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In a Sunburned Country

Bill Bryson

4.06 · Rating details · 94,721 ratings · 5,767 reviews

A CLASSIC FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF ONE SUMMER

Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door, memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion along the Appalachian Trail resulted in the sublime national bestseller A Walk in the Woods. In A Sunburned Country is his report on what he found in an entirely different place: Australia, ...more

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Paperback, 335 pages

Published May 15th 2001 by Broadway Books (first published June 18th 2000)

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Jul 20, 2008 Tiffany rated it really liked it

Like most Americans, I have never really given much thought to Australia. It's an island where the seasons are backwards, there's a famous opera house, my ex husband's ex girlfriend is expating it up there, and there are loads of gorgeous men running around shirtless, drinking Fosters and saying "No worries, mate" in a delicious Crocodile Dundee sort of accent. Nothing too exciting, right?

Wrong! Australia is fascinating, and Bill Bryson has done an excellent job of telling us why. This book touc ...more

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Feb 04, 2016 Daniel Chaikin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Bryson fans

I really picked this audiobook only because I thought it would be mildly interesting and entertaining enough for my commute. It hadn't really occurred to me to be all that interested in an overview of Australia. But I have basically cleaned my library out of audiobooks I might want to listen to.

So, on the good, after opening with much real but mindlessly entertaining humor, the book did later bring me onboard. Bryson is Bryson and he can make stuff you didn't care all that much about become rea ...more

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May 14, 2020 Rajat Ubhaykar rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: humour, travel, favorites, australia

This book is a singular achievement, considering it nearly made me split my sides laughing while enlightening me about the politics, history, geography, ecology, and psyche of the weird, monumentally empty country that is Australia. For instance, did you know that Australians are by far the biggest gamblers in the world? Or that until 1949, there was no such thing as Australian citizenship? All Australians were Britons by default. Or that Australia lost the highest number of men as a percentage ...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Cherie rated it really liked it

Shelves: published-since-2000

I really enjoyed the travel around Australia with Bill and his friends (when he had them with him). I followed him on my map of Australia and looked up places on Google Maps and the Internet to get a view of what he saw and where he was.

I enjoy Bill's style of writing and his history and facts, especially his accounts of where he stays and where he eats and what he drinks. He is not afraid to say what he thinks, even if some don't like it. I love his humor - even laughing at himself, most of th ...more

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Jun 28, 2014 Krista rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, 2014, audiobook

In 1986, a friend and I threw maple leaves on our backpacks and, with a few hotels booked and Eurorail passes in hand, made our way around Europe. While in Paris, we met a fellow traveller who happened to hail from Australia, and over a modest dinner in a cozy café, we asked him about his homeland and we answered his questions about what it was like to be from Canada -- this was a time when Reagan was in his second term and, with the Iran-Contra stuff coming to light, the invasion of tiny Grenad In 1986, a friend and I threw maple leaves on our backpacks and, with a few hotels booked and Eurorail passes in hand, made our way around Europe. While in Paris, we met a fellow traveller who happened to hail from Australia, and over a modest dinner in a cozy café, we asked him about his homeland and we answered his questions about what it was like to be from Canada -- this was a time when Reagan was in his second term and, with the Iran-Contra stuff coming to light, the invasion of tiny Grenada, and his government trying to force our country to become a launching base for ICBMs against the USSR, we expressed the viewpoint common amongst our University-student friends: we were scared to death of America and lived in fear of the war-machine crouching just to the south of the longest unprotected border in the world. After a pleasant meal and discovering how much more we had in common with this Australian than with our North American partners, our conversation was interrupted by two quite beautiful young women and, standing with their backs to me and my friend and addressing the Australian only, one of them said, "We have met many smart and friendly Canadians on our trip. Maybe one day you will, too." As these Americans strode haughtily out, I was mildly stung by the words that they had obviously rehearsed to put us in our place, but I remember spreading my hands in a gesture of explication and saying, "You see what bullies Americans are? They could have tried to join our conversation and correct anything we got wrong but they dropped a bomb and moved on." Our newfound friendship none the worse for wear, we continued to talk and discover all of the political and cultural commonalities we had between our two Commonwealth nations. After we left the café, I remember how we taught each other our national anthems and walked the cobblestoned streets of the Left Bank belting out, "Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free!" (And I should pause to say that I no longer fear America and wish Americans nothing but the best.)

