|
In a Sunburned Country (平装)
by Bill Bryson
| Category:
Travel |
| Market price: ¥ 168.00
MSL price:
¥ 158.00
[ Shop incentives ]
|
| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
America's finest travel writer scores again! This book is hugely entertaining and conversational, and is definitely one of Bryson's best. |
| If you want us to help you with the right titles you're looking for, or to make reading recommendations based on your needs, please contact our consultants. |
|
| |
AllReviews |
1 2   | Total 2 pages 15 items |
|
|
Chicago Tribune (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
What the indefatigable, keenly observant Bryson did a few years back for the Applachian Trail with A Walk in the Woods... he does now for the generally undiscovered land Down Under. |
|
|
The New York Times (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
Vastly entertaining... If there is one book with which to get oriented before departure or en route to Australia, this is it. |
|
|
Kirkus Reviews (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
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. |
|
|
Susan Wakefield (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
My first foray into the world of Bill Bryson's work has left an indelible mark on me - I am in love with it, and cannot get enough of it. It's hard enough to try to get to know and write about such a great expanse of land when you're not Australian -but Bryson for the most part successfully does so. As an Australian who has lived in the US for the past 8 years, I cannot say i would be able to write as comprehensively and accurately about his country as he has about mine!
A sharp wit combined with a wonderful sense of humor made this a real page turner; Bryson accurately captures the essence and feeling of Australia - he comes not only to appreciate and understand us, but in the little pub in Daly Waters, I believe he becomes one of "us." Bryson captures all the beauty, irony, sadness, history, and geography that makes up this beautiful place I call home, and his gentle blend of fact and humor and anecdote makes this an unforgettable read. To elaborate: his ability to point out the inherent irony in "losing a prime minister" and subsequently naming a public swimming pool after a man who drowned is something that has always baffled me too, and I'm Australian! Or the fact that our national volume of history is only written up to the year 1935 made me question just how "modern" Australia really is. Bryson reports several times throughout that "it feels like 1951" - and that was interesting to learn, given that it is his American perspective. So too, i can similarly say as much about America when I see an antiquated wood- paneled wagon pass me on the most advanced road system in the world, or people signing checks at the supermarket check out (checks are no longer in use in Australia), which makes Bryson's alien perspective on Australia all the more interesting!
I enjoyed how Bryson gently touched on sensitive points too - our general lack of confidence and identity for example - I never knew how confused we were, when Bryson accurately noted that we're not sure if we're Brits or Yanks, even in the green room!
My only criticisms would extend to Bryson's implication that Aussies are "self absorbed" - something which I would strongly argue as false, given that much more international news reaches Australia's four paltry television stations than it does any of the 400+ cable TV/news media in the US.
Another point of contention: the implication that Australia tends to exist on the peripheries of the planet, outside of the "known world"(p. 238). I personally found this to be offensive. Bryson's claims that "[in Australia] it is easy to forget... that there is a world out there" (p. 239) is blatantly untrue; in fact, I find that most Australians are very much engaged in world affairs both internally and abroad, and I would go so far as to say that I think they are more well informed on most international matters than are Americans. I tend to think it is Americans who are more "disconnected," to quote Bryson here, and it is not the implied "distance" which is the cause, but a very controlled and closed media. The reason you don't hear anything about Australia in the US is simply because it is not of interest, it is not reported. Every Australian knows the name of the US President or the capital; however, ask the average American who is Australia's Prime Minister or where Canberra is and all you will get is a blank look in return. My only other quibble is that of the voice; I'm puzzled why Bryson would lend an Australian tone and slang to a book written from an obviously American perspective? I would have preferred to hear "sweater" not jumper etc. as this lends to the authenticity of the author's work.
Overall, a beautifully written, comprehensive and detailed account of Van Diemans Land. Bryson sure has done a lot of hard homework in between beers, and it, as well as his love for Australia shows. Further, I am sure all Australians will be thankful to him for many years to come for documenting this place I call home. |
|
|
Elizabeth (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
Bill Bryson has done it again! In A Sunburned Country was a delightful travel book that allowed me to picture each step as if I was there myself. I have always loved Australia and everything that comes with it. The comic nature of the book is really light-hearted and keeps the reader's attention. Although, he still does get serious at the appropriate times when talking about serious issues. The beginning was one of the main points that drew me to this particular book. It really made me think of how much people outside of Australia don't know about it. The descriptions of some places such as the train Bryson rode on found the Brightside of places that most would just pass up due to the containment or how undesirable they may seem. The vivid descriptions of places such as the Tree Top Walk really made me want to go and experience it for myself. I hope sometime soon I will see the places I unknowingly would pass up. |
|
|
Anthonie le Roux (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
Having traveled through many countries, including Australia, as a journalist, photographer, explorer and teacher, I can honestly say that I have simply never enjoyed a travel book so much.
