How to Make a Home

by Edward Hollis, The School of Life

At a time when work and home life are becoming increasingly blurred, and modern technology brings the realm of the public into what used to be a personal and private space, Ed Hollis looks at what it means to make a home in today's world.

Exploring the meaning of private and public space, the importance we place on physical objects and the demands we make of our home environment, How to Make a Home challenges us to re-imagine the concept of home and hearth.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, Self Help, Architecture, Design, Psychology, How To

161 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 14, 2016

About the author

Edward Hollis studied Architecture at Cambridge and Edinburgh Universities and practised as an architect in Sri Lanka and Edinburgh. In 1999 he began lecturing at Napier University, Edinburgh and in 2004 he moved to Edinburgh College of Art, where he is Director of Research and Professor of Interior Design. His books include The Secret Lives of Buildings (2009), The Memory Palace: A Book of Lost Interiors (2013) and How to Make a Home (2016).

Reviews

[Ioana]

“Căminul reprezintă stabilitate într-o lume instabilă. Acasă este o metaforă pentru sine. Acasă este depozitul amintirilor. Căminul este făcut de noi și ne face ceea ce suntem. Acasă este locul unde putem fi noi înșine.”

[Stephanie]

Takeaways: home isn't a place, it's an idea. Some people in the world don't have a permanent home, and plenty of people have little privacy. We think we want privacy, but isolation makes us less happy, and we often design our homes to welcome and impress other people. Very few people actually build their own home; most of us live in dwellings that weren't made specifically for us. We make it our own by furnishing and decorating it, and the way we do so is a reflection of who we believe ourselves to be, and who we aspire to become.

[Vahid 22]

سالها پیش که دانشجوی معماری بودم کتابی به رمان انگلیسی خوندم که دقیقا عنوانش یادم نیست ولی راجع به تفاوت مکان و فضا صحبت میکرد و این کتاب هم تمام سعیش این بود که به ما تفاوتی رو بفهمونه که در زبان فارسی براش یک کلمه وجود داره ولی در زبان انگلیسی به عنوان home و house براش کلمات متفاوتی هست

[Ardyth]

One of those public library stumble-upons. I won't deny the bright yellow cover, small dimensions and very few photographs won this title a coveted space in my library bag. ;)

Not sure what I expected, really, but it isn't what I got... and that's okay, in this case. Philosophical musings not design or home management how-to, and (it turns out) that was what I needed right now.

I could say more, but mild surprise as it unfolded was a big part of why I enjoyed the book.

[See Wah]

I have liked all the School of Life books I’ve read so far, so I picked this up with the same expectation that there would be some insights to be had. To be fair, maybe if I had read this years ago, I might have felt differently. But perhaps it is because of my own life experiences so far that I could not help having a feeling of being told what I already know through the pages, just in multiple different configurations. Or perhaps the idea of home in a broad sense has been so well examined and dissected in the various films, novels, content creators, etc in our world of superspeed information nowadays? Perhaps as someone already living in an urban conditions, I have already felt, lived the ideas in this book?

My second pickle with this novel is that, sure, it works as a general reader on how we can think about home. But I can’t help but think of some of the historical contexts it aims to bring up and how sad it is that other histories and stories do not get their place when the author attempts to talk about first homes, or how homes were structured etc. I am aware that this book is not about the history of homes, but in bringing up certain contexts within the book, it would have been nice if there was some acknowledgement that this certain context does not speak for the entire world. I’m thinking of for example, the organising logics of a si he yuan originating from China, or Rumah Panjang (longhouses by certain indigenous peoples of Indonesia). Or how there is a history of colonialism tied to the history of collecting and museums.

Overall slightly disappointing, especially when compared to the other SoL reads I’ve had so far.

[S.P. Moss]

'How to make a home' is a joy to read, not purely for its content, but for the aesthetic and tactile qualities of this little book. It looks and feels more like a notebook than a classic textbook, and even contains pages to make notes at the end.

In this intelligently-written book, Edward Hollis takes the reader through the meaning of home and how this has changed over the course of history. From building a home, to furnishing a home, to decorating a home, collecting a home, keeping a home and finally 'how to make a home when you're not at home', Hollis examines the topic through a multi-focal lens of architecture, interior design, anthropology, sociology, psychology and history. The prose is, however, never academic or dry.

This book takes the approach of challenging assumptions, primarily that is is possible to 'make' the 'perfect home'. I won't give away the author's final conclusion, but it is an intriguing thought.

I have one question about the book. The title is 'How to Make a Home' but, while activities such as furnishing, collecting 'stuff' and housework are discussed in depth, there seems strangely little reference to the human life that goes on in the home, except in the final chapter. This seems odd given that the book is one of a series from 'The School of Life.'

In summary, a lovely little book with plenty of food for thought and references to follow-up further.

[Annikky]

Expected to like it, but was possibly in the wrong mood. I didn't feel that it made my life clearer or was genuinely helpful, as the blurb promised. I found it pretentious and tedious and somewhat patronising. I often enjoy pretentiousness, but not in a tandem with the other two. I only skim-read the second half, so keep grains of salt handy. The book itself is beautiful, though.

[Thomas]

Disappointing. Does not even come close to the depth and quality of "How to find fulfilling work", also published in the "School of Life" series. This reads like an only superficially researched highschool project, with a handful of interesting ideas that go nowhere and lots of name-dropping across the fields of history, philosophy, architecture, and psychology.

