bookswelike

Books by Bill Bryson

A Short History of Nearly Everything

Did you know that 'dinosaur' means 'terrible lizard', that Planet Earth is 4,550 million years old (+/- 70 million), that the blue whale is so huge its tongue weighs as much as an elephant? Bryson's judicious mixture of fact and anecdote makes science palatable to the non-scientist and there is hardly a dull moment in over 400 pages of mainly fascinating information about the world, from the Big Bang to the rise of civilisation.
(Wendy Swann - bwl 21 November 2003)

A Walk in the Woods

This is the author's account of his attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail, which stretches for 2,100 miles from Georgia to Maine. Bryson walked about 40 per cent of it - an impressive achievement. He is good company, cheerful, and always a mine of information. He has a keen appreciation of the eccentricities of his fellow walkers, and of his own inadequacies, and is enthusiastic about the splendours of the landscape. He is also very funny.
(Diana Davies - bwl 30 June 2005)

At Home: Short History of Private Life

This is a typically Bryson-esque book in that the author looks at a common, everyday object (in this case his own 1850s Norfolk rectory) and from it extrapolates an extraordinary set of tales, stories and histories behind each of the rooms. From Hall to Attic, each space has it's own set of customs and practices that evolved over the centuries to become our 'normal'. Social history of the finest kind.
(Clive Yelf - bwl 73 Summer 2014)

At Home: A short history of private life

A sort of companion volume to his A Short History of Nearly Everything (bwl 21), here Bryson embarks on a voyage of discovery of human artifacts, taking us round his home, room by room, tracing the history of the things we live with every day in our houses and take for granted. As we would expect, he provides an overflowing cornucopia of fascinating facts and illuminating anecdotes, purveyed with lightly carried erudition. A truly wonderful book!
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 62 Autumn 2011)

Down Under

For Bryson fans, this is a feast. A big, affectionate book about Australia. As well as the expected verbal exuberance and hilarious experiences, it is also full of fascinating information. His disguise as a 'humorous' travel writer sugars some interesting pills.
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 11 October 2001)

Made in America

A vast amount of information packed into a chatty paperback by the well-known travel writer. The author describes amongst other things the origins of various American place and brand names, terminology, familiar expressions and slang. He also refers to American history, customs, movies, food and practically everything else American one could think of. All in all a fascinating book...but to dip into and browse rather than read straight through.
(Jeremy Swann - bwl 14 July 2002)

Made in America

I'm a little tepid as regarding Bill Bryson's travel books but I'm a big fan when he gets onto the subject of language. Whereas in Mother Tongue he looked at the roots and development of English in England, here he concentrates on the American variety with its native American borrowings, archaic survivals and the regional influences of early settlers. One correction though, 'slobberchops'* may have died out in America but not yet in our house!

*Editor's Note: For those of you unfamiliar with the word 'slobberchops', here is the definition from the website www.urbandictionary.com An old British word, still used in some areas, esp. Ireland: 1) One who dribbles 2) A messy eater 3) A lecherous man. The example they give suited to all three is 'Grandad is a right slobberchops'.
(Clive Yelf - bwl 34 April 2006)

Mother Tongue

In the small town in Switzerland where we used to live they are building something called LITTLE BIG SHOPPING. English is increasingly being adopted, or adapted, as a world language. This erudite and entertaining book explains why. It charts the development of the language and its idiosyncrasies of spelling and pronunciation, explores the origins of pub and place names, surnames, swear words, Cockney and slang, and hilariously illustrates its distortion and absorption into other languages.
(Wendy Swann - bwl 9 June 2001)

Mother Tongue

Often funny, often provocative, Bryson examines, with his usual panache, the English language from its earliest roots to the present day. Everything from pronunciation and spelling, changing meanings, borrowings, illogicalities and local usage come under his critical gaze. I found myself disagreeing hotly at times but I was never bored. If only I could remember half of the fascinating snippets of information he gives...
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 29 April 2005)

Neither Here nor There

If there's anyone who hasn't yet read this 1991 account of Bryson's journey round Europe as a student, it has all the usual ingredients to recommend it - big laughs, intelligent observations, unexpected quirky insights - but with the added relish of feeling superior because of our inside knowledge into how Europe and Europeans function. As always, enormously enjoyable.
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 21 November 2003)

Notes from a Small Island

This book is perhaps 100 pages too long and the author's feelings become repetitive. It is now 13 years since it was published. That being said, for anyone who has travelled alone in England, seeing places and watching people, it rings true and in parts is very funny and a true observation of English life: worth keeping to read again in 13 years' time.
(Guy Harding - bwl 28 February 2005)

One Summer: America 1927

Typical Bryson; well-researched, full of fascinating information and amusingly written. It's really the story of what was in the papers that summer and there was plenty. If much of it is well known - Lindberg, Prohibition, Al Capone, Babe Ruth - other subjects, the unintentionally amusing President Coolidge being one, are less so. A light, superficial but enjoyable read.
(Tony Pratt - bwl 74 Autumn 2014)

Shakespeare - The World as a Stage (Eminent Lives)

Bryson tackles his subject as one would expect - with maximum respect for sources and research, translated into his own inimitable style. As he says, there's really not much to be said about Shakespeare's mysterious life, but to compensate, he gives us plenty of unexpected background detail on the period. A pleasing and illuminating slim volume.
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 47 September 2008)

Shakespeare: The World as a Stage

Shakespeare holds an almost mythical status in the nation's psyche and as a result, large numbers of myths have emerged around him and his authorship. Bill Bryson takes an engaging look at what is known about Shakespeare himself and shows that - contrary to belief - we actually know more about his life than many of his contemporaries (even if the record is still tantalisingly incomplete) and that the 'real' author of Shakespeare's works was Shakespeare himself!
(Clive Yelf - bwl 56 Spring 2010)

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

Fans of Bryson won't be disappointed - this is a funny book. But underpinning this affectionate account of a 1950s Mid West childhood is a deeper reflection on changing America, from innocent optimism to uncertainty and moral duplicity. This is Bryson in elegiac mood (the book ends: 'What a wonderful world it was. We won't see its like again, I'm afraid') but also giving his country stick - sugar-coated, maybe, but stick nevertheless.
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 42 October 2007)

The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island

Of course this is a funny book and of course it's full of fascinating facts, people and places, but underlying his farcical encounters with dim shop-assistants and such is his consternation at increasing ignorance, stupidity and falling-off of values compared with the England of his 1995 Notes (bwl 28). He's funny and interesting, lyrical about the countryside, appreciates many endeavours and retains his deep affection for his adopted country, but his alarm rings true.
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 80 Spring 2016)