Bill Bryson is on a short-list of go-to writers when I need a thoughtful but not too taxing book. His travel works seem to follow the Bryson formula:

1. Bryson travels around a country and gets drunk in hotel bars.
2. Bryson gets pissed off at rude and stupid people but is usually forgiving and self-depreciating.
3. Bryson assiduously researches the locales beforehand and integrates history into his itineraries and narratives.
4. Bryson writes with impeccable skill.
5. Bryson balances mundane details with broader musings about wherever he's visiting.

Bryson makes travel writing look easy but I don't undervalue his talent. He's funny more often than not, like when he describes the joys of tacky roadside attractions and his decision to trespass through a suburban backyard when he thinks a dog is chasing him through a park. He keeps the text moving and harmonizes the personal and cultural with respect but without sanctimony. Bryson maintains a willingness to criticize and even mock a culture when, well, the culture deserves criticism or mockery. Bryson doesn't look or sound like one might expect from a travel writer; he's a fat middle-aged guy who grew up in Iowa, not some tanned and overtly fit mountain climber with flowing locks and a beard styled to look un-styled. He can dispense with all pretense of coolness and write about his travels from a laid-back perspective.

6. In a Sunburned Country outlines four central messages about Australia:

1) The country is so huge and varied that comprehending all the disparate elements as representative of one cohesive nation is very difficult.
2) The rest of the world kind of forgets about Australia most of the time, except for New Year's Eve or whenever there's reason to show fireworks over the Sydney Opera House.
3) You can get killed in many interesting ways there.
4) While many white Australians are preternaturally friendly the country still shits on the Aborigines.

Bryson faces a curious paradox when addressing Australia. When describing the country's expanse and diversity he runs the risk of repeating himself. He seems to get