Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. It may be responsible for a greater improvement in human diet and longevity than any other technology of the last two thousand years-but have you ever thought seriously about your refrigerator? That box humming in the background displays more than you might expect, even who you are and the society in which you live. Jonathan Rees examines the past, present, and future of the household refrigerator with the aim of preventing its users from ever taking it for granted again. No mere container for cold Cokes and celery stalks, the refrigerator acts as a mirror-and what it reflects is chilling indeed. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

From a late-night snack to a cold beer, there’s nothing that whets the appetite quite like the suctioning sound of a refrigerator being opened. In the early 1930s fewer than ten percent of US households had a mechanical refrigerator, but today they are nearly universal, the primary means by which we keep our food and drink fresh. Yet, for as ubiquitous as refrigerators are, most of us take them for granted, letting them blend into the background of our kitchens, basements, garages, and all the other places where they seem so perfectly convenient. In this book, Helen Peavitt amplifies the hum of the refrigerator in technological history, showing us just how it became such an essential appliance. Peavitt takes us to the early closets, cabinets, and boxes into which we first started packing ice and the various things we were trying to keep cool. From there she charts the development of mechanical and chemical technologies that have led to modern-day refrigeration on both industrial and domestic scales, showing how these technologies have created a completely new method of preserving and transporting perishable goods, having a profound impact on society from the nineteenth century and on. She explores the ways the marketing of refrigerators have expressed and influenced our notions of domestic life, and she looks at how refrigeration has altered the agriculture and food industries as well as our own appetites. Strikingly illustrated, this book offers an informative and entertaining history of an object that has radically changed—in a little over one hundred years—one of the most important things we do: eat.

How we keep food cold while the house stays warm. Only when the power goes off and food spoils do we truly appreciate how much we rely on refrigerators and freezers. In Refrigeration Nation, Jonathan Rees explores the innovative methods and gadgets that Americans have invented to keep perishable food cold—from cutting river and lake ice and shipping it to consumers for use in their iceboxes to the development of electrically powered equipment that ushered in a new age of convenience and health. As much a history of successful business practices as a history of technology, this book illustrates how refrigeration has changed the everyday lives of Americans and why it remains so important today. Beginning with the natural ice industry in 1806, Rees considers a variety of factors that drove the industry, including the point and product of consumption, issues of transportation, and technological advances. Rees also shows that how we obtain and preserve perishable food is related to our changing relationship with the natural world.

Presents strange-but-true stories about such topics as a headless chicken that lived eighteen months, Albert Einstein's designs for refrigerators, and how a Donald Duck cartoon saved a ship.

Life on the Refrigerator Door is a poignant and deeply moving first novel about the bonds of love and frustration that tie mothers and daughters together. Told entirely in a series of notes left on the kitchen fridge—some casual, some intimate, some funny, some angry—it is the story of nine months in the life of 15-year-old Claire and her single mother. Preoccupied with their busy separate lives, rarely in the same room at the same time, they talk to each other in a series of short snippets that reflect the daily drama of school, boyfriends, work and chores that make up their days. Yet the mundane soon becomes extraordinary when a crisis overtakes their lives—a momentous change that will redefine their relationship and unfold in their exchanges on the refrigerator door. Short, powerful and unforgettable, Kuipers’ novel looks deep into the complex relationship between mothers and daughters, and the distances that can open up between people who live together but exist in their own worlds. Unfolding in a wonderfully simple and intimate narrative, Life on the Refrigerator Door will appeal to readers across the generations, delivering universal lessons about love.

This book explains the laws of thermodynamics for science buffs and neophytes alike. The authors present the historical development of thermodynamics and show how its laws follow from the atomic theory of matter, then give examples of the laws' applicability to such phenomena as the formation of diamonds from graphite and how blood carries oxygen.

A one-of-a-kind guide to organizing your fridge--including practical tips for meal prep and storage, plus more than 100 recipes--that makes it easier to eat better, save money, and get the most out of your food Practicing "fridge love" is a roadmap to eating healthier, saving money, and reducing food waste while enjoying a beautiful and harder-working fridge. This book--part organizational guide and part food-prep handbook--is your guide. Author Kristen Hong adopted a nutrient-dense, plant-based diet in an effort to lose weight and improve her health. But amidst the demands of day-to-day life and a busy family, she found it impossible to stick to. The solution? A smarter, better-organized fridge that served her real-life needs. In this invaluable resource, you will discover how a beautifully organized fridge can make your life--including healthy eating for the whole family--easier. It covers general fridge organization (for all models and configurations) as well as shopping tips, storage guidelines, the best meal-prep containers, and more than 100 easy plant-based recipes made for meal prepping.