Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion up, down and over the Appalachian Trail resulted in the sublime bestseller A Walk in the Woods. Now he has traveled around the world and all the way "Down Under" to Australia, a shockingly under-discovered country with the friendliest inhabitants, the hottest, driest weather and the most peculiar and lethal wildlife to be found on this planet. In a Sunburned Country is a deliciously funny, fact-filled and adventurous performance by a writer who combines humor, wonder and unflagging curiosity.
Australia is a country that exists on a vast scale. It is the only island that is also a continent and the only continent that is also a country. Despite being the most desiccated, infertile and climactically aggressive of all inhabited continents, it teems with life. In fact, Australia has more things that can kill you in extremely nasty ways than anywhere else: sharks, crocodiles, the ten most deadly poisonous snakes on the planet, fluffy yet toxic caterpillars, seashells that actually attack you, and the unbelievable box jellyfish.
Wherever Bryson goes he finds Australians who are cheerful, extroverted and unfailingly obliging -- the beaming products of a land with clean, safe cities, cold beer, and constant sunshine. Australia is an immense and fortunate land, and it has found in Bill Bryson its perfect guide.
Show moreEvery time Bill Bryson walks out the door memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion up, down and over the Appalachian Trail resulted in the sublime bestseller A Walk in the Woods. Now he has traveled around the world and all the way "Down Under" to Australia, a shockingly under-discovered country with the friendliest inhabitants, the hottest, driest weather and the most peculiar and lethal wildlife to be found on this planet. In a Sunburned Country is a deliciously funny, fact-filled and adventurous performance by a writer who combines humor, wonder and unflagging curiosity.
Australia is a country that exists on a vast scale. It is the only island that is also a continent and the only continent that is also a country. Despite being the most desiccated, infertile and climactically aggressive of all inhabited continents, it teems with life. In fact, Australia has more things that can kill you in extremely nasty ways than anywhere else: sharks, crocodiles, the ten most deadly poisonous snakes on the planet, fluffy yet toxic caterpillars, seashells that actually attack you, and the unbelievable box jellyfish.
Wherever Bryson goes he finds Australians who are cheerful, extroverted and unfailingly obliging -- the beaming products of a land with clean, safe cities, cold beer, and constant sunshine. Australia is an immense and fortunate land, and it has found in Bill Bryson its perfect guide.
Show moreBill Bryson's many books include The New York Times bestseller A Walk in the Woods and, most recently, I'm a Stranger Here Myself. He lives in Hanover, New Hampshire with his wife and their four children.
"In the late afternoon, I stopped at a roadhouse for gas and coffee. I studied my book of maps . . . Then, having nothing better to do, I leafed through the index and amused myself, in a very low-key way, by looking for ridiculous names, of which Australia has a respectable plenitude. I am thus able to report that the following are all real places: Wee Waa, Poowons, Borrumbuttock, Suggan Buggan, Boomahnoomoonah, Waaia, Mullumbimby Ewylamartup, Jiggalong, and the supremely satisfying Tittybong."
With the Olympics approaching, books on Australia abound. Still, Bryson's lively take is a welcome recess from packaged, staid guides. The author of A Walk in the Woods draws readers in campfire-style, relating wacky anecdotes and random facts gathered on multiple trips down under, all the while lightening the statistics with infusions of whimsical humor. Arranged loosely by region, the book bounces between Canberra and Melbourne, the Outback and the Gold Coast, showing Bryson alone and with partners in tow. His unrelenting insistence that Australia is the most dangerous place on earth ("If you are not stung or pronged to death in some unexpected manner, you may be fatally chomped by sharks or crocodiles, or carried helplessly out to sea by irresistible currents, or left to stagger to an unhappy death in the baking outback") spins off dozens of tales involving jellyfish, spiders and the world's 10 most poisonous snakes. Pitfalls aside, Bryson revels in the beauty of this country, home to ravishing beaches and countless unique species ("80% of all that lives in Australia, plant and animal, lives nowhere else"). He glorifies the country, alternating between awe, reverence and fear, and he expresses these sentiments with frankness and candor, via truly funny prose and a conversational pace that is at once unhurried and captivating. Peppered with seemingly irrelevant (albeit amusing) yarns, this work is a delight to read, whether or not a trip to the continent is planned. First serial to Outside magazine; BOMC selection. (June) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
"In the late afternoon, I stopped at a roadhouse for gas and coffee. I studied my book of maps . . . Then, having nothing better to do, I leafed through the index and amused myself, in a very low-key way, by looking for ridiculous names, of which Australia has a respectable plenitude. I am thus able to report that the following are all real places: Wee Waa, Poowons, Borrumbuttock, Suggan Buggan, Boomahnoomoonah, Waaia, Mullumbimby Ewylamartup, Jiggalong, and the supremely satisfying Tittybong."
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