In a sunburned country

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Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion up, down, and over the Appalachian Trail (well, most of it) resulted in the sublime national bestseller A Walk in the Woods. Now he has traveled across the world and all the way Down Under to Australia, a shockingly under-discovered country with the friendliest inhabitants, the hottest, driest weather, and the most peculiar and lethal wildlife to be found on the planet. In a Sunburned Country is his report on what he found there--a deliciously funny, fact-filled, and adventurous performance by a writer who combines humor, wonder, and unflagging curiosity.Australia is a country that exists on a vast scale. It is the only island that is also a continent and the only continent that is also a country. Despite being the most desiccated, infertile, and climatically aggressive of all inhabited continents, it teems with life. In fact, Australia has more things that can kill you in extremely nasty ways than anywhere else: sharks, crocodiles, the ten most deadly poisonous snakes on the planet, fluffy yet toxic caterpillars, seashells that actually attack you, and the unbelievable box jellyfish (don't ask). The dangerous riptides of the sea and the sun-baked wastes of the outback both lie in wait for the unwary. It's one tough country.Bill Bryson adores it, of course, and he takes his readers on a rollicking ride far beyond the beaten tourist path. Here is a place where interesting things happen all the time, from a Prime Minister lost--yes, lost--while swimming at sea to Japanese cult members who may have set off an atomic bomb (sic) entirely unnoticed on their 500,000-acre property in the great western desert.Wherever he goes (and Bryson goes just about everywhere) he finds Australians who are cheerful, extroverted, and unfailingly obliging--the beaming products of a land with clean, safe cities, cold beer, and constant sunshine. On occasion the Aborigines, a remote and mysterious race with a tragic history, make a haunting appearance in this book. But by and large Australia is an immense and fortunate land, and it has found in Bill Bryson its perfect guide. Published just in time for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, In a Sunburned Country offers the best of all possible introductions to what may well be the best of all possible nations. Even with those jellyfish.

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Contributors
Bryson, Bill Author, Narrator
ISBN
9780767903868
9780767907668
9781415950777
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Similar Titles From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for titles you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
These books have the appeal factors offbeat and witty, and they have the genre "travel writing -- general"; and the subjects "travelers" and "voyages and travels."
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These books have the appeal factors funny and witty, and they have the genres "travel writing -- asia and the south pacific" and "humor writing -- classic humorists."
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These have the subject "Australia--Description and travel."
These books have the appeal factors funny, and they have the genre "travel writing -- general"; and the subjects "travelers" and "voyages and travels."
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Around the World in 50 Years and In a Sunburned Country vividly describe the authors' reactions to and assessments of the situations they encounter, in addition to detailing the landscapes and cultures they visit. -- Katherine Johnson
These have the subject "Australia--Description and travel."
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These books have the genre "travel writing -- general"; and the subjects "travelers," "voyages and travels," and "travel writing."

