Ah, Home Sweet Home.

Shut the door, and your shoulders relax. Off come the work clothes, on comes the TV. It’s where you keep your favorite things, your snacks, your relaxation, it’s where you live. You’ve worked hard to make your house a home, so now read these great books about houses, apartments, workplaces, and buildings…

No doubt, you’ve seen them online and in humor books: staircases that go nowhere, driveways that just don’t work, windows that overlook plain brick walls. In “The Spaces That Make Us: Why Design is Broken and How We Can Create a Happier, Healthier World” by Danish Kurani with Chris Weller (Harper Celebrate, $27.99), the authors say there’s a fix for these issues, but it won’t be easy. This is going to take time.

Here, you’ll see why some buildings and landscapes are actually detrimental. Says Kurani, bad design can be bad for our well-being, and we must be open to other options. Pay attention to nature’s own designs, know the purpose of the space in question, know yourself and your own sense of style, learn to love details, and “build ecologically.” This is a deep look at architecture that’s also relatively easy for an average homeowner to understand.

If you’re like most Americans, says author Stefan Al, you spend roughly “two-thirds” of your time at home and in “Dwelling on Earth: The Past and Future of the Places We Call Home” (W.W. Norton, $31.99), he explains how the very idea of “home” came to be.

Civilization, Al says, is based on the concept of “home,” but the thought of having a place to live, sleep, and put your stuff has been different through the centuries and the idea has had its dark sides. What’s more, humans have shaped the notion of home, but homes have likewise shaped humanity. Here’s a tale about history, of course, but also archaeology, science, design, psychology, and culture in one very cool book of architecture that inherently includes us and our future, so how can you possibly resist?

And finally, chances are, you spend your day walking from room to room, if not from building to building. So what does that mean for humans as a whole? In “Our World in Ten Buildings: How Architecture Defines Who We Are and How We Live” by Michael P. Murphy (One Signal Publishers / Atria, $30) you’ll read about ten different kinds of buildings – hospitals, latrines, malls, prisons, and so on – and you’ll learn how their designs and functions influence how we live. Yep, we like to think we create buildings for a reason. See how those buildings create society.

Want more? Maybe some house plans, a DIY or how-to book, or some ideas for decorating the spaces you love? Then head to your local library or bookstore and ask the staff to point you in the direction of their architecture books or the shelves of decorating books they have. You’ll find lots of ideas for each room in your house or workspace. Isn’t that pretty sweet?

Books about Home Sweet Home by various authors
c.2026, various publishers
$27.99 – $31.99
various page counts