This is a well-researched and entertaining book. Ranging from a Neolithic stone bed unearthed at Skara Brae in the Orkney Islands to the bed from Tutankhamen's tomb c.1350BC; from stark Anglo-Saxon to ornate early Renaissance beds and the elaborate State bedchambers of kings, this book is lavishly illustrated throughout. Marvel at the lacquered and gilt mid-18th century bed by Chippendale in his Chinese period, and his design for one with such an elaborate and overpowering superstructure that the bed itself looks like a small cushion, at complex wardrobe beds and revolutionary American metal folding beds. Interwoven in the narrative is the history of social, sexual and sanitary attitudes to the design of beds, making this a fascinating history of the place where we spend nearly a third of our lives.