Similar Authors From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for other authors you might want to read if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
Paul Theroux influenced Bill Bryson, and is a must for fans of travel writing, thanks to provocative accounts that include personal reflection and commentary, characters, adventure, and a touch of humor. His writing emphasize the glories of train travel. -- Katherine Johnson
Like Bill Bryson, Mary Roach travels widely to gather material for her side-splittingly funny books. Though Roach is a science writer and Bryson writes everything from travelogues to histories, Bryson's readers should like Roach's books for their witty observations, accessible writing style, and engaging discussion of their topic. -- Dawn Towery
Bill Bryson and Tony Horwitz employ a casual but informative tone in their fact-filled, steadily paced narrative nonfiction. Their sense of humor and tendency to place themselves directly into their narratives results in addictive books that teach without preaching. -- Becky Spratford
Try these authors if you like detailed travelogues that delve into memoirs and take a witty view of people, places, and experiences. Bill Bryson has more of an academic/historical take, and Maarten J. Troost ruminates more about his life, but both pen accessible and engaging narratives. -- Melissa Gray
Simon Armitage and Bill Bryson enjoy long walks -- sometimes they take several weeks, sometimes far longer. Both writers have a sharp eye for telling detail, a deep interest in their surroundings, and a strong sense of place. Armitage is more reflective and lyrical, while Bryson is funnier and more sarcastic. -- Mike Nilsson
Gerald Durrell may please readers who appreciate Bill Bryson's wit and descriptive skills. Travel and animals dominate his writing but also offer scope for his quirky humor, accessible erudition, flights of fantasy, and astute, accurate scientific observations. He also offers heartfelt and passionate arguments for protecting individual animals and species. -- Katherine Johnson
Bill Bryson fans might enjoy Calvin Trillin, who travels in search of interesting food and adventures, and whose accounts resonate with insights into people and places. His conversational (often playful) literary style, his pleasure in adventures and discoveries, his ability to put himself into the story, and his self-deprecating humor resemble Bryson's writing. -- Katherine Johnson
Like Bill Bryson, Tim Cahill brings humor and cogent and often personal commentary to his extensive travel writing. Cahill has a reputation as an adventurer, willing to meet any physical challenge -- and try any food. Cahill's exploits are often more extreme, but his inviting style encourages readers to share his adventures. -- Katherine Johnson
Charles Kuralt, famous for introducing his audience to Americans unlikely to appear on television, was able to create stories from the slightest events. Like Bryson, he put characters first, and his quiet humor and incisive commentary allowed him to explore social and cultural issues linked to his out-of-the-way locations. -- Katherine Johnson
These authors' works have the genre "science writing"; and the subjects "science" and "scientific discoveries."

Published Reviews

Booklist Review

A new book by the world's funniest--and perhaps most eccentric--travel writer is always cause for rejoicing. Unlike many of his peers, who focus on typical destinations or touristy experiences, Bryson seeks out the odd, the little known, the one-of-a-kind, and the just plain weird. In his latest offering, which chronicles his exploration of Australia, he introduces us to a town that went without electricity until the early 1990s, a former high-ranking politician who hawks his own autobiography to passersby, an assortment of coffee shops and restaurants (Bryson is particularly fond of meal breaks), a type of giant worm, and the world's most poisonous creature, the box jellyfish. Bryson's use of language is unparalleled (he's also written two excellent books about the English language), and it is sheer delight to sink into his prose, especially his hysterical, enlightening, and sometimes moving descriptions of people and places we've never even imagined. His books are, quite simply, among the best and most rewarding travel literature ever written--head, shoulders, and torso above most of the competition--and this new title is a guaranteed winner. --David Pitt

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

With the Olympics approaching, books on Australia abound. Still, Bryson's lively take is a welcome recess from packaged, staid guides. The author of A Walk in the Woods draws readers in campfire-style, relating wacky anecdotes and random facts gathered on multiple trips down under, all the while lightening the statistics with infusions of whimsical humor. Arranged loosely by region, the book bounces between Canberra and Melbourne, the Outback and the Gold Coast, showing Bryson alone and with partners in tow. His unrelenting insistence that Australia is the most dangerous place on earth ("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") spins off dozens of tales involving jellyfish, spiders and the world's 10 most poisonous snakes. Pitfalls aside, Bryson revels in the beauty of this country, home to ravishing beaches and countless unique species ("80% of all that lives in Australia, plant and animal, lives nowhere else"). He glorifies the country, alternating between awe, reverence and fear, and he expresses these sentiments with frankness and candor, via truly funny prose and a conversational pace that is at once unhurried and captivating. Peppered with seemingly irrelevant (albeit amusing) yarns, this work is a delight to read, whether or not a trip to the continent is planned. First serial to Outside magazine; BOMC selection. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
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Library Journal Review

Bryson toughs it out in Australia. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Kirkus Book Review

