Oi, speak for yourself I haven't and many others haven't Anyway, it's blue already, don't need the black

I do like Bill Bryson but you are right, I have noticed on various occasions he gets things wrong. None springing to mind right now though!

I loved the book & since loaned it to ppl with the same feedback , a damn good read & thats how it is to be taken . not as a travel guide or gods own truth .

Its funny , witty but not fully accurate .

Recently i read "notes From a Small Island , which was also a good read however some of his oppinions i disagree with but it doesn't detract from a good book .

I agree with you completely Icarus.

A Walk in the Woods is actually my favourite, he walks the Appalachian Trail with his friend Stephen Katz and it always has me laughing out loud! Down Under was good for a one off read but to me doesn't stand up to some of his earlier ones.

I've not read that , I'm not much of a reader & i gave "Downunder" a go for obvious reasons .

I want to read his book about growing up in the US & i plan to get it , but i did just buy his latest book on Shakespeare ....believe it or not .... & i find it a hard book to pick up

but when i do i enjoy it too .

maybe his travel / life experience books are more my thing .

After all you can't beat experience ,

To be honest the book about him growing up is not fantastic if you are talking about the Life & Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, The Lost Continent is better as it is about him visiting all the small American towns his Dad took him when he was a kid and other bizarre places. It tells the story much better.

heh someone at work recently recommended a book for me to read never read a book since been to oz in a year. anyway your thread reminded me its by bill bryson a short hisotry of nearly everything ive just bought it any of you guys read this ??????
lesley

yes it's very different from his usual stuff but I liked it

ok , i'll give that a go


whats it about ?

a short history of just about everything lol loads of information and his perception and views on everything thats ever happened in the world

It is one i want to read .. next stop Amazon

There s a lot about the evolution of the world if you have studied this at all you may find bits of it a bit boring.
I studied geology and plate tectonics so some of its a bit basic but he has a very engaging way of writing so it's not too dry

i would never of ever contemplated reading a book like this but because the customer at work is such a knowledgable person and i could talk to him for hours on many subjects i thought hmmm this sounds interesting.
at the end of the day its good to try different things.
considering the last title of a book he told me to read which i went into the store and asked the staff there if they had this so called book.they were a little taken aback and thought i had the title wrong lol.
typed the title into the computer and they had it on there shelves bought it and read it the same day.
"poke a stick at the seaweed and run away from the smell"
this was good also

* sigh* My OH is reading this book at the mo!! We read it before arriving and hes now reading it from 'the other side' so to speak!! I am next in the queue to read it second time around... Very, very funny IMHO

never heard of that one will have to go take a look at it do you remember the author?

I find bill brysons books very entertaining this one is his most ambitious I think