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Bill Bryson
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In a Sunburned Countryby Bill BrysonISBN 0375430563 (0-375-43056-3)
Hardcover, Random House Large Print
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› Find signed collectible books: 'In a Sunburned Country'Book summary:Bill Bryson follows his Appalachian amble, A Walk in the Woods, with the story of his exploits in Australia, where A-bombs go off unnoticed, prime ministers disappear into the surf, and cheery citizens coexist with the world's deadliest creatures: toxic caterpillars, aggressive seashells, crocodiles, sharks, snakes, and the deadliest of them all, the dreaded box jellyfish. And that's just the beginning, as Bryson treks through sunbaked deserts and up endless coastlines, crisscrossing the "under-discovered" Down Under in search of all things interesting.
Bryson, who could make a pile of dirt compelling--and yes, Australia is mostly dirt--finds no shortage of curiosities. When he isn't dodging Portuguese man-of-wars or considering the virtues of the remarkable platypus, he visits southwest Gippsland, home of the world's largest earthworms (up to 12 feet in length). He discovers that Australia, which began nationhood as a prison, contains the longest straight stretch of railroad track in the world (297 miles), as well as the world's largest monolith (the majestic Uluru) and largest living thing (the Great Barrier Reef). He finds ridiculous place names: "Mullumbimby Ewylamartup, Jiggalong, and the supremely satisfying Tittybong," and manages to catch a cricket game on the radio, which is like
listening to two men sitting in a rowboat on a large, placid lake on a day when the fish aren't biting; it's like having a nap without losing consciousness. It actually helps not to know quite what's going on. In such a rarefied world of contentment and inactivity, comprehension would become a distraction.
"You see," Bryson observes, "Australia is an interesting place. It truly is. And that really is all I'm saying." Of course, Bryson--who is as much a travel writer here as a humorist, naturalist, and historian--says much more, and does so with generous amounts of wit and hilarity. Australia may be "mostly empty and a long way away," but it's a little closer now. --Rob McDonald [via]
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The Life And Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoirby Bill BrysonISBN 0375434305 (0-375-43430-5)
Hardcover, Random House Large Print
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The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town Americaby Bill BrysonISBN 0060920084 (0-06-092008-4)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America'Book summary:A travelogue by Bill Bryson is as close to a sure thing as funny books get. The Lost Continent is no exception. Following an urge to rediscover his youth (he should know better), the author leaves his native Des Moines, Iowa, in a journey that takes him across 38 states. Lucky for us, he brought a notebook.
With a razor wit and a kind heart, Bryson serves up a colorful tale of boredom, kitsch, and beauty when you least expect it. Gentler elements aside, The Lost Continent is an amusing book. Here's Bryson on the women of his native state: "I will say this, however--and it's a strange, strange thing--the teenaged daughters of these fat women are always utterly delectable ... I don't know what it is that happens to them, but it must be awful to marry one of those nubile cuties knowing that there is a time bomb ticking away in her that will at some unknown date make her bloat out into something huge and grotesque, presumably all of a sudden and without much notice, like a self-inflating raft from which the pin has been yanked."
Yes, Bill, but be honest: what do you really think? [via]
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Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United Statesby Bill BrysonISBN 0380713810 (0-380-71381-0)
Softcover, Avon Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States'Book summary:Readers from Toad Suck, Arkansas, to Idiotsville, Oregon--and everywhere in between--will love Made in America, Bill Bryson's Informal History of the English Language in the United States. It is, in a word, fascinating. After reading this tour de force, it's clear that a nation's language speaks volumes about its true character: you are what you speak. Bryson traces America's history through the language of the time, then goes on to discuss words culled from everyday activities: immigration, eating, shopping, advertising, going to the movies, and others.
Made in America will supply you with interesting facts and cocktail chatter for a year or more. Did you know, for example, that Teddy Roosevelt's "speak softly and carry a big stick" credo has its roots in a West African proverb? Or that actor Walter Matthau's given name is Walter Mattaschanskayasky? Or that the supposedly frigid Puritans--who called themselves "Saints," by the way--had something called a pre-contract, which was a license for premarital sex? Made in America is an excellent discussion of American English, but what makes the book such a treasure is that it offers much, much more. [via]
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The Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Wayby Bill BrysonISBN 014014305X (0-14-014305-X)
Softcover, Penguin Books, Limited
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Mother Tongue : English and How It Got That Way'Book summary:Who would have thought that a book about English would be so entertaining? Certainly not this grammar-allergic reviewer, but The Mother Tongue pulls it off admirably. Bill Bryson--a zealot--is the right man for the job. Who else could rhapsodize about "the colorless murmur of the schwa" with a straight face? It is his unflagging enthusiasm, seeping from between every sentence, that carries the book.
