Toilets, Bathtubs, Sinks, and Sewers: A History of the Bathroom

A fascinating, lively account of toilets, tubs, and sanitation systems with intriguingly catchy chapter titles from "Splish, Splash, the First Bath," "The Queen's Toilet," "Ugh, Gross!" to "Bathrooms Beyond Belief." Award-winning author, Penny Colman traces the fascinating history of the bathroom, starting thousands of years ago on the Orkney Islands of Scotland where hollowed-out slabs of stone with a crude drain served as the first indoor bathroom, to the ancient Egyptian city of Tel el Amarna where in 1370 B.C. there were limestone toilet seats and stone bathtubs; to the years when people in western Europe didn't pay any attention to sewage disposal or bathing; to the International Space Station where a water regeneration system distills, filters, ionizes and oxidizes wastewater, including urine, into freshwater for drinking. A list of "Ten Facts About Toilets, Bathtubs, Sinks, and Sewers" includes the fact that Albert Einstein once said that if he had it to do all over again, he would become a plumber. The book includes an extensive bibliography and webliography.