Just in time for Sydney's upcoming Olympic games, this travel narrative from veteran wanderer Bryson (I'm a Stranger Here Myself, 1999, etc.) provides an appreciative, informative, and hilarious portrait of the land Down Under. "And so once more to the wandering road," declares Bryson--which is music to the ears of his many deserving fans. This time it is Australia, a country tailor-made to surrender just the kind of amusing facts Bryson loves. It was here, after all, that the Prime Minister dove into the surf of Victoria one day and simply disappeared--the prime minister, mind you. There are more things here to kill you than anywhere else in the world: all of the ten most poisonous snakes, sharks and crocodiles in abundance, the paralytic tick, and venomous seashells that will "not just sting you but actually sometimes go for you." A place harsh and hostile to life, "staggeringly empty yet packed with stuff. Interesting stuff, ancient stuff, stuff not readily explained." And Bryson finds it everywhere: in the Aborigines (who evidently invented and mastered oceangoing craft 30,000 years before anyone else, then promptly forgot all about the sea), in the Outback ("where men are men and sheep are nervous"), in stories from the days of early European exploration (of such horrific proportions they can be appreciated only as farce), and in the numerous rural pubs (where Bryson learns the true meaning of a hangover). Bryson is still open to wonder at the end of his pilgrimage: the grand and noble Uluru (once known as Ayer's Rock) reaches right down into his primordial memory and gives it a stir. "I'm just observing that if I were looking for an ancient starship this is where I would start digging. That's all I'm saying." Bryson is a real traveler, the kind of guy who can be entertained by (and be entertaining about) a featureless landscape scattered with "rocks the color of bad teeth." Fortunately for him and for us, there's a lot more to Australia than that. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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Booklist Reviews

/*Starred Review*/ A new book by the world's funniest--and perhaps most eccentric--travel writer is always cause for rejoicing. Unlike many of his peers, who focus on typical destinations or touristy experiences, Bryson seeks out the odd, the little known, the one-of-a-kind, and the just plain weird. In his latest offering, which chronicles his exploration of Australia, he introduces us to a town that went without electricity until the early 1990s, a former high-ranking politician who hawks his own autobiography to passersby, an assortment of coffee shops and restaurants (Bryson is particularly fond of meal breaks), a type of giant worm, and the world's most poisonous creature, the box jellyfish. Bryson's use of language is unparalleled (he's also written two excellent books about the English language), and it is sheer delight to sink into his prose, especially his hysterical, enlightening, and sometimes moving descriptions of people and places we've never even imagined. His books are, quite simply, among the best and most rewarding travel literature ever written--head, shoulders, and torso above most of the competition--and this new title is a guaranteed winner. ((Reviewed May 1, 2000))Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews

Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews
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Library Journal Reviews

Bryson toughs it out in Australia. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
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Library Journal Reviews

Bryson (A Walk in the Woods) is one heck of a witty, intelligent, wry, opinionated, frequently salacious, and always entertaining writer whose books are a treat not to be denied. Here he tackles Australia, basing his views of this unique continent on a tour he took of the entire country something few people, including Australians, have ever done. It's all here: the convict history, the love/hate affair with England, the vastness, and Australia's most fascinating inhabitants (apart from koalas) its colorful, quirky people. Bryson has a gift for making common things seem exceptional; everything from cricket to politics to place names is described in a manner that both educates and entertains. Anyone planning to attend the Sydney Olympics, thinking of an Australian vacation, or simply looking for a darn good book should must read the latest from an author who has covered everything from the origins of the English language to the marvels of rural America with skill and humor. Highly recommended for all public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 1/00.] Joseph L. Carlson, Lompoc P.L., CA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
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Publishers Weekly Reviews

With the Olympics approaching, books on Australia abound. Still, Bryson's lively take is a welcome recess from packaged, staid guides. The author of A Walk in the Woods draws readers in campfire-style, relating wacky anecdotes and random facts gathered on multiple trips down under, all the while lightening the statistics with infusions of whimsical humor. Arranged loosely by region, the book bounces between Canberra and Melbourne, the Outback and the Gold Coast, showing Bryson alone and with partners in tow. His unrelenting insistence that Australia is the most dangerous place on earth ("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") spins off dozens of tales involving jellyfish, spiders and the world's 10 most poisonous snakes. Pitfalls aside, Bryson revels in the beauty of this country, home to ravishing beaches and countless unique species ("80% of all that lives in Australia, plant and animal, lives nowhere else"). He glorifies the country, alternating between awe, reverence and fear, and he expresses these sentiments with frankness and candor, via truly funny prose and a conversational pace that is at once unhurried and captivating. Peppered with seemingly irrelevant (albeit amusing) yarns, this work is a delight to read, whether or not a trip to the continent is planned. First serial to Outside magazine; BOMC selection. (June) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
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