Bryson displays an encyclopedic knowledge of his topic, and this inevitably encourages a light tone; the more you know about a subject, the more absurd it becomes. No jokes are necessary, the facts do well enough by themselves, and Bryson supplies tens per page. As well as tossing off gems of fractured English (from a Japanese eraser: "This product will self-destruct in Mother Earth."), Bryson frequently takes time to compare the idiosyncratic tongue with other languages. Not only does this give a laugh (one word: Welsh), and always shed considerable light, it also makes the reader feel fortunate to speak English. [via]
More editions of The Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way:
- The Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way: ISBN 0380715430 (0-380-71543-0)
Softcover, Avon Books - The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way: ISBN 0241130484 (0-241-13048-4)
Hardcover, Penguin Books, Limited - The Mother Tongue : English and How It Got That Way: ISBN 014014305X (0-14-014305-X)
Softcover, Penguin Books, Limited
- The Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way: ISBN 0380715430 (0-380-71543-0)
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Neither Here nor Thereby Bill BrysonISBN 0380713802 (0-380-71380-2)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Neither Here nor There'Book summary:Like many of his generation, Bill Bryson backpacked across Europe in the early seventies -- in search of enlightenment, beer, and women. Twenty years later he decided to retrace the journey he undertook in the halcyon days of his youth. The result is Neither Here Nor There, an affectionate and riotously funny pilgrimage from the frozen wastes of Scandinavia to the chaotic tumult of Istanbul, with stops along the way in Europe's most diverting and historic locales. Like many of his generation, Bill Bryson backpacked across Europe in the early seventies--in search of enlightenment, beer, and women. Twenty years later he decided to retrace the journey he undertook in the halcyon days of his youth. The result is Neither Here Nor There, an affectionate and riotously funny pilgrimage from the frozen wastes of Scandinavia to the chaotic tumult of Istanbul, with stops along the way in Europe's most diverting and historic locales.
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Notes from a Small Islandby Bill BrysonISBN 0380727501 (0-380-72750-1)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Notes from a Small Island'Book summary:Paperback [via]
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The Palace under the Alps: And over 200 Other Unusual, Unspoiled, and Infrequently Visited Spots in 16 European Countriesby Bill BrysonISBN 0312926359 (0-312-92635-9)
Hardcover, Congdon & Weed
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Palace under the Alps: And over 200 Other Unusual, Unspoiled, and Infrequently Visited Spots in 16 European Countries'More editions of The Palace under the Alps: And over 200 Other Unusual, Unspoiled, and Infrequently Visited Spots in 16 European Countries:
The Penguin Dictionary for Writers and Editorsby Bill BrysonISBN 0140512020 (0-14-051202-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Penguin Dictionary of Troublesome Wordsby Bill BrysonISBN 014051130X (0-14-051130-X)
Softcover, Penguin Books, Limited
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Penguin Dictionary of Troublesome Words'Book summary:It is nearly 20 years since Bill Bryson first penned his deliciously witty paean to precision Troublesome Words. Now he has revised it and 60 per cent of the content is new so it's well worth another browse and a place on the desk corner of anyone who likes words and who wants to get things right.
Once a sub-editor at The Times, Bryson is irresistibly drawn to knowing that "to flaunt" means to display ostentatiously but "to flout" means to treat with contempt. Or that a straitjacket may be straight but its name means that its occupant is confined and restricted--in straitened circumstances, perhaps. And can you explain the difference between a Creole and a Pidgin or between egoism and egotism? If not consult Bryson. Then you'll be able to. There's no pedantry or pomposity in Bryson's writing. But he argues: "Just as we all agree that clarity is better served if 'cup' represents a drinking vessel and 'cap' something you put on your head, so too I think the world is a fractionally better place if we agree to preserve a distinction between 'its' and 'it's', between 'I lay down the law' and 'I lie down to sleep', between 'imply' and 'infer' and countless others."
Bryson modestly jokes that this alphabetically arranged book could be subtitled "Even More Things in English Usage That the Author Wasn't Entirely Clear about Until Quite Recently". If only most of us were sure about a fraction of the things Bryson clearly understands very well we might all be more effective writers and speakers. --Susan Elkin [via]
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Shakespeare: The World As a Stageby Bill BrysonISBN 006136391X (0-06-136391-X)
Softcover, Harperluxe
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Shakespeare: The World As a Stage'Book summary:William Shakespeare, the most celebrated poet in the English language, left behind nearly a million words of text, but his biography has long been a thicket of wild supposition arranged around scant facts. With a steady hand and his trademark wit, Bill Bryson sorts through this colorful muddle to reveal the man himself.
Bryson documents the efforts of earlier scholars, from today's most respected academics to eccentrics like Delia Bacon, an American who developed a firm but unsubstantiated conviction that her namesake, Francis Bacon, was the true author of Shakespeare's plays. Emulating the style of his famous travelogues, Bryson records episodes in his research, including a visit to a bunkerlike room in Washington, D.C., where the world's largest collection of First Folios is housed.
