In A Sunburned Country: Summary and book reviews of In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson, plus links to an excerpt from In A Sunburned Country and a biography of Bill Bryson.

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.

Media Reviews

Chicago Tribune This outrageous Baedecker is so laugh-out-loud funny...I made the mistake of taking the book along on a trip to Starbuck's–and left in disgrace after inadvertently spraying several patrons with cappuccino while reading Bryson's visit to a shop selling pet supplies and pornography...This is a man who understands that digression is the better part of valor–and the better part of Australia.   The Wall Street Journal Bryson is unparalleled in his ability to cut a culture off at the knees in a way that is so humorous and so affectionate that those being ridiculed are laughing too hard to take offense.   The Times (UK) The funniest travel writer alive.   Daily Telegraph (UK) Here is a man who suffers so his readers can laugh.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by Ernie
What a disgraceful book
This book is one of the worst I have ever read. Sure it's funny, but it has absolutely no point to it whatsoever. Bryson tells his sometimes painfully boring anecdotes in excruciating detail, rattles off a few pages of facts, then talks about how...   Read More

Rated of 5 by kyoozoo
Cliched pap.I loved it.
Here is a caricature of a Bill Bryson sentence: "The town seemed far away, so of course I walked. Of course, it took a long time to get there. I seemed to be tired on arrival, but of course it was nothing a cold beer couldn't fix. The beer seemed...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Joan Hicks
In A Sunburned Country
I cannot remember when I have read a more enthralling book.! Be it novel, fiction or non-fiction.! Maybe because I am a transplanted Aussie, I enjoyed it so much. It took me "home".! I laughed, I cried, and I remembered some of my younger days...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Jeunviev
Meh
This book was quite funny at the beginning, but nearing the end of the first and throughout the second chapter, I just found that It didn't have enough excitement. The book just went down hill. It had to many facts for me to enjoy the characters...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Zac from Queensland Australia
This book is a hilarious travel companion and should be made essential if you plan to travel to A ustralia. Its full of facts that many Australians (including myself) didn't know and is presented in a witty and hilarious way. A marvellous read.

Rated of 5 by Gillian
A brilliant book that makes you want to go see it all for yourself! Funny and full of intresting facts. Once you start you just can't stop.

...5 More Reader Reviews

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