daily-life-detail books
Little Details, I have a question that may or may not fit here. (If it doesn't, mods: please tell me!)
I have found what looks like an excellent book: China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty. This book is, essentially, a book of Little Details - it's got information about every tiny aspect of society, and answers all the sorts of questions I've seen answered here ("what did X eat in the morning?" "what would Y wear to a ball?" "what was deoderant made of in the Z century?") in a readable, informative manner - it doesn't sound like someone's graduation thesis, nor like a listing of items, but like someone talking to you conversationally.
What I would like to know is: are there other books like this? I've looked around on The Goog Machine, and as far as I can tell, the author only wrote one book. There's a series out there talking about "daily life in X time period", which sounds like about what I'm looking for. What I am interested in is readable, informative books full of fantastic little details. (Just for another example, I had a fantastic book called How Would You Survive As A Viking as a kid.)
Time period doesn't matter - I am interested in everytime - but I have a predeliction for non-Western. I would be thrilled if there was something like this for other Chinese dynasties (esp. Yuan and Three Kingdoms!), and I am pretty interested in India and Southeast Asia as well.
(Final note: I am living in China, in a city with no English bookstores, and so answers of "just go to a library" will not avail me, I'm afraid. It's Amazon or bust for me over here.)
So: have you guys come across any excellent books of this type?
EDIT ADDED 2/28/13: oh man oh man, little_details, you have come through magnificently! Thanks, all you guys, and I will definitely be checking out some of these! :D!
I have found what looks like an excellent book: China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty. This book is, essentially, a book of Little Details - it's got information about every tiny aspect of society, and answers all the sorts of questions I've seen answered here ("what did X eat in the morning?" "what would Y wear to a ball?" "what was deoderant made of in the Z century?") in a readable, informative manner - it doesn't sound like someone's graduation thesis, nor like a listing of items, but like someone talking to you conversationally.
What I would like to know is: are there other books like this? I've looked around on The Goog Machine, and as far as I can tell, the author only wrote one book. There's a series out there talking about "daily life in X time period", which sounds like about what I'm looking for. What I am interested in is readable, informative books full of fantastic little details. (Just for another example, I had a fantastic book called How Would You Survive As A Viking as a kid.)
Time period doesn't matter - I am interested in everytime - but I have a predeliction for non-Western. I would be thrilled if there was something like this for other Chinese dynasties (esp. Yuan and Three Kingdoms!), and I am pretty interested in India and Southeast Asia as well.
(Final note: I am living in China, in a city with no English bookstores, and so answers of "just go to a library" will not avail me, I'm afraid. It's Amazon or bust for me over here.)
So: have you guys come across any excellent books of this type?
EDIT ADDED 2/28/13: oh man oh man, little_details, you have come through magnificently! Thanks, all you guys, and I will definitely be checking out some of these! :D!