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What You Never Knew About Tubs, Toilets, & Showers (Lauber, Patricia. Around-the-House History.)

What You Never Knew About Tubs, Toilets, & Showers (Lauber, Patricia. Around-the-House History.)

List Price: $16.00
Your Price: $11.20
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A quick history of cleanliness.
Review: A quick history about plumbing, bathing, and attitudes towards cleanliness! Lauber takes us on a jaunt through history starting with the cave man and his ideas about bathing. She then jumps to the ancient Middle East, and then moves on to Greece and Rome. Then she covers the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Lauber then moves to the United States, and the rest of the book focuses on modern bathing. The book is illustrated by John Manders (who does an excellent job adding bits of humor in his drawings), and does not include any photographs of ancient ruins or artifacts or the like. But there is still plenty of information--did you know that ancient Romans used a sponge on the end of a stick instead of toilet paper? The stick was rinsed in salty water after they used it. And that a flush toilet was invented in 1594? This is a readable nonfiction book that makes learning about the history of cleanliness fun.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A quick history of cleanliness.
Review: A quick history about plumbing, bathing, and attitudes towards cleanliness! Lauber takes us on a jaunt through history starting with the cave man and his ideas about bathing. She then jumps to the ancient Middle East, and then moves on to Greece and Rome. Then she covers the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Lauber then moves to the United States, and the rest of the book focuses on modern bathing. The book is illustrated by John Manders (who does an excellent job adding bits of humor in his drawings), and does not include any photographs of ancient ruins or artifacts or the like. But there is still plenty of information--did you know that ancient Romans used a sponge on the end of a stick instead of toilet paper? The stick was rinsed in salty water after they used it. And that a flush toilet was invented in 1594? This is a readable nonfiction book that makes learning about the history of cleanliness fun.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Another great book by this author/illustrator team!
Review: After I had read their book on the history of dining, I couldn't wait for this one. Tubs, Toilets and Showers handles the awkward subjects of what you do in the bathroom and how people used to do it. It has vignettes from several cultures and time periods.

Many children (and some adults) will be surprised to learn that the Europeans came to value cleanliness much later than did many other cultures. They may laugh to imagine how certain historical figures might have smelled.

Since the book deals with bathing and eliminating, some of the illustrations do involve nudity. However, the illustrator has drawn the cartoons in such a way that genital areas are hidden. I would not find the drawings objectionable for young children.

Baths and hygiene are often areas of conflict between parents and children. A book like this could give some perspective, and its humor could soften the family bathroom struggles.


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