Philosophy of Home, by Emanuele Coccia (2024)

I have been thinking about this for a long time. The importance of objects around the house, how we engage with them, how they influence our behaviour, how they preserve our identities. Coccia touches on this but also more in this collection of themed essays covering rooms, spaces both physical and digital.

I enjoyed his commentary of clothes and social media as extensions of the home especially in his overall message explaining how home is a part of us, both a form of expression, an influence on behaviour and even a vehicle for different identities. His comments on the bathroom being a place for exploration and shame were interesting, as were his views on technology in the house, how plumbing is actually quite impressive!

I think this book was born out of his constant moving from city to city, so I can understand why he has conceptualised the home as being a part of you, being carried with you, but also something that changes how you act – his description of living without objects in an empty apartment were pretty funny, it reminded me of my first week out of the house, unable to make spaghetti because I didn’t have a spoon!

Overall this book was an enjoyable set of reflections, but probably better suggested to an experienced philosophical or literary reader, just because his writing style (or at least the translation) was so wordy and a little dense!