book recommendation

[sistawendy]

Notes from a Small Island — A travelogue by Bill Bryson. He lived in England for twenty years starting in the early '70s, and decided to take a trip around Britain (mostly) without driving so he could see the whole place one last time before moving back to the US with his family. This is the funniest thing I've read in years. How did I miss it when it was published in the mid-'90s? I'll never look at train enthusiasts the same way again, let me tell you.

Comments

[gwywnnydd.livejournal.com]

I have his video follow-up :). He goes back 8 years later, and actually shows you the places he was talking about. Strongly recommended.

[gwywnnydd.livejournal.com]

Also strongly recommended: His next book, _I'm a Stranger Here Myself_. Anecdotes of his attempts to re-integrate into the US.

[savannarama.livejournal.com]

Oo, that sounds wonderful. Thanks for the recommendation!

I have his In A Sunburnt Country, which I got started on and did not finish (I get distracted mid-book, sometimes) but remember really enjoying. It's about Australia. I should re-start. :)

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

My favorite BB is "A Walk In The Woods", about him and a college friend hiking large chunks of the Appalachian Trail. It's one of the funniest books I've ever read.
Second is "A Short History Of Practically Everything", which is a surprisingly good overview of the major general divisions of science: biochemistry, physics, astronomy, and so forth. The areas I knew well, I found a few minor inaccuracies, but I learned 20x more than I criticized.
His... second? book? is "The Mother Tongue", which is an excellent overview of comparative linguistics focussed on the English language.
His first book sucks, but that's not really his fault. Everything else has been somewhere between excellent and superb.

[oracle2c.livejournal.com]

Putting it on my must read list. Thank you