Bryson pulls you in from the very first page. He explains that Australia is a country so vast that in 1967, they lost their Prime Minister, Harold Holt. "I mean, come on!" He plunged into the surf in Victoria and simply vanished.
Bryson talks about the various ways you can bite it in Australia, including being bitten by poisonous snakes and of course, sharks and crocodiles. Then there are the boxer jellyfish. Bryson explains that one young man was stung by such a creature and even while unconscious and sedated with morphine he was screaming in agony.
Bryson's trek on the luxury train across The Outback was filled with humor. He speaks of notes that he'd scrawled on the back of coasters for later use; "G attacked by camel in lav. Alice Springs, 1947. Great!"
Australia only has 18 million citizens and China increases in size every year more than that. (Despite the one child policy, forced abortion and slave labor laogai gulags to make our Christmas toys - perhaps the subject of Bryson's next book?) Australia is the world's sixth largest country, the only continent that is a country, the world's largest island and the only nation that began as a prison. Australia, Bryson explains, spends US$ 7.3 billion every year on gambling. The Simpson Desert, which covers an area of 100,000 square miles, didn't even receive its name until 1932.
And I bet you didn't know that Sydney was originally supposed to be called "Albion."
Can you imagine hearing them say; "Welcome to the Albion Olympics?"
Mr. Bryson's work is peppered with clever terms like "rent with" and "want hanging," and "you'll be apples" which are unusual and demonstrate his true gift as a writer. (I prefer the British term "trolleyed" meaning "being very drunk" as my own personal favorite, though this term didn't make the cut in Bryson's book.)
His notation on the probability that Japan's Aum Shin Rikyo doomsday cult may have set off the world's first non-governmental nuclear bomb in the Australian Outback back in 1993 was the stuff of pure journalism. (This was reported in the New York Times. As an aside, I myself published a well-received article on Aum Shin Rikyo for WND.com several years ago. However, like most people, I was shocked to learn about the Aum-A bomb connection.)
Yet Bryson's talents as a researcher cannot be confined to any single genre. He is also a true fan of history it seems. (I am as well and this is what makes In a Sunburned Country such a treat for any reader who shares that love of history.)
For example, Bryson tells the reader that back in 1931, that a proto-ant called "Nothomyrmecia" which lived over 100 million years ago, was "(re)-discovered" in the nether reaches of Australia.
His review of Burke and Wills famous trek across Australia, as well as Captain Cook's expedition (which was featured in an old but very brilliant National Geographic article which it appears Bryson studied) are nothing short of masterful.
There are other delicious nuggets sprinkled in the book along the way.
In 1935, a 14-foot shark was captured and placed in an aquarium in the town of Coogee, north of Sydney. After two days the shark vomited up Jimmy Smith's arm. Jimmy, standing there at the aquarium, may well had gotten the second greatest fright of his life.
In 1938 at Bondi Beach, four giant, rouge waves swept in out of the blue and carried off 200 people out to sea. The waves were 25 feet high. Fortunately, Bryson explains, 50 lifeguards were on hand and saved 194 people. Only six perished. (Today scientists have begun studying rouge waves in earnest.)
Bryson introduces the reader to mariners like Luis Vaez de Torres and Abel Tasman who played key roles in Australia's discovery, or near discovery through the years.
According to Bryson, Joseph Banks, who sailed with Captain Cook, collected so many specimens of plants that the National Museum of History in London is still busy cataloging them. (They need to hire a few interns!)
Bryson's finest moments as a historian and humorist come when describing the early prison colonization of Australia. One of the prisoners sent to Australia was charged with stealing 12 cucumber plants. Another man had stolen a book called "A summary account of the Flourishing State of Tobago." Those were rough times in England, Bryson tells us. A person could be hung for over 200 offenses including "impersonating an Egyptian."
In a hilarious recounting, Bryson recreates the encounter Captain Arthur Phillip, who led the colonization at Botany Bay in 1787, had with a French mariner, Count Jean-Francois de la Perouse. Perouse had sailed into Australia on the very heels of Phillip and his party. When they met, Phillip had to explain to Perouse that he'd just sailed 15,000 miles to build a prison for people who "had stolen lace ribbons, some cucumber plants and a book on Tobago."
Says Bryson, the look on the Frenchman's face, "must have been one of the great looks in history." The Frenchman sailed away as a good sport, unable to "save Australia from 200 years of English cooking" and later sank and drowned off of New Hebrides.
You just don't recover from a loss like that.
Bryson also visits interesting towns like Broken Hill, which may lead the reader to conjure images of Mel Gibson riding around The Outback in a dune buggy wearing ice hockey pads on the outside of his clothes, sporting a Geiger Counter and wrestling with "Master Blaster" in a cage which Tina Turner looks on with the aplomb of a queen tossing aside a drumstick at a Thanksgiving feast.
