Australia in a nutshell. A very large, very empty, very beautiful nutshell.

books:


	• In a Sunburned Country Bill Bryson Broadway, 2001 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 396 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Bryson - The King of Wry Travel Writing

Bill Bryson has written his impressions of England as an American, and his impressions of the U.S. as a longtime British resident, and here he travels to the corners of Australia to chronicle his impressions as a wide-eyed outsider. Bryson is the kind of writer who has no ego. He makes fun of himself as quickly as he does everyone and everything else he finds absurd in this vast, sun-baked country-continent. His sense of humor varies from gentle to wicked, and he educates even as he jokes, sharing his wonder that there are such rare animals as monotremes, a species which gives birth through the same hole (the "cloaca") it uses for defecating. Coming upon an echidna, a monotreme, in the wild, he is, as he puts it, "thrilled right down to my cloaca."

Pick up any Bryson book and you will find yourself laughing soon, and learning more than you thought you'd be interested in on any given subject. He makes facts and figures, usually about how fast our environment is being thoughtlessly ravaged by humans, so easy to swallow you don't even notice you have learned something. Bryson is one of a kind.

George Waters
[...]

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I LOVE BILL BRYSON!

Bill Bryson is the man.
EXCELLENT book.
His descriptions are mind blowing.
I'm taking it with me when I go to Australia...one day. :)

I felt like I was with him on along his travels...unfortunatly I was just on the NYCsubway...*sigh*

I "L.O.L"ed.......A LOT! :)

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slow

A rather slow moving books, but still a good read.

The funniest book I've ever read!

This one started me reading all of Bryson's work but is still my all time favorite!

Australia in a nutshell. A very large, very empty, very beautiful nutshell.

I like to equate "In A Sunburned Country" to Australia itself. It seems to go on forever, and at some points you just want to stop, but when it is finally over you are pining for more.

I'm reluctant to give this five stars, only because I don't want to seem like "that guy" who gives everything five stars. But what the hell, it deserves it.

What made this book so excellent is Bryson's perfect blend of wit, wonder and historical facts. He never overwhelms the reader with too much dry information, his humour isn't derived from negative Australian stereotypes and he always brings to life what a wonderful, strange country it really is. The cast of characters, so to speak, are simply superb and I'm glad that Bryson decided to include them in this book.

Some people might criticize the fact that Bryson didn't spend a lot of time in each location, or that he missed some really good locations, but I think this is entirely fine. One of the main themes of this book is that Australia is simply huge and the spaces between civilized areas are massive. If he decided to spend more time in each location, why, he would still be there today.

Bryson's sense of humour in this book is just phenomenal. His conversations with his friends, his mental dialogues and the commentary about Australia's strange history will make you chuckle delightfully, if not laugh out loud.

This book isn't a comprehensive history of Australia, nor would I want it to be. What Bryson does instead of boring us to death with a dry revival is pick out some of the most interesting little tidbits of Australian history and present them to us in a way that really gives us a greater understanding of the country. He often uses the historical examples to prove a point, such as the poor sod Harold Holt and the dangers Down under, and the Japanese atomic bomb that nobody noticed because Australia is so big and empty.

As a recent resident of Australia, I can personally vouch for the claims that he makes about the country. It is outstandingly beautiful, the people are unfailingly laid back and accommodating, and you will die if you aren't careful.

This book was an absolute treat to read.

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