Okay, so I'm not a travel writer, but Bill Bryson is, and with In a Sunburned Country he does a great job of making Australia sound like the most fascinating place that a person could visit -- he hit all of the major cities, a few off-the-beaten-path towns, and remote tourist destinations like the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru; humorously and exhaustively describing each from a tourist's perspective. With obvious affection for the landscape and the people he meets, Bryson uses a story-telling tone to blend history and science with his eyewitness accounts, keeping everything light and fun but also very informative. As for this information, Bryson quotes from so many different books that he maintains a tone of authority, but he curiously includes this common misrepresentation: Australia is the only island that is also a continent, and the only continent that is also a country. I was also taught this in school, but I'm sure the other countries in the continent of "Australia" (Tasmania, New Guinea, Seram, possibly Timor, and neighbouring islands) are as tired of being left out as the Central American and Caribbean countries must be of being left out of the official list of North American countries (and when I was in school, North America was just Canada and the U.S. on maps. Mexico was later added, but even now, who can name all 23 independent states? And what about New Zealand? Why am I only now discovering that it exists on its own submerged continent of Zealandia? Why didn't Bryson tell me that?)

That pet peeve aside, I was constantly amused during this book by the way that Bryson seemed to regard the Australians he met as an entirely different species -- whether describing them as merely quirky or "as mad as cut snakes", the strangest attributes of their culture were the ones which were simply the least American (like watching cricket or having a Parliamentary system of government with a Governor General) and again I was reminded of how compatible my friend and I were with the Australian we met in Paris. Bryson's few stories about Australia's Aboriginal peoples were fascinating -- so often overlooked, these original inhabitants likely sailed to Australia ages ago (tens of thousands of years before any other peoples were braving the seas) with a viable breeding community and eked out a living in one of the most inhospitable landscapes on Earth, giving them the longest continuous culture in the history of the world. Without pottery or agriculture or iron tools or settlements, the Aboriginals thrived before European contact, but were hunted down and marginalised and had their children taken from them by the government "for their own betterment". That's such a shameful history (so similar to ours in Canada) that it's a pity that Bryson didn't attempt to talk to some Aboriginals to get their own perspective.

As for the humour, Bryson keeps his tone entertaining but periodically dips into the hyperbolic self-deprecation when talking about himself that I found so tiresome in The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. A random example:

Dogs don't like me. It is a simple law of the universe, like gravity. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have never passed a dog that didn't act as if it thought I was about to take its Alpo. Dogs that have not moved from the sofa in years will, at the sniff of me passing outside, rise in fury and hurl themselves at shut windows. I have seen tiny dogs, no bigger than a fluffy slipper, jerk little old ladies off their feet and drag them over open ground in a quest to get at my blood and sinew. Every dog on the face of the earth wants me dead.

If you find that funny, then you'll have no worries, mate (and if you don't, it doesn't happen too often). Overall, this was a light summer read that I hope Australians would agree shows off their country favourably (if one can forget that the ten most lethal creatures on Earth are all found there, it sounds like a lovely place to visit). And maybe it's an American thing, but Bryson concludes with the point that it's unfair that the rest of the world never thinks about, much less hears about, Australia. As this book was written before the Crocodile Hunter and the Wiggles became bona fide superstars, maybe he had a point, but this was also long after Crocodile Dundee, Midnight Oil, and "put another shrimp on the barbie", so who in the Northern Hemisphere didn't have some basic consciousness of the Land Down Under in 1999? Either way, it's a worthwhile note on which to conclude:

Australia is mostly empty and a long way away. Its population is small and its role in the world consequently peripheral. It doesn't have coups, recklessly overfish, arm disagreeable despots, grow coca in provocative quantities, or throw its weight around in a brash and unseemly manner. It is stable and peaceful and good. It doesn't need watching, and so we don't. But I will tell you this: the loss is entirely ours.

I would give In a Sunburned Country 3.5 stars if I could, so consider the 4 a rounding up. ...more

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May 12, 2011 Jayme rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: biography-memoir, america, audio, humor, australia

Man, did I ever hate this book. Someone is paying this guy to visit one of the most beautiful countries in the world and all he can do is bitch and moan about it. I get that he's trying to be funny, but he comes off as a prentious douchebag instead. And it's particilarly in-your-face in his self-narrated audiobook. He speaks with quite a condescending tone, going on and on about how backwater everyone is and how quaint it is that they're all stuck in 1958.

(view spoiler) Man, did I ever hate this book. Someone is paying this guy to visit one of the most beautiful countries in the world and all he can do is bitch and moan about it. I get that he's trying to be funny, but he comes off as a prentious douchebag instead. And it's particilarly in-your-face in his self-narrated audiobook. He speaks with quite a condescending tone, going on and on about how backwater everyone is and how quaint it is that they're all stuck in 1958.

