Tatiana's Reviews > In a Sunburned Country

I almost forgot how much fun it is to read books about foreign countries and cultures. As soon as opened In a Sunburned Country, memories of reading travelogues about U.S. rushed back to me. Oh, how amazed I was those years ago to learn that apparently many Americans put their T-shirts on to swim in the pool and wear extra underwear underneath their swimming trucks (I am originally from one of those speedo countries) or that to go to a school dance you just have to have a boy-friend who is obligated to bring you a corsage or that American toilets already have water in them so that when you... no, I am not going to elaborate on this one.

What I am getting at is that Bill Bryson's book about Australia is full of entertaining facts like that plus more - he also introduces a lot of information about history of Australia, its landscape, nature, etc. Basically, tons of information for us, people completely unfamiliar with this distant country, to finally learn something, anything about it beyond what's written in The Thorn Birds.

What especially stood out for me:

1) Australia in fact was originally forcefully populated by criminals from England (Kat wasn't joking).

2) The country/continent is a dangerous place where you can expect to be poisoned by any insect and jelly fish or eaten by a crocodile.

3) Australians love building big things in the shapes of other things - Big Lobster, for instance (once again, Kat wasn't kidding in her Giant Mango review)

4) How Aborigines found their way to the continent of Australia tens of thousands years ago is still a mystery and they weren't even considered people worthy of being mentioned on Australian census up until 1970s.

5) Non-whites weren't allowed to immigrate to Australia until the same 1970s.

... and much much more.

All in all, Bill Bryson succeeds in drawing a comprehensive picture of Australia, a vast, unexplored, beautiful, dangerous, young, distant country with some unattractive spots in its past (and maybe present).