Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.
When you've got to go, where do you go? Matthew Pearson's Toilet raises important questions about what an individual needs and what a society wants. Mapping how we interact with public space in our private lives and frankly discussing what happens behind locked cubicle doors, it shows how central public toilets are to political and economic debate, cultural identity, and everyday life. Too often ignored out of embarrassment or taken for granted, the public toilet is an object that performs vital functions and rewards serious contemplation. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.