Product Description

The Best of Bill Bryson on the United States selected from his regular column in The Mail on Sunday.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3837 in Books
• Published on: 1999-09-16
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review

Here's a fact for you. According to the latest "Abstract of the UnitedStates", every year more than 400,00 Americans suffer injuries involving beds,mattresses or pillows...That is more people than live in greater Coventry. That is almost 2,000 bed, mattress orpillow injuries a day. In the time it takes you to read this article, four Americans will somehow manage tobe wounded by their bedding.

Fans of Bill Bryson will know by now that this isthe kind of completely useless information that gets him excited. In fact, you are unlikely to read anyone else who derivesquite so much pleasure from meaningless statistics. If those statistics are about the USA (Bryson's homeland) or his adoptedEngland--or even better, comparing one to the other--then he is in heaven. And it is not only the uselessness of theinformation that interests him, but also the fact that Americans spend millions of dollars and hours each yearcollecting such data together.

Though not a match for his earlier success of Notesfrom a Small Island, Notes from a Big Country takes a good second place. It collects together more than 18 monthsworth of Mail on Sunday columns which Bryson wrote between October 1996 and May 1998 after he and his English wife andchildren returned to the US and settled in New England. The only thing that outshines his amazement--and sometimes,outright dismay--at the way American society has changed while he's been away, is his English-born family's instantembracing of transatlantic culture.

A word of warning: reading Bill Bryson is not aspectator sport...you are invited-- in fact, compelled--to marvel at how the nation that "has the largest economy, the mostcomfortably off people, the best research facilities, many of the finest universities and think-tanks, and more NobelPrize winners than the rest of the world put together" could be the same nation where "13 per cent of women cannot say whether they wear their tights under their knickers or over them. That's something like 12 million women walkingaround in a state of chronic foundation garment uncertainty." This is Bryson at his best, and though not every column inchhits the heady heights of underwear distribution, there are enough laugh-out-loud moments to keep you satisfied.

Detractors of Bryson's work complain all his booksare the same, yet dedicated followers cite that very uniformity of style and subject as the reason they return, book after book. Anyone disappointed by A Walk in the Woods (Bryson's account of hiking the Appalachian Trail and not his best book) will have their faith restored by Notes from a Big Country--here Bryson returns to his favourite subject and the simple, journalistic prose that makes his wacky facts and observations instantly accessible.

Bryson does not pretend to deliver an intellectual treatise on the state of mankind; instead he offers one man's take on how humanity lurches from one day to another--ironically through the kinds of details he mocks others for collecting--Lucie Naylor

Synopsis
Des Moines, Iowa born writer Bryson's first success was the travel book "The Lost Continent". After living in England for several years, he wanted to go back to the USA to find the perfect little US town of his past, he lovingly called Amalgam. More travel books followed, in the form of "Neither Here Nor There" (where he travels through Europe), "Notes From A Small Island" (where he travels around the United Kingdom, before returning back with his to the USA to live there for good) and "A Walk In The Woods" (where he walks the Appalachian trail). After moving back to the States, Bryson started to write a column for "The Mail on Sunday Night and Day" magazine. This is a collection of these column entries. Bryson writes about everything from everyday chores, to sueing people, the beach, TV, movies, air conditioners, college, Americana, injury dangers, wasting resources and holiday seasons.

From the Publisher
The phenomenal bestseller from the author of Notes From a Small Island.

Customer Reviews

Sheer brilliance
This is guaranteed to put a smile on virtually anyone's face.

Bryson's dry humour & witty observations of life's absurdity coupled with Kerry Shale's excellent delivery make this an easy winner.

The basic material is also very interesting so a wining combination all round.

I had this in the car & found myself sitting listening to it long after I had arrived at my destination - it's that good!

One of our fave honorary Brits goes home for a bit ...
Another tome of brilliantly sparkling gems from Bill Bryson. What I found funniest was that his wife and family, all born and raised in England, appeared to find American life like being let loose in a toyshop - reveling in becoming optimistic Americans. Whereas our Bill has absorbed so much Britishness in his twenty years here he has become an honorary Brit! This makes his exasperation with queuing, bad shop assistants, and bureaucracy of the US kind even funnier than ever. In some of the columns he tries to be more positive and these, as he admits, are the more sentimental. Would that each of the pieces were double the length though - I got through the pages just too fast.

Great read!
This title was chosen by my book club as this month's title & I was dreading reading it, as my previous encounter with Mr Bryson was 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' which I hated. I was really surprised how much I enjoyed this book. It has many laugh out loud moments like Bill's hatred of the barbers & love of motels & the US Postal Services' Customer Day. The 4 page chapters are ideal as he get's to cover a wide range of topics. From reading this I will definitely try some of Bryson's other titles. A great read.