(view spoiler)

So publishers of Bryson, if you're sick of the stupid, whiny, little bitch you hired and want someone who would be so happy to work for you for almost nothing if you will send me to beautiful places, then I'm your lady! ...more

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Jun 09, 2013 Mikey B. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: travelogue

Bill Bryson delivers! Even though I have never been to Australia I was delighted with this book. Bryson gives the full range – history, natural history (botany, zoology. paleontology...), people insights, cities, outback towns and scenic wonders of which there are plenty of in Australia – a truly Renaissance view of the continent. Plus it’s hilarious – his encounters with other tourists, seedy hotels, pubs, waiters and hotel receptionists – but especially cricket!

The man ingests humour into dive ...more

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Aug 10, 2016 Allan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

This was an Audible Daily Deal that I picked up a few months ago, and thoroughly enjoyed, as I have done most of Bryson's travelogues that I have read. Mixing the usual facts and anecdotes about the country in question with his experiences while travelling there using his trademark dry humour, Bryson keeps the reader both informed and entertained, as is customary with his work - testament to why he is so widely read and popular as an author. One that I'd definitely recommend. ...more

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Oct 21, 2019 Helen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: all interested in any thing about Australia, or travel, or world landmarks

Shelves: animals, biography, spiritual, humor, social-justice, soccer

This is an amazing book by an amazing author--and reader! Bill Bryson made me able to visualize everything he discussed in the book, and I wanted to go on listening to him! I am certain to read more books by him!

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Jun 13, 2019 fleurette rated it it was amazing

Shelves: australia, non-fiction

I read this book for a challenge and I don’t think I would read it otherwise. I have never read anything by Bill Bryson. I don’t really read travel books (the few I read where pretty boring and uninspiring). I also don’t read funny books because I usually find them just silly and not funny at all. And here I found a book that I really loved.

At the outset, I must say that Australia has always fascinated me. I have never been there, since I were a teenager I liked to read about it and it always s I read this book for a challenge and I don’t think I would read it otherwise. I have never read anything by Bill Bryson. I don’t really read travel books (the few I read where pretty boring and uninspiring). I also don’t read funny books because I usually find them just silly and not funny at all. And here I found a book that I really loved.

At the outset, I must say that Australia has always fascinated me. I have never been there, since I were a teenager I liked to read about it and it always seemed very exciting to me. Probably that's why I have a 'australia' shelf on the GR, and I do not have a shelf dedicated any other region/country. So the very subject of this book worked in its favor.

And God, but Bill Bryson makes a wonderful work in this one. These are not just mundane entries from Bill Bryson's journey, it is much more than that. He carried out very detailed research, read many books and all the most fascinating little tidbits included in this book. And maybe even not only the most interesting, because Bill Bryson can tell so wonderfully that everything seems fascinating. The most boring moments in history become colorful stories straight from Hollywood movies. Flora (which usually interests me less than moderate) seems to be the most interesting thing on this planet. And all the facts that he gives us seem to be curiosities that we will not find anywhere else. This is all seasoned with a powerful dose of humor and a large distance to oneself.

As I rarely laugh when I read a book, here I laughed time and again. The language of this book is so colorful that it is impossible to do otherwise. And what's even stranger, I have the impression that I remember a lot from this read. Reading it, I had the impression that I learn a lot. I also really appreciate that the author has placed a bibliography at the end. It's just something! It proves a thorough preparation for writing this story and respect for the reader. The author did not write this or that just because he thinks it’s like that, but he did detailed research, checked when he had doubts. It is a great feeling for the reader to know that the author values him/her so much.

I already recommended this book to my best friend. And I will definitely read the other books from this author.
...more

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Mar 08, 2008 Mike rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: culture, xcharity-2012, non-fiction, humor, travel

In a Sunburned Country is a 4 Star, mostly humorous, romp through Australia. It is perhaps a little dated now, he traveled there in 1999. Still he brings to life a place most of us do not know much about. I laughed a lot; he has a self-deprecating and subtle way of expressing himself. You will get to know the various states of Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia in some detail. You get an abbreviated (and frankly unfair) exposure to Queensland and the North Territory In a Sunburned Country is a 4 Star, mostly humorous, romp through Australia. It is perhaps a little dated now, he traveled there in 1999. Still he brings to life a place most of us do not know much about. I laughed a lot; he has a self-deprecating and subtle way of expressing himself. You will get to know the various states of Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia in some detail. You get an abbreviated (and frankly unfair) exposure to Queensland and the North Territory. Sadly, you get nothing on Tasmania, a gaping hole in his travels, IMHO.

