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A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
Returning to the U.S. after 20 years in England, Iowa native Bryson decided to reconnect with his mother country by hiking the length of the 2100-mile Appalachian Trail. Awed by merely the camping section of his local sporting goods store, he nevertheless plunges into the wilderness and emerges with a consistently comical account of a neophyte woodsman learning hard lessons about self-reliance. Bryson (The Lost Continent) carries himself in an irresistibly bewildered manner, accepting each … Read entire article »
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A Short History of Nearly Everything
From primordial nothingness to this very moment, A Short History of Nearly Everything reports what happened and … Read more »
Notes from a Small Island
Reacting to an itch common to Midwesterners since there’s been a Midwest from which to escape, writer … Read more »
Seeing Further: The Story of Science, Discovery, and the Genius of the Royal Society
Bryson (A Short History of Nearly Everything) presents a remarkable collection of essays celebrating the 350th anniversary … Read more »
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Bill Bryson’s African Diary
Bryson visits Kenya at the invitation of CARE International, the charity dedicated to eradicating poverty. Kenya is … Read more »
Shakespeare (The Illustrated and Updated Edition)
Bill Bryson’s concise biography of William Shakespeare is brilliantly written, humorously insightful, and entirely delightful. The prose … Read more »
In a Sunburned Country
Bill Bryson follows his Appalachian amble, A Walk in the Woods, with the story of his exploits … Read more »
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A Really Short History of Nearly Everything
Bryson offers a kid-friendly version of his popular-science compendium for adults, A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003), in this illustrated trip through, well, nearly everything. His enthusiasm is apparent right from the foreword, where he proclaims that “there isn’t anything in existence—not a thing—that isn’t amazing and interesting when you look into it.” He proceeds to back up this … Read entire article »
The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America
A travelogue by Bill Bryson is as close to a sure thing as funny books get. The Lost Continent is no exception. Following an urge to rediscover his youth (he should know better), the author leaves his native Des Moines, Iowa, in a journey that takes him across 38 states. Lucky for us, he brought a notebook. With a razor wit … Read entire article »
At Home: A Short History of Private Life
Bill Bryson turns his attention from science to society in his authoritative history of domesticity, At Home: A Short History of Private Life. While walking through his own home that was built in the 19th century, Bryson reconstructs the fascinating history of the household, room by room. With waggish humor and a knack for unearthing the extraordinary stories behind the seemingly … Read entire article »
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