Notes from a Big Country

"Here's a fact for you. According to the latest "Abstract of the United States", every year more than 400,00 Americans suffer injuries involving beds, mattresses or pillows...That is more people than live in greater Coventry. That is almost 2,000 bed, mattress or pillow injuries a day. In the time it takes you to read this article, four Americans will somehow manage to be wounded by their bedding."

Though not a match for his earlier success of Notes from a Small Island, Notes from a Big Country takes a good second place. It collects together more than 18 months worth of Mail on Sunday columns which Bryson wrote between October 1996 and May 1998 after he and his English wife and children returned to the US and settled in New England. The only thing that outshines his amazement--and sometimes, outright dismay--at the way American society has changed while he's been away, is his English-born family's instant embracing of transatlantic culture.

A word of warning: reading Bill Bryson is not a spectator sport...you are invited-- in fact, compelled--to marvel at how the nation that "has the largest economy, the most comfortably off people, the best research facilities, many of the finest universities and think-tanks, and more Nobel Prize winners than the rest of the world put together" could be the same nation where "13 per cent of women...cannot say whether they wear their tights under their knickers or over them. That's something like 12 million women walking around in a state of chronic foundation garment uncertainty." This is Bryson at his best, and though not every column inch hits the heady heights of underwear distribution, there are enough laugh-out-loud moments to keep you satisfied.

Detractors of Bryson's work complain all his books are the same, yet dedicated followers cite that very uniformity of style and subject as the reason they return, book after book. Anyone disappointed by A Walk in the Woods (Bryson's account of hiking the Appalachian Trail and not his best book) will have their faith restored by Notes from a Big Country-- here Bryson returns to his favourite subject and the simple, journalistic prose that makes his wacky facts and observations instantly accessible.

Bryson does not pretend to deliver an intellectual treatise on the state of mankind; instead he offers one man's take on how humanity lurches from one day to another--ironically through the kinds of details he mocks others for collecting. --Lucie Naylor

Some of the columns collected in this book will be regarded as outstanding specimens of Bryson's best prose: the columns on Xmas decorations, on plane travels, on computerand on the maddening tax system in the USA are small masterpieces that one can't read without feeling the urge to laugh out loudly, regardless of where one is.

My favoutite column is the one concerning seaside vacations; it chanced that I read it on a crowded noisy beach of the Adriatic Sea, amid busloads of German tourists and Italian holidaymakers. Needless to say, in Bill Bryson's witty pages I found something familiar...


Brevity at its Best   February 13, 2007
Gavin Jackson (Addlestone, UK)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Bryson brilliantly combines comic asides with the most serious of subjects. If you like Bryson's dry wit, you'll love this book. At first I didn't like the format (exactly four pages per chapter) but after a while I liked the thought that if I had ten minutes to spare, I could read a chapter. And new chapter, new topic. Brevity at its best.

My only regret is that I missed the columns when they appeared in The Mail on Sunday's Night and Day Magazine. Hope the editor intends to commission more soon.


One of the funniest books I've ever read   March 16, 2002
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

This book was so funny I had to bury my head in a cushion for fear of frightening the dog! Bryson uses English irony to take the you-know-what out of his homeland, the USA, but in the nicest possible way! It's based on a weekly column he wrote for The Mail on Sunday 'Night & Day' supplement, so each chapter is short and based on a particular and extremely diverse subject. His usual style and wit shine throughout and you will want to stay awake all night just to go on to the next laugh. I started reading Bryson when someone loaned me 'The Lost Continent' and I've read almost all of his books over the last three weeks! 'The Lost Continent' is equally funny - in fact I haven't read one yet where I've not ended up in fits of giggles or out and out roaring laughter! Keep it up Mr Bryson, you really know how to tell it!


The best preparation for moving to America I could have had!   February 22, 2003
C. M. Perkins (Stirling, Scotland.)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I read this book before moving to California in 1999. It was a fantastic way to prepare for the culture shock that ensued. I had a great time in the States, largely because I could recognise the absurdity that Bryson talks about.

His unique perspective (American living in Britain, moving back to the US) puts a delightful spin on all the things we Brits make fun of the Americans for. His wonderfully witty writing style is laugh out loud funny - especially beacuse it's all true.

So much American culture is already part of life here in the UK, I would say anyone will identify with this send up of all things from across the pond.

Great travel writing, very humorous and hugely entertaining!