At times, Bryson paints incredible word pictures of the beauty of forests populated by unique creatures and plants. And then he gets to the terrible emptiness that separates the east from west, north from south. Through many miles, he brings to life the beauty, desolation and character of the bush. He will entertain you with stories of Australia’s explorers, some tragic and some just plain funny. It is a hardy group that has settled there. When he stops trying so hard to be funny, he can be poetic. The descriptions of the Alpine Nat’l Park near Melbourne and the Southwest forest area near Perth are good examples. The cheerfulness and welcoming manner of Australians shines through clearly. I want to visit Australia now! But, damn, it is far away and darn big when you get there. And, by the way, filled with creatures like snakes, insects, fish, crocs, lizards, etc that want to kill you or, at least, make your day very uncomfortable.

The book is not all goodness and laugh-out-loud funny. Australia and the Australians get 5 Stars but Bryson only gets 3 Stars. He can be very snarky and superficial. His discourse on the Aborigines was frankly condescending and ill-informed. He doesn’t appear to have made an effort to go meet Aborigines but he has plenty of judgments and opinions on the issue. If he was going to cover this social concern, he needed to devote some real time to it, not just passing shots. As mentioned, he left out Tasmania, which I really want to know about. His account may start to grate on an Australian or someone familiar with the country as he exaggerates and makes fun of some quirks. Hearing Bryson on Aussie sports, cricket for example, is like hearing these Brit talking heads showing up on our financial TV networks expound on US politics, i.e., clueless.

In the end, he shares a very appealing and attractive country and culture with us. An enjoyable read.
...more

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Jun 11, 2017 Esme rated it it was amazing

Bryson is one of my favorite non fiction authors, and his books cover such a range of topics, from Australia, to general history, the Apalacian Mountains, the beginnings of the English language. I've enjoyed every single one of his books, he would be a fascinating person to talk to - he's lead such an adventerous life.

True to his form, this book was written to be both entertaining and informative. It's not often where you laugh out loud during a non fiction novel, but his are usually littered wi ...more

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Feb 23, 2019 Cori rated it liked it

Shelves: real-life, travel-bug

Bill Bryson writes with a biting wit and also gives me the travel bug whenever I read his work. I just keep wanting to read more of his adventures and shenanigans.

I'd rate this book a PG-13 for some swearing and adult humor. ...more

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Jun 16, 2009 Hannah rated it really liked it

Shelves: humor, 2010-reads, non-fiction

A fun re-read from one of my favorite authors, Bill Bryson. Any book that Bryson pens is sure to lead to uncontrollable laughter, snorts, chortles or gaffaws, so plan your reading time accordingly. Not recommended reading material for mime class, funerals, or anywhere quiet, confined and where you will be surrounded by strangers - trust me on this. Even your own family members (*ehem* teenage daughters) might have a tendency to think you finally, irrevocably lost it and look warily at you as if ...more

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Jan 21, 2014 Chrisl rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: travel, 2000s, australia

A Bryson favorite, one to re-read. The segment set in Southwest Australia was particularly appealing, a part of Australia I'd most like to revisit. The forest there surprisingly impressive to one accustomed to the trees of the Pacific Northwest. (Hitched a ride on the back of a slow moving farm truck through the Karri forest. In USA, it would have be like riding through the Redwoods in the bed of a 1930's era flat-bed pickup at 20 mph.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyp...

Good companion book ...more

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Apr 01, 2011 Gianna Lorandi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, travel, loads-of-information, favorite-author

Bill Bryson is such a funny guy, you end up learning a lot and laughing all the way through! Have lived in Australia for 5 years myself, I was stunned of how much I didn't know about it. ...more

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Oct 21, 2015 Antonomasia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: travel, 2015, decade-2000s, humour, anz

A substitute for another book: after the first two chapters – a Kindle sample – of The Fatal Shore, I was engrossed and wanted to read more, regardless of the odd reservation. But I'd have had to pay for it, and I'm curtailing my book-buying habits after years of overindulgence. Bill Brysons, as any Brit knows, are freely and easily available anywhere: libraries, other people's bookshelves, park benches, lost property offices in the middle of nowhere… So it was with this I continued reading abou ...more

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Mar 11, 2019 Book Concierge rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: concierge, funny, library, travel, audio, australia

Book on CD narrated by the author
4****

Bryson turns his journalistic skills to an exploration of the only continent that is also a country, and an island.

