Bill Bryson domina el arte de capturar la experiencia humana a través del humor y la observación perspicaz. Sus crónicas de viajes, que a menudo se centran en los pintorescos rincones de América y Europa, están imbuidas de una aguda perspicacia y un optimismo contagioso. El estilo único de Bryson, que no teme comparar diferencias culturales y examinar lo aparentemente ordinario con fascinación, lo convierte en un narrador querido. Más allá de sus escapadas de viaje, también se dedica a obras de divulgación científica, en las que hace accesibles y cautivadores temas complejos como la ciencia y la historia del lenguaje, todo ello con su ingenio característico.
Bill Bryson se describe como un viajero renuente, pero ni siquiera cuando está en su casa, en la seguridad de su estudio, puede contener esa curiosidad que siente por el mundo que le rodea. En Una breve historia de casi todo intenta entender qué ocurrió entre la Gran Explosión y el surgimiento de la civilización, cómo pasamos de la nada a lo ahora somos.
The book has achieved bestseller status in both hardback and paperback formats, highlighting its widespread popularity and appeal among readers. Its compelling narrative and engaging characters have resonated with a diverse audience, contributing to its commercial success. This recognition underscores the book's impact and relevance in contemporary literature.
"Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Doubleday, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, and simultaneously published in hardcover in Great Britain by Doubleday, an imprint of Transworld Publishers, a division of Penguin Random House Ltd., London, in 2019."--Title page verso.
Bill Bryson drove 14,000 miles in search of the mythical small town of his youth. Instead he found a lookalike strip of gas stations, motels and hamburger joints; a continent lost to itself through greed, pollution and television, and lost to him because he had become a foreigner in his own country. A funny and serious view of smalltown America.
Bill Bryson's beautifully illustrated book explores the evolution of the English language, from its earliest words to the first dictionaries. Suitable for all ages, it answers intriguing questions about language origins, including Viking influences and Shakespeare's contributions, making it an extraordinary journey through words and humor.
After nearly two decades in Britain, Bill Bryson took the decision to move Mrs Bryson, little Jimmy et al. back to the States for a while. But before leaving his much-loved Yorkshire, Bryson insisted on taking one last trip around old Blighty, a sort of valedictory tour of the green and kindly island that had for so long been his home. The resulting book, Notes from a Small Island, is a eulogy to the country that produced Marmite, George Formby, by-elections, milky tea, place names like Farleigh Wallop, Titsey and Shellow Bowels, Gardeners' Question Time and people who say, 'Mustn't grumble'. Britain will never seem the same again.Once ensconced back home in New Hampshire, Bryson couldn't resist the invitation to write a weekly dispatch for the Mail on Sunday's Night & Day magazine. Notes from a Big Country is a collection of eighteen months' worth of his popular columns about that strangest of phenomena - the American way of life. Whether discussing the dazzling efficiency of the garbage disposal unit, the exoticism of having your groceries bagged for you, or the mind-numbing frequency of commercial breaks on American TV, Bill Bryson brings his inimitable brand of bemused wit to bear on the world's richest and craziest country.The Complete Notes combines two of Bill Bryson's best-loved travel books in one volume, It demonstrates his unique take on life - from either side of the pond.
In summer 1927, America had a booming stock market, a president who worked just four hours a day (and slept much of the rest), a devastating flood of the Mississippi, a sensational murder trial, and an unknown aviator named Charles Lindbergh who became the most famous man on earth. It was the summer that saw the birth of talking pictures, the invention of television, the peak of Al Capone's reign of terror, the horrifying bombing of a school in Michigan, the thrillingly improbable return to greatness of over-the-hill baseball player Babe Ruth, and an almost impossible amount more. In this hugely entertaining book, Bill Bryson spins a tale of brawling adventure, reckless optimism and delirious energy. With the trademark brio, wit and authority that make him Britain's favourite writer of narrative non-fiction, he brings to life a forgotten summer when America came of age, took centre stage, and changed the world.
In the company of his friend Stephen Katz (last seen in the bestselling Neither Here nor There), Bill Bryson set off to hike the Appalachian Trail, the longest continuous footpath in the world. Ahead lay almost 2,200 miles of remote mountain wilderness filled with bears, moose, bobcats, rattlesnakes, poisonous plants, disease-bearing tics, the occasional chuckling murderer and - perhaps most alarming of all - people whose favourite pastime is discussing the relative merits of the external-frame backpack. Facing savage weather, merciless insects, unreliable maps and a fickle companion whose profoundest wish was to go to a motel and watch The X-Files, Bryson gamely struggled through the wilderness to achieve a lifetime's ambition - not to die outdoors.
It is the driest, flattest, hottest, most desiccated, infertile and climatically aggressive of all the inhabited continents and still Australia teems with life - a large portion of it quite deadly. In tact, Australia has more things that can kill you in a very nasty way than anywhere else. Ignoring such dangers - and yet curiously obsessed by them - Bill Bryson journeyed to Australia and promptly fell in love with the country. And who can blame him ? 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. Life doesn't get much better than this...
Now living in a 19th-century church rectory in Norfolk, England, the author decides to learn about the ordinary things of life by exploring each room in his house; and takes us on a tour with him ....
