AUTHOR: BILL BRYSON
Pages: 394
Date: 29/05/2011
Grade: 4.5
Details: Book Club read
Library
My second book by Bill Bryson this month. I read them because my book club will be discussing various titles by Bryson this Tuesday and I thought it would be nice if I had read more than one of them since I'll be leading the discussion. But I have to say it was no hardship reading these two books.
Bill Bryson has an original and funny way of looking at his surroundings and the people in it. A quality that is more apparent in this book then it was in "A Walk in the Woods". It is also clear that Bryson has a weak spot for Australia. His love for this country/continent that we in the rest of the world know so very little about jumps of the pages, although that love doesn't stop him from putting his finger on any Australian quirks and short-comings.
I never quite realised and had never really given any thought to how much of Australia is more or less empty and inhospitable. It is amazing to think that there are huge sections of the country that have never been properly researched and that it is very likely that Australia contains huge amounts of life-forms and minerals that we just don't know anything about yet.
I'm not quite sure what else to say about this book except to recommend it to anyone who has even a remote interest in Australia, its history and people. Bill Bryson has a way of describing what- and who-ever he encounters in a way that is both funny and thought-provoking, opening the readers eyes to things they had probably never thought about before. It is a revelation to see how much you can learn while having tremendous fun and quite a few laugh out loud moments.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if I read another Bryson book in the not too distant future.
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