I loved the small details that he included, was enthralled by his adventures (whether in person or through research), and really felt that I got a good sense of the country, the people, the customs and the landscape (varied doesn’t begin to describe the latter aspect). I felt as giddy as a child discovering a new wonder when I read about one o ...more

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Nov 12, 2008 Eric_W rated it it was amazing

Shelves: humor

If you have not yet tried Bryson, you probably should seek psychiatric help. He's funny and informative; travel-writing (if you can call it that) at its best. His Walk in the Woods is a classic, and while this book about his visit to Australia is not as uproariously funny - the country is, after all, home to the ten most poisonous animals in the world - his descriptions of Australian institutions will delight you. His description of cricket, a game that has nothing wrong with it that "the introd If you have not yet tried Bryson, you probably should seek psychiatric help. He's funny and informative; travel-writing (if you can call it that) at its best. His Walk in the Woods is a classic, and while this book about his visit to Australia is not as uproariously funny - the country is, after all, home to the ten most poisonous animals in the world - his descriptions of Australian institutions will delight you. His description of cricket, a game that has nothing wrong with it that "the introduction of golf carts wouldn't fix in a hurry," is a good example. "It is not true that the English invented cricket as a way of making all other human endeavors look interesting and lively; that was merely an unintended side effect." It is a very popular sport (?) that's "enjoyed by millions, some of them awake and facing the right way, but it is an odd game. It is the only sport that incorporates meal breaks. It is the only sport that shares its name with an insect. It is the only sport in which the spectators burn as many calories as players - more if they are moderately restless. It is the only competitive activity of any type, other than perhaps baking, in which you can dress in white from head to toe and be as clean at the end of the day as you were at the beginning." The pitcher runs at the batter (decked out with a riding hat and "heavy gloves of the sort used to handle radioisotopes, and a mattress strapped to each leg,") and throws the ball at his ankles. This can go on indefinitely until he is "coaxed into a mis-stroke that leads to his being put out [at which time] all the fielders throw up their arms in triumph and have a hug. Then tea is called. . . ." This usually goes on until your library books are all overdue and autumn has become winter. Of course, listening to cricket on the radio is truly something else: "That's right, Clive. I haven't known anyone start his delivery that far back since Stopcock caught his sleeve on the reversing mirror of a number 11 bus during the third test at Brisbane in 1957 and ended up in Goondiwindi four days later owing to some frightful confusion over a changed timetable at Toowoomba Junction." There are long silences during which the announcers have time to run some errands. "So we break for second luncheon, and with 11,200 balls remaining, Australia are 962 for two not half and England are four for a duck and hoping for rain."

Australia remade itself as a country following the Second World War. It realized that with such a small population, it could not afford to rely forever on Britain for its defense and it began to encourage immigration, "that if it didn't use all that empty land and fill those empty spaces someone from the outside might do it for them." They threw open their doors and the population more than doubled in the years following 1945. They welcomed people from all over Europe and "suddenly Australia was full of people who liked wine and good coffee and olives and eggplants, and realized that spaghetti didn't have to be a vivid orange and come from cans." By 1970, they also realized they had become an Asian nation and were no longer predominantly European and they simply eliminated the color bar they previously had used to ban "undesirables." "In a single generation, Australia remade itself. It went from being a half-forgotten outpost of Britain, provincial, dull, and culturally dependent, to being a nation infinitely more sophisticated, confident, interesting and outward-looking. And it did all this, by and large, without discord or disturbance, or serious mistakes - indeed often with a kind of grace."

Of course, if you are an Aborigine, the outlook is somewhat different and Bryson, to his credit, does not overlook the truly horrible discrimination and crimes committed against this venerable and ancient people - their history is truly astonishing. Whites in Australia had a tendency to treat them the way whites in this country treated the buffalo.

The vastness of Australia cannot be underestimated, and it's a naturalist's paradise with new species being discovered - and probably made extinct - almost daily. The mineral wealth is enormous and barely tapped, not to mention a biodiversity that includes living fossils. There is a species of living rock that dates back to the early eons of the earth and is worth a visit halfway around the world just to see it - if you can avoid the most venomous animals in the world, the sharks, the crocodiles and all the other poisonous stuff. A marvelous book. ...more

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Sep 21, 2015 Kressel Housman rated it really liked it

Shelves: animals, travel, humor, non-fiction

Of all of Bill Bryson’s books, I didn’t intend this one to be my follow-up read to A Walk in the Woods. I was more interested in One Summer: America, 1927, but it wasn’t at my library. Notes from a Small Island was my second choice, but when my son, the nature lover, expressed an interest in seeing Australia, I took both books out. My husband grabbed Notes, and my son was still reading A Walk in the Woods, so journey to Australia it was.