Bryson celebrates Shakespeare as a writer of unimaginable talent and enormous inventiveness, a coiner of phrases ("vanish into thin air," "foregone conclusion," "one fell swoop") that even today have common currency. His Shakespeare is like no one else'sthe beneficiary of Bryson's genial nature, his engaging skepticism, and a gift for storytelling unrivaled in our time.
[via]More editions of Shakespeare: The World As a Stage:
- Shakespeare: The World As Stage: ISBN 0061673692 (0-06-167369-2)
Softcover, Perennial - Shakespeare : The World as a Stage: ISBN 0007197896 (0-00-719789-6)
Hardcover, HarperCollins Publishers Limited - Shakespeare: The World As a Stage: ISBN 0060740221 (0-06-074022-1)
Hardcover, Eminent Lives - Shakespeare: The World As a Stage: ISBN 006136391X (0-06-136391-X)
Softcover, Harperluxe
- Shakespeare: The World As Stage: ISBN 0061673692 (0-06-167369-2)
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A Short History of Nearly Everythingby Bill BrysonISBN 0375432000 (0-375-43200-0)
Hardcover, Random House Large Print
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Short History of Nearly Everything'Book summary:One of the worlds most beloved and bestselling writers takes his ultimate journey -- into the most intriguing and intractable questions that science seeks to answer.
In A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson trekked the Appalachian Trail -- well, most of it. In In A Sunburned Country, he confronted some of the most lethal wildlife Australia has to offer. Now, in his biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand -- and, if possible, answer -- the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. To that end, he has attached himself to a host of the worlds most advanced (and often obsessed) archaeologists, anthropologists, and mathematicians, travelling to their offices, laboratories, and field camps. He has read (or tried to read) their books, pestered them with questions, apprenticed himself to their powerful minds. A Short History of Nearly Everything is the record of this quest, and it is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it. Science has never been more involving or entertaining. [via]More editions of A Short History of Nearly Everything:
Troublesome Wordsby Bill BrysonISBN 0141001356 (0-14-100135-6)
Softcover, Penguin Group (Canada)
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A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trailby Bill BrysonISBN 0307279464 (0-307-27946-4)
Softcover, Bantam Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail'Book summary:Your initial reaction to Bill Bryson's reading of A Walk in the Woods may well be "Egads! What a bore!" But by sentence three or four, his clearly articulated, slightly adenoidal, British/American-accented speech pattern begins to grow on you and becomes quite engaging. You immediately get a hint of the humor that lies ahead, such as one of the innumerable reasons he longed to walk as many of the 2,100 miles of the Appalachian Trail as he could. "It would get me fit after years of waddlesome sloth" is delivered with glorious deadpan flair. By the time our storyteller recounts his trip to the Dartmouth Co-op, suffering serious sticker shock over equipment prices, you'll be hooked.
When Bryson speaks for the many Americans he encounters along the way--in various shops, restaurants, airports, and along the trail--he launches into his American accent, which is whiny and full of hard r's. And his southern intonations are a hoot. He's even got a special voice used exclusively when speaking for his somewhat surprising trail partner, Katz. In the 25 years since their school days together, Katz has put on quite a bit of weight. In fact, "he brought to mind Orson Welles after a very bad night. He was limping a little and breathing harder than one ought to after a walk of 20 yards." Katz often speaks in monosyllables, and Bryson brings his limited vocabulary humorously to life. One of Katz's more memorable utterings is "flung," as in flung most of his provisions over the cliff because they were too heavy to carry any farther.
The author has thoroughly researched the history and the making of the Appalachian Trail. Bryson describes the destruction of many parts of the forest and warns of the continuing perils (both natural and man-made) the Trail faces. He speaks of the natural beauty and splendor as he and Katz pass through, and he recalls clearly the serious dangers the two face during their time together on the trail. So, A Walk in the Woods is not simply an out-of-shape, middle-aged man's desire to prove that he can still accomplish a major physical task; it's also a plea for the conservation of America's last wilderness. Bryson's telling is a knee-slapping, laugh-out-loud funny trek through the woods, with a touch of science and history thrown in for good measure. (Running time: 360 minutes, four cassettes) --Colleen Preston [via]
More editions of A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail:
- A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail: ISBN 0385257139 (0-385-25713-9)
Hardcover, Doubleday Canada, Limited - A Walk in the Woods : Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail: ISBN 0385257155 (0-385-25715-5)
Hardcover, Doubleday Canada, Limited - A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail: ISBN 0307279464 (0-307-27946-4)
Softcover, Bantam Books
- A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail: ISBN 0385257139 (0-385-25713-9)
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