieces between chapters when she details how simple changes she made in her own home impacted her life positively. House Thinking inspires me to make some changes in my own home.
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LibraryThing member Bcteagirl
I picked this book up years ago but for some reason it just sat on my shelf calling out to me. Finally I answered back. I am glad that I did. House Thinking takes a room by room look at what makes a house a home to us. How have homes changed over the years? (From multifamily dwellings with a grand
The author also traces some changes in rooms to the social history of the time. The kitchen improvements can be linked back to 1) improved affluence 2) an increase in women's rights 3) that higher class women were short staffed during the industrial revolution and had to *gasp* set foot in their kitchens. Similar changes occurred for social reasons in other rooms and I found it a very interesting read. There are many things I had not thought of when it came to how houses are set up. A very good read! I gave this one 5/5 stars.
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hall and less privacy to our ultra-privacy houses centered around computers and TV's). How can you change your home to suit you better (I don't mean by adding yuppie stuff, but rather how to make the best use of light, etc). The book discusses a lot of very interesting research on the subject, including houses set up by environmental psychologists to see what makes a house 'click' or feel like home to people. The author also traces some changes in rooms to the social history of the time. The kitchen improvements can be linked back to 1) improved affluence 2) an increase in women's rights 3) that higher class women were short staffed during the industrial revolution and had to *gasp* set foot in their kitchens. Similar changes occurred for social reasons in other rooms and I found it a very interesting read. There are many things I had not thought of when it came to how houses are set up. A very good read! I gave this one 5/5 stars.
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LibraryThing member lauriebrown54
A look at the evolution of our dwellings, and how those dwellings affect us psychologically.
I enjoyed examining houses like this; in some ways, it brought to mind A Pattern Language, and what they tried to tell us back then, such as the fact that most people don’t like to sit in a huge open
And it really comes down to comfort. Not just physical comfort, but the comfort of the soul. A person’s home should be a refuge from the outer world; a person’s bedroom should be a refuge from the rest of the family. A person needs to feel in control of their space (one reason why I’ll never understand how someone can turn over their house to a decorator and not have any input on what they want) which is why, even in very crowded conditions, a person- child or adult- needs a space of their own, even if it’s only a place to sit with their homework or whatever, lest they feel rootless and insecure.
We learn things like an entry of some sort is almost a necessity, even if it’s just a little partition by the door of the living room. If there is no transition space, there is no time to decompress from the outside world and be ready for ‘home time’. That having an all purpose ‘great room’ (where anything can happen, because it’s so unstructured!) sucks, because whoever is making the most noise is happy, but no one else is, and they don’t have cozy places to retreat to (although it shouldn’t be hard to create those with furniture and screens). We learn the history of the kitchen (which caused renewed happiness about my living in this era), including the current trend of people putting thousands into expensive kitchens that they have no time to use, but cling to because of the feeling that it’s the heart of the home.
We learn how some parent’s log overtime voluntarily, not because they need the money, but to avoid home, because it’s so unstructured and the demands never end.
We learn how in the past, most everything took place in one room- sleeping, preparing and eating food, even bathing. And how we evolved past that, where we have a room for each activity. And now, rich people are creating huge bedrooms with attached spa baths, refrigerators and microwaves, computers, fireplaces, patios and gyms, so that the worm has swallowed it’s tail, albeit much more classily.
We learn, via the garden section, that people are happier and healthier when they are can see, and are in contact with, living things, whether plants or animals. That’s kind of a no shitter. There were studies years-decades- ago showing that patients in hospital rooms with windows that showed trees & plants recovered faster than ones that viewed brick walls or parking lots.
Basically, it all comes down to making a house comfortable for you to live in, not following some decorating scheme just for looks or status’ sake. Which rather makes me wonder why so many people are dumb enough to not figure that out on their own.
I enjoyed examining houses like this; in some ways, it brought to mind A Pattern Language, and what they tried to tell us back then, such as the fact that most people don’t like to sit in a huge open
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area, but find comfort in nooks and niches. And it really comes down to comfort. Not just physical comfort, but the comfort of the soul. A person’s home should be a refuge from the outer world; a person’s bedroom should be a refuge from the rest of the family. A person needs to feel in control of their space (one reason why I’ll never understand how someone can turn over their house to a decorator and not have any input on what they want) which is why, even in very crowded conditions, a person- child or adult- needs a space of their own, even if it’s only a place to sit with their homework or whatever, lest they feel rootless and insecure.
We learn things like an entry of some sort is almost a necessity, even if it’s just a little partition by the door of the living room. If there is no transition space, there is no time to decompress from the outside world and be ready for ‘home time’. That having an all purpose ‘great room’ (where anything can happen, because it’s so unstructured!) sucks, because whoever is making the most noise is happy, but no one else is, and they don’t have cozy places to retreat to (although it shouldn’t be hard to create those with furniture and screens). We learn the history of the kitchen (which caused renewed happiness about my living in this era), including the current trend of people putting thousands into expensive kitchens that they have no time to use, but cling to because of the feeling that it’s the heart of the home.
We learn how some parent’s log overtime voluntarily, not because they need the money, but to avoid home, because it’s so unstructured and the demands never end.
We learn how in the past, most everything took place in one room- sleeping, preparing and eating food, even bathing. And how we evolved past that, where we have a room for each activity. And now, rich people are creating huge bedrooms with attached spa baths, refrigerators and microwaves, computers, fireplaces, patios and gyms, so that the worm has swallowed it’s tail, albeit much more classily.
We learn, via the garden section, that people are happier and healthier when they are can see, and are in contact with, living things, whether plants or animals. That’s kind of a no shitter. There were studies years-decades- ago showing that patients in hospital rooms with windows that showed trees & plants recovered faster than ones that viewed brick walls or parking lots.
Basically, it all comes down to making a house comfortable for you to live in, not following some decorating scheme just for looks or status’ sake. Which rather makes me wonder why so many people are dumb enough to not figure that out on their own.
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LibraryThing member FoundationalWellness
If you are interested in a skillfully woven tapestry of random facts about the cultural history of living in houses, this is a fun piece of non-fiction. The organizational construct of going room by room permits effortless readability, but makes some of the content feel a bit contrived (e.g., a
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discussion of collections appears in the dining room section). WG is an excellent writer, the book is full of interesting anecdotes about the interface between home environment and wellbeing, including how Louisa May Alcott's childhood room helped her flourish as a creative, and includes many references to behavioral science and research findings from many related fields. A thoroughly researched and interesting perspective on a subject to which we can all relate. Show Less
LibraryThing member JenneB
I don't know if it's fair to mark this down for not being the book I wished it was. I heard the author interviewed on a podcast, and I got the impression that it would be about how to use the spaces in your house to achieve maximum comfort and awesomeness.
Instead, it was really about the history of
Instead, it was really about the history of
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homes in America, and how the ways we use different rooms has changed over time. Which was interesting, but just not what I really wanted to read about. Show Less
LibraryThing member lonepalm
A new way to look at home decorating: I have decorating books replete with full-color illustrations of ideas, and I have New Age-y decorating books that explain Feng Shui and how to use essential oils, but this book is a really nice bridge between the visualizing your space and analyzing the
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psychology behind how you use it. It's strategic vs. tactical, but since there are so few books for laymen that tackle the former, it's a welcome addition and brings interesting insights as to how to think about our homes and make them more liveable. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
0060538694 / 9780060538699