If you love traveling and/or Australia, I cannot recommend In A Sunburned Country highly enough. This terrific book has made this writer want to travel back to Australia and pick up where Bryson left off. |
|
|
Thomas Kehoe (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
Bryson's best book is Notes from a Small Island, about traveling in Great Britain. It's one of the funniest books I've read. The British are funny, and Bryson knows them well after living in Britain for 20+ years.
His book about Australia, In a Sunburned Country, is also entertaining. He studied Australian history, met many interesting locals, etc. After reading it, I feel like an expert on Australia and its people.
His book about Europe, Neither Here Nor There, isn't so good. The problem is that he speaks no languages other than English. He didn't talk to anyone on this trip. Without any characters (other than Bryson) the book isn't engaging. The book has only one joke, which he repeats: "The waiter/hotel clerk/taxi driver didn't speak English so I tried to make him understand that I needed..." Some of these moments are quite funny, but they don't constitute a book. Bryson didn't study the places he visits. Unlike the Australian book, you learn almost nothing about the countries he visited.
Bryson's book about America, I'm a Stranger Here Myself, failed to make me laugh. It reads like a series of Erma Bombeck columns. Bryson comments about various aspects of his life in a small town in New England. Not other people's lives, which might have been interesting, but only about his domestic life.
I got only a few chapters into his book about the Appalachian Trail, A Walk in the Woods." I wasn't amused that two people with no backpacking experience would attempt a six-month hike. After several chapters of Bryson repeating one joke - "I know nothing about any of this!" - I stopped reading.
This suggests that the old advice "write about what you know" is worth following. It also made me realize that traveling is only enjoyable if you do two things: meet interesting people, preferably by speaking their language; and studying the area you're visiting. |
|
|
Josh Fenton (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
Australia is commonly overlooked. This is a point made exceptionally clear in Bill Bryson's In A Sunburned Country, the definitive underground guide to understanding Australia's history (white and aboriginal), slang (norks = breasts), toxicity (ten of the top ten deadliest snakes are Australian), and everything else. Bryson seems to have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the land Down Under. Off-hand quips about the Harold Holt (the 1967 Prime Minister who went for a swim in the ocean and never came back) make the book a very enjoyable and very quick read. Accurately conveying the thoughts and feelings of traveling through the vast, vast expanses of Australia is a tough job, but Bryson does a remarkable job. In short, there isn't much to say about In A Sunburned Country, except that it's a fantastically agreeable read. Fit for anyone who's thought twice about any aspect of Australiana and especially for those who may be going there sometime soon. |
|
|
A. Silverstone (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
Bill Bryson has written a very entertaining and very informative travelogue about Australia. He begins with an analysis of just how neglected this country is from our current media. Ask yourself, when was the last time you saw an article in the newspaper about Australia. Fortunately, Bryson has set out to do justice. While relating his adventures wandering around the country on long drives that most of us would fly over, he also fills us in on the history of this island/continent, beyond the commonly known convict dumping ground part. Despite being keenly aware of all the dangerous and deadly snakes, spiders and jellies, Bryson manages to make it through unscathed, despite the hunger of some very mean dogs. He also discusses the unique ecology of the land, and the various problems caused by introduced species: rabbits, foxes, camels and others. This is all done with great humor, and his description of cricket radio commentary had me roaring with laughter. Equally interesting are Bryson's descriptions of Australians, contemporary individuals he meets on his wanderings as well as the famous and infamous from history. For those who wish to explore some more of Australia, there is a valuable bibliography at the end. |
|
|
J. Remington (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
In this, yet another jewel in Bryson's considerable literary crown, the author takes his readership into the exotic, eccentric and dangerous world of Australia. Using his unique blend of travelogue, history and personal memoir Bryson paints a fascinating portrait of a nation rich in culture and vast in space but unfortunately overlooked by much of the rest of the world.
Using his unique brand of scatalogical humor and personal insight (his description of not only how he sleeps but how he reacts to fear inspires peals of raging laughter)Bryson journeys throughout Australia's varied continent absorbing many of her treasures and traps. IN A SUNBURNED COUNTRY, Bryson debunks many misconceptions about the former British Penal Colony as well as holds up the special personalities that make her citizens stand proud. He goes beyond the "Steve Irwin and Crocodile Dundee" stereotypes and paints a picture of a nation filled with world class intellectuals and athletes.
He also refuses to pull any punches as he frequently tempers the humor with many sobering truths (the treatment of the Aboriginies to mention just one example). That he can be so balanced is a testament to his talent as a writer.
According to Bryson, Australia is a country filled with the most hostile ecosystem on earth and yet thrives with perhaps the most diverse biological assortment known to man. It is a special place. I may not be able to afford a trip yet. But Bryson's book is almost as good as being there.
Almost. |
|
|
|
1 2 | Total 2 pages 15 items |
|
|
|
|
|
|
