He has written books on language, on Shakespeare, on history, and on his own childhood in the hilarious memoir The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid . So many of the oldest objects ever found on earth-- the most ancient rocks and fossils, the earliest animal tracks and riverbeds, the first faint signs of life itself--have come from Australia. The people are cheerful, extrovert, quick-witted and unfailingly obliging: their cities are safe and clean and nearly always built on water; the food is excellent; the beer is cold and the sun nearly always shines. The thing that Bryson most loves about Australia - its "effortlessly dry, direct way of viewing the world" - is, in fact, his own. I doubt Bryson would top anyone's list of people to be stuck in a lift with, and yet you can't help hanging on his every word and ascribing it the status of the gospel truth.

The upshot is that scientists puzzled over the incident for a day or two, then filed it away as an unexplained curiosity--the sort of thing that presumably happens from time to time. Never mind that Captain Cook didn't discover Australia and that he wasn't even yet a captain at the time of his visit. Taking listeners on a rollicking ride far beyond packaged-tour routes, IN A SUNBURNED COUNTRY introduces a place where interesting things happen all the time. is top of the hardback bestsellers list; it has just been read on Radio 4; the man can clearly do no wrong. Five of its creatures--the funnel web spider, box jellyfish, blue-ringed octopus, paralysis tick, and stonefish--are the most lethal of their type in the world.Its sports are of little interest to us and the last television series it made that we watched with avidity was Skippy. He reviewed the new Bryson alongside another book about Australia, Michael Davie's Anglo-Australian Attitudes. Bryson goes to Australia for a couple of months, produces a hack work that sells massively and even wins over a perceptive reviewer who has immediately seen through its slackness and superficiality.

This is, after all, a man who sits through the capital's promotional tourist video, Canberra - It's Got It All! Nevertheless, as with all his books, It is well worth reading and I can confidently say that you will enjoy the journey and will come home knowing a lot more about this fascinating Country's interesting features . I don’t think I will ever again be on my travels, up against an infuriating person, circumstance or chain of events, without wondering what Bill Bryson would make of this. Not so James Urquhart in the Financial Times: "Down Under exhibits a smoother and more mature humour than previous works.Ignoring such dangers and yet curiously obsessed by them Bill Bryson journeyed to Australia and promptly fell in love with the country. How much more infrastructure has gone in since writing I have no idea, but I’m sure it’s still a wilderness out there! je relirai ce livre avec plaisir et intérêt, j'ai découvert que l'auteur est assez prolixe pour d'autres voyage-reportages ! but not nearly as important as ice cream… --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Despite the fact that Australia harbors more things that can kill you in extremely nasty ways than anywhere else, including sharks, crocodiles, snakes, even riptides and deserts, Bill Bryson adores the place, and he takes his readers on a rollicking ride far beyond that beaten tourist path.Bill Bryson ’s bestselling travel books include The Lost Continent and Notes from a Small Island , which in a national poll was voted the book that best represents Britain. The people are cheerful, extroverted, quick-witted and unfailingly obliging: their cities are safe and clean and nearly always built on water; the food is excellent; the beer is cold and the sun nearly always shines. The thing that Bryson most loves about Australia – its “effortlessly dry, direct way of viewing the world” – is, in fact, his own. He gives a totally new complexion to the concept of ‘hard luck’, ‘missing out’, or ‘arriving too late’. His previous excursion along the Appalachian Trail resulted in the sublime national bestseller "A Walk in the Woods.