Title: The Tour of Insanity
Authors: Kelly Mitchell and Matthew Zakutny
Publisher: Independently published
Genre: Humour, Home Design, Non-Fiction
First Publication: 2020
Language: English
Book Summary: The Tour of Insanity by Kelly Mitchell and Matthew Zakutny
Have you ever walked around your house wondering WHY this was installed that way or WHY there is orange shag carpet in the kitchen?
Maybe you wondered WHY there has to be a front yard or WHY do pests keep getting into your home?
We provide a comedic look at the WHY and some insight on what should be. This book provides a tour of the insanity of past, present, and future home design highlighting the tragic comedy of why things are the way they are and what could be done differently to elevate home design. We address the absurd notions of shag carpeting in bathrooms and what led to their demise as well as how to shore up your home from pesty invaders.
Tour of Insanity is designed to spark conversations and provide comic relief while introducing solutions. If you want serious, mapped-out architectural and home decor enlightenment – walk away, this book isn’t for you. We provide odd facts, bizarre history, and viable solutions that in most cases are beyond our control.
After reading, you will walk away with interesting stories and whimsical knowledge that is great for warming up dinner conversations, but first and foremost, you will smile.
Book Review: The Tour of Insanity by Kelly Mitchell and Matthew Zakutny
Kelly Mitchell along with Matthew Zakutny changed the way we look at our homes and espoused a philosophy that is as current today, as it was at the turn of the century.
In The Tour of Insanity, Kelly Mitchell and Matthew Zakutny take you on a whirlwind ride through the turn-of-the-century homes. I don’t know how they can make the history of the carpeted bathrooms sound so important, or make me care so much about laundries, attics and garages, but they do. They write about these things with vitality, with strong opinions, and occasionally with wit, too.
Kelly Mitchell is clearly a wordy, astute, and witty writer; though I enjoyed every bit of reading this short book, the humorous observations present in the text greatly helped and increased my enjoyment. Oftentimes, the tone was authoritative and witty. Taste is highly subjective and ultimately a semiotics of class and it oftentimes was apparent that Kelly Mitchell and Matthew Zakutny were trying to give practical advice on giving homes a pleasing, symmetrical, and aesthetically pleasing appearance.
The book is structured with several chapters detailing design recommendations on how to design home. The book includes brief and interesting historical points of reference on how interior design elements evolved. The in-depth discussion of design reveals the lifestyle and preferences of the time which adds another layer of depth and interest to this book.
And, in the end, a lot of the advice in this book is just really useful. It more or less comes down to: let the plan of your house show through, rather than covering it up; each part takes its interest from the role it plays in the whole; save your exuberance for the most important and visible parts, and let the other parts support these; and most importantly, beauty is not decoration, it is use properly understood. Someone who is genuinely interested in that area will likely find this book informative and interesting.
