History of the World in 100 Modern Objects

Since the middle of last year, Francesca Hornak has been writing a hugely popular column in the Sunday Times Style section, 'History of the World in 100 Modern Objects'. Featuring a different iconic object each week, the column explores contemporary middle-class life through the objects we fetishise. Each column is a little vignette about a different character, such as Izzy, who's 25 and interns at Channel and gets into a spat with her flatmate about a twee Oliver Bonas cake stand, Nick, 40, who's panicking about the safety aspects of his children's bike trailer and remembering his old DJing days, and Philippa, 64, who's tussling with her Sky TV remote after her divorce. Funny, charming and sometimes poignant, each column is an evocative slice of modern life. The columns are accompanied by crisp, colourful illustrations by the illustrator James Joyce, which make the book into a design object itself.