[Keen Reader]

Reaching way back into ancient Rome, with the Tugurium Romuli, (the house of Romulus), sailing through the centuries up to the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright’s, Taliesin, Hollis covers the idea of home, from a number of varied and interesting angles. He mentions people like Gaston Bachelard, who constructed a house as a metaphor, which included his id, ego and super ego. The various philosophies and ideas of Alfred Loos get an airing, as does the stern, minimalism of Le Corbusier.

Hollis makes a good point, when he says that when it comes to houses, most of us are cuckoos rather than blackbirds and the vast majority of people in the world are unable to plan and build a house of their choosing and will likely be living in a home older than them, which will have had previous occupants. He touches on some of the less glamorous aspects around the home, saying, “Most housework isn’t about improving things, it’s the endless, thankless, repetitive drudgery of keeping them pretty much the same. And that is not something we are trained to value. The modern conception of the ‘career’ is deeply wedded to the idea of progress.”

He explores some of Csikszentmihalyi’s interesting concepts, such as his theories of ‘flow’ activities, which he calls autotelic, meaning that “they serve no other end than themselves. You don’t do them for money, or promotion, or recognition, but because you have to.” He also collects the thoughts and opinions from people as varied as Elsie de Wolfe and Mrs Beeton to George Orwell and Joan Rivers, ensuring that we get quite a colourful patchwork of sources. There is also a splash of quirky photos and eye catching pictures, all of which makes for an informative and interesting enough read.

[Veronika]

gentle, philosophical read that made me reevaluate what I call home. instead of norms and guidelines it offers perspectives and space for me to redefine what home means. Beautiful book, and a brave one, because the title sets expectations that many other books in the home keeping genre would attain to. But this book offers so much more than advice. It allows freedom.

[Maui Rochell]

Finally got to finish this book after so many months! The School of Life books aren't just your typical how-to book but it encompasses everything from history, philosophy down to the practicality so it isn't always an easy read. But I'm glad to learn!

My favorite chapter is about How to Keep A Home. Housework doesn't ever end! It just keeps on going and that's the reality! 🫠

[Jjpoor]

I almost didn't get the point of the book! I'm pretty sure the title is wrong (let's not say "lie"). It could be a "Very brief history of Interior design" or whatever, but not How to make a home. Different irrelevant stories are attached to each other to convey no idea! Interesting.

[Cheri]

Esp like section mentioning flow and serious work.
Interesting read, contemplation inspiring.

Made :/ face when : people switching to paying for access over ownership. But that's really an aside.

[Kim]

It's an okay book. It has some interesting stories and bits of history, but I'd be hard pressed to call it a "how to" book. It doesn't really discuss how to do anything.

[kindofdanceit]

Un reminder cozy despre ce înseamnă acasă și diferența dintre casă și acasă.

[Dominic Watson]

A good book about learning to ‘love what you have’ instead of ‘have what you love’, and how a home can be made from anything & anywhere as long as we have gratitude

[Hjwoodward]

I liked the philosophical angle of this little book. I liked that it was short and that it was illustrated. A pleasant, quick read.

[Olga Sala]

Llevo 15 años asistiendo en primera fila a la emoción que viven las personas que cambian de casa. Y en este mundo, todos, la mayoría al menos, somos cucos. Pájaros que ocupamos los nidos que otros dejaron atrás, haciendo nuestros espacios que no fueron pensados para nosotros y que ni siquiera diseñamos. Espacios con paredes y suelos que guardan el eco de decenas (¿cientos?) de vidas pasadas. Y los hacemos nuestros llenándolos de nuestras cosas, las que guardamos mudanza tras mudanza. ¿Y si “casa” no fueran las paredes sino esa silla, ese jarrón, esa foto que nos llevaríamos precisamente a la tumba, el último destino posible?

Cuando una casa se vacía deja de ser un hogar. Vuelve a ser un producto inmobiliario, y sólo cuando proyectamos dónde irá el piano, dónde pondremos el juego de café de la abuela o dónde colgaremos el póster de Los Planetas, empezamos a darle vida de nuevo. A hogarizarlo. Y así, vuelta a empezar.

Este libro no es un manual de decoración de The School of Life (spoiler: no te dirá dónde poner el sofá). Es un ejercicio de resistencia intelectual donde Edward Hollis por ejemplo nos habla de la heroicidad de la escoba: limpiar el polvo no es mantenimiento, es una lucha épica contra la entropía para demostrar que todavía existimos. Que en ese gesto modesto reside una militancia por lo más humano que hay en nosotros. Me parece una idea preciosa.

Basta ya de convertir el hogar en escenarios, en sets instagrameables. La casa de uno es sagrada, un palacio de nuestra memoria donde vivimos rodeados de objetos que nos anclan y nos mantienen cuerdos. Fundamental en los tiempos que corren, ¿no crees?

[cypher]

i love what i've read from The School Of Life book series, books on common topics that affect us all, and should be understood by as many as possible, but i think this subject is not really treated with enough depth. a bit too much surface level thinking.
i also don't really like the title, one should not plan to "make a home", this should be a natural, genuine process. imagine where we would be as a society if someone followed a step-by-step guide to artificially create the feeling of "home", quite scary. a better version perhaps: how to feel less restless in your environment and more regenerated when you spend time there :)

[Mina Lobo]

Most engaging when the author shared his own bits of decorative history, some bright "Aha!" moments, regarding the philosophy of"home." But somewhat arid and tedious as well. A promising theme which faltered now and again in execution.

[Alexander]

Thought provoking.

[Mugren Ohaly]

I'm disappointed. I was expecting this to be more like an actual guide on how to make a home, rather than a memoir-cum-history lesson.

[Sunday Dutro]

a philosophical book that’s a bit slow-paced and informative, a look at “home” and what it’s meant over time and currently, what we actually mean when we think of “home.”