Home Comforts
Home Comforts is something new. For the first time in nearly a century, a sole author has written a comprehensive book about housekeeping. This is not a dry how-to manual, nor a collection of odd tips and hints, a cleaning book, a history book, or an arid encyclopedia compiled by a committee or an institute. Home Comforts is a readable explanation for both beginners and experts of all the domestic arts -- choosing fabrics, keeping the piano in tune, caring for books, making a good fire in the fireplace and avoiding chimney fires, ironing and folding, setting up a good reading light, keeping surfaces free of food pathogens, and everything else that modern people might want to do for themselves in their homes. But this reliable and thorough book on the practicalities of housekeeping is also an argument for the importance of private life and the comforts offered by housekeeping. Cheryl Mendelson is a philosopher, lawyer, sometime professor, and a homemaker, wife, and mother. Home Comforts is based on her domestic education, which she acquired while growing up on a farm in the hills of Greene County, in southwestern Pennsylvania, from her grandmothers, aunts, and mother. Learning from the distinct domestic styles of her native Appalachian relatives and her Italian immigrant relatives, she appreciated early on how important domestic customs are to a sense of comfort and identity in life.
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What Hacker News says
- "Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House" is quite good:
https://www.amazon.com/Home-Comforts-Science-Keeping-House/d...
- I'm researching the construction of my house, framing to finishing, and the handbook made me think of the higher level side affects of material choice, shape, I had not fully considered before.
I also strongly recommend "Home Comforts" by Cheryl Mendelson. It is about the home as a series of systems, I thought there was a lot of value in it, there were a lot of subtle ideas you wouldn't normally think about but which ultimately make your life easier. It is nice seeing all the little pieces fit together. I know Sam Altman/sama recommends Stewart Brand's book on changing architecture as a general pattern for systems but I think the Home Comforts book curiously beats the pants off it.
- Personally, I think continuing to be a minimalist is the best strategy, but that may also depend on your personality. I need my environment to be tidy, so keeping maintenance manageable is a priority. Apartment Therapy, the konmari method and the book Home Comforts are good resources for this.
In terms of gadgets, my rice cooker (with timer) is essential for me. I eat steel cut oatmeal every breakfast. The timer allows me to cook it overnight so it is ready in the morning. If you are only doing oatmeal the microwave works well, but I also do a lot of rice.
Speaking of which, (again) if you do cook, the microwave is also fantastic. Fast and nutritious for whole foods. Try sweet potatoes(yams) in the microwave.