I do have some partiality to Australia anyway, even tho Of all of Bill Bryson’s books, I didn’t intend this one to be my follow-up read to A Walk in the Woods. I was more interested in One Summer: America, 1927, but it wasn’t at my library. Notes from a Small Island was my second choice, but when my son, the nature lover, expressed an interest in seeing Australia, I took both books out. My husband grabbed Notes, and my son was still reading A Walk in the Woods, so journey to Australia it was.

I do have some partiality to Australia anyway, even though I’ve never been there. When I was a kid, I had a pen pal from Sydney named Linda. She had dark brown hair and big blue eyes. “I have never seen snow,” she told me in her first letter. My fondest memory connected with her happened at my eighth birthday party. Right when I was opening my presents, the mailman rang the doorbell with a package for me. It was a gift from Linda: a furry stuffed koala bear. It couldn’t have arrived at a better moment; it was like Linda was at my birthday party. It wasn’t a cloth doll either. It felt like real fur. Sorry, vegan friends, but I cherished that thing for years.

The book was very much in the style of A Walk in the Woods in that it alternated between Bryson’s travels, history, and science. Unlike A Walk in the Woods, Bryson had no steady travel companion in this book to get into scrapes with, so the laughs weren’t as frequent, but what was lacking in quantity was made up for in quality. In other words, the book didn’t make me laugh as often, but when it did, I laughed harder.

Most of the jokes involved Bryson imagining a painful death in an encounter with one of Australia’s many deadly animals and plants. It’s not just cuddly koalas living down under! Most of the science was about that, but me being me, I preferred the history. He devoted a full chapter to the genocide of the Aborigines, which Australians themselves tend to cover up. He also discussed Australia’s open immigration policy after World War II. Most of the immigrants then and now are Asians, but I happen to know, even though Bryson didn’t mention it, that Australia accepted a greater percentage of Holocaust survivors, in proportion to its overall population size, than the United States. Just about every Australian Jew I have ever met is a grandchild of a Holocaust survivor. That’s not so for most American Jews I know, including myself. My family got to the States much earlier.

All in all, Bryson makes Australia seem like a fascinating place to visit, though he also makes it clear that large parts of it are completely deserted and nearly uninhabitable. And since it’s unlikely that I’ll ever get there myself, I’m grateful for Bryson for his thorough, entertaining and informative account. ...more

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Jul 20, 2019 Kasia rated it really liked it

“I am not, I regret to say, a discreet and fetching sleeper. Most people when they nod off look as if they could do with a blanket; I look as if I could do with medical attention. I sleep as if injected with a powerful experimental muscle relaxant. My legs fall open in a grotesque come-hither manner; my knuckles brush the floor. Whatever is inside—tongue, uvula, moist bubbles of intestinal air—decides to leak out. From time to time, like one of those nodding-duck toys, my head tips forward to em ...more

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Feb 08, 2009 Leland rated it it was amazing

Shelves: biography-memoir, australia, travel

An awesome look at Australia. Having traveled the Tropical Forests and sandy reefs of Queensland, the verdant hills of NSW and Victoria, the Opal Mines of South Australia and the unrelenting outback of the Northern Territory I felt like Bryson was taking me to points somehow familiar, but in no way common. Moreover, Bryson takes ownership of his subjects before setting pen to paper. There's nothing "Wikipedia" about his writing. Its far more personal and ultimately so much more informative. The ...more

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May 23, 2007 Solomon rated it it was ok

This was a bit disappointing considering it being a rendition of a travelogue -- my favorite genre -- of my most favorite continent ever. Bryson, generally extremely adept at mixing humorous personal narrative with informative and insightful commentary on the subject of his travels, just didn't seem to appreciate Australia enough. Or perhaps Bryson's white, overweight, middle-aged stature was just not up for the job. More damaging was his superficial treatment of race relations concerning Austra ...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Sarah rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction-history

If laughing out loud appeals to you, read it.
If learning about rare plants and animals from Bill Bryson's perspective appeals to you, read it.
If you've always wanted to visit Australia, read it.
If you need a good book, read it.

...more

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Oct 16, 2019 Bookslut rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fred, top-5-2019

Just delightful. I do note, however, that when I'm 7/8 of the way through one of his books, I never want it to end and plan to immediately go get another. At 8/8, his bitterness (which I am wholeheartedly in sympathy with) has worn me to a nub, and I know I'll take a good long break. ...more

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Sep 25, 2009 Laurie rated it it was amazing

Even if you have absolutely no intention of going anywhere near Australia (and you may not, once you’ve read it) this is hilarious.

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Dec 02, 2018 Paul rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-vipers-world, books-read-2018, travel-books, read-around-the-world

It is sometimes easy to forget just how mind-bogglingly big Australia is. This vast, vast country is approximately 7.7m km@ in size and even though it is an island, it is big enough to count as a continent in its own right. It separated from Pangaea millions of years ago and the paths that evolution took with the flora and fauna were very different when compared to the remainder of the world. The people who first inhabited it are pretty special too, traces of their occupation can be found as far ...more

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Aug 13, 2017 Negin rated it really liked it

Shelves: australia

Bill Bryson is one of my favorite authors. I love his wit and humor. Although I don’t think I’ll ever visit Australia, because this was written by him, I found it fascinating and oftentimes ever so funny. He has a real knack for intertwining all sorts of interesting facts about a place into his stories.

Some parts that I thought worth sharing:
“I had read in the paper that Australians are the biggest gamblers on the planet—one of the more arresting statistics I saw was that the country has less t Bill Bryson is one of my favorite authors. I love his wit and humor. Although I don’t think I’ll ever visit Australia, because this was written by him, I found it fascinating and oftentimes ever so funny. He has a real knack for intertwining all sorts of interesting facts about a place into his stories.

Some parts that I thought worth sharing:
“I had read in the paper that Australians are the biggest gamblers on the planet—one of the more arresting statistics I saw was that the country has less than 1 percent of the world’s population but more than 20 percent of its slot machines—and that between them they spend A$11 billion ($7.3 billion) a year, or A$2,000 per person, on various games of chance. But I had seen nothing to suggest such risky gusto until I stepped inside the World of Entertainment. It was vast and dazzling and immensely well appointed. The club movement in Australia is huge. In New South Wales alone, clubs employ 65,000 people, more than any other industry. This is huge business and it is nearly all based on a type of slot machine popularly called pokies.”

“I had gone no more than a dozen feet when I was joined by a fly—smaller and blacker than a housefly. It buzzed around in front of my face and tried to settle on my upper lip. I swatted it away, but it returned at once, always to the same spot. A moment later it was joined by another that wished to go up my nose. It also would not go away. Within a minute or so I had perhaps twenty of these active spots all around my head and I was swiftly sinking into the state of abject wretchedness that comes with a prolonged encounter with the Australian fly. Flies are of course always irksome, but the Australian variety distinguishes itself with its very particular persistence. If an Australian fly wants to be up your nose or in your ear, there is no discouraging him. Flick at him as you will and each time he will jump out of range and come straight back. It is simply not possible to deter him. Somewhere on an exposed portion of your body is a spot, about the size of a shirt button, that the fly wants to lick and tickle and turn delirious circles upon. It isn’t simply their persistence, but the things they go for.”

“[Australia] is the home of the largest living thing on earth, the Great Barrier Reef, and of the largest monolith, Ayers Rock (or Uluru to use its now-official, more respectful Aboriginal name). It has more things that will kill you than anywhere else. Of the world's ten most poisonous snakes, all are Australian. 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. This is a country where even the fluffiest of caterpillars can lay you out with a toxic nip, where seashells will not just sting you but actually sometimes go for you. ... 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. It's a tough place.” ...more

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Apr 27, 2013 Jill rated it really liked it

Shelves: humor, 2013-favorites, good-writing, memoir, nonfiction, australian

Bryson himself admits that he has no other goal in writing this book than to show everyone that Australia is strangely awesome. And how strangely awesome it is. A short list of wonderful things I learned:

1. the Aborigine people have the oldest culture on Earth, probably dating to at least 40,000 years. They crossed the sea to Australia using god-knows what maritime technology at a time when Neanderthals still existed. Yet no one remembers this remarkable accomplishment. Indeed, not remembering t Bryson himself admits that he has no other goal in writing this book than to show everyone that Australia is strangely awesome. And how strangely awesome it is. A short list of wonderful things I learned:

1. the Aborigine people have the oldest culture on Earth, probably dating to at least 40,000 years. They crossed the sea to Australia using god-knows what maritime technology at a time when Neanderthals still existed. Yet no one remembers this remarkable accomplishment. Indeed, not remembering the Aborigines is an Australian pastime and a dark spot on their otherwise congenial culture.

2. the flora and fauna found there are abundant and diverse. Stromatolites, platypi, “only” fourteen species of venomous snakes, cute and cuddly wallabies, and tons of species that will likely never be recorded because…

3. Australia is HUGE. Astoundingly large. And in addition to being a hulking continent/country/island hybrid land mass, it is empty. An immense void in the Pacific.

4. many explorers have gotten lost in the Outback, and desperately thirsty, have deigned to drink their own urine and the urine of their companions. Important lesson for any potential explorers: the salt in the urine will actually exacerbate your thirst.

5. Australia is the least wooded continent aside from Antarctica yet it is the world’s largest exporter of woodchips.

Being a Bryson book, it has hilarious moments. I envy this man’s ability to collect the most ridiculous true stories and encounter the most interesting real people. I have so many highlighted bits, but here’s a funny paragraph where Bryson, obsessed with the plethora of lethal creatures out to kill him in Oz, discusses the Australians’ attitudes toward them:

Australians are very unfair in this way. They spend half of any conversation insisting that the country’s dangers are vastly overrated and that there’s nothing to worry about, and the other half telling you how six months ago their Uncle Bob was driving to Mudgee when a tiger snake slid out from under the dashboard and bit him on the groin, but that it’s okay now because he’s off the life support machine and they’ve discovered he can communicate with eye blinks.

Reading one of Bill Bryson’s travelogues is always a fantastic time. You laugh, you learn, you marvel. He stuffs your head with useless trivia and reminds you how valuable our world and our fellow people are. I need to stop reading his books because I always finish and make haste to airline sites, researching plane prices for impossible journeys, adding another place to my lengthy Must-See-Before-Dead list. But I can’t stop. He’s perfect at what he does. ...more

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Feb 11, 2008 Robert Beveridge rated it liked it

Shelves: finished, owned-and-gave-away

Bill Bryson, In a Sunburned Country (Broadway, 2000)

I originally encountered the writing of Bill Bryson in a small article he wrote for National Geographic on the Orkney Islands a year or so ago. By the time I had finished the article, I was (and still am, to an extent) seriously considering relocating to the Orkney Islands. Well, I've now finished In a Sunburned Country, Bryson's travelogue of Australia-- and I never, ever want to go there.

Bryson gives us the world's forgotten continent (really Bill Bryson, In a Sunburned Country (Broadway, 2000)

I originally encountered the writing of Bill Bryson in a small article he wrote for National Geographic on the Orkney Islands a year or so ago. By the time I had finished the article, I was (and still am, to an extent) seriously considering relocating to the Orkney Islands. Well, I've now finished In a Sunburned Country, Bryson's travelogue of Australia-- and I never, ever want to go there.

Bryson gives us the world's forgotten continent (really, how many of you who don't live there can name Australia's Prime Minister?), mixing personal experience, history, and bewilderment in roughly equal doses. While the history does bog down in places, I found myself-- especially in the book's first section-- glad that I was the only person in the room while reading it, since I might well have been committed involuntarily for laughing so hard in stretches. The most disturbing thing is that I was laughing about the sheer number of things in Australia which are capable of killing human beings. This is not a place you should go if you fear death. "The sea snakes are especially unnerving, not because they are aggressive, but because they are inquisitive. Stray into their territory and they'll come to check you out, all but rubbing against you in the manner of cats seeking affection. They are the most sweet-tempered creatures in existence. But cross them or alarm them and they can hit you with enough venom to kill three grown men." Not only will the unfriendly creatures kill you, the friendly ones will as well!

Those who have read more Bryson than I have hastened to say that this is a less humorous book than his others. I'm not sure I could stand the others, for I might die of asphyxia before reaching the end of chapter one. This is good stuff, funny most of the time, sobering on rare occasions, and always edifying. And don't be concerned if you forget three quarters of what's in here by the time you're finished, including the name of Australia's present prime minister (or the name of the silicon-tipped grass I've been wracking my brain for for a week now). According to Bryson, there's something about Australia that causes people to forget it exists, so as long as you remember there are seven continents on this planet, you're ahead of the game. *** ...more

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About Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson

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William McGuire "Bill" Bryson, OBE, FRS was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951. He settled in England in 1977, and worked in journalism until he became a full time writer. He lived for many years with his English wife and four children in North Yorkshire. He and his family then moved to New Hampshire in America for a few years, but they have now returned to live in the UK.

In The Lost Continent, Bil ...more

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Quotes from Down Under

“It is not true that the English invented cricket as a way of making all other human endeavors look interesting and lively; that was merely an unintended side effect. ...It is the only sport that incorporates meal breaks. It is the only sport that shares its name with an insect. It is the only sport in which spectators burn as many calories as the players-more if they are moderately restless.” — 94 likes

“As the saying goes, it takes all kinds to make the world go around, though perhaps some shouldn't go quite so far around it as others.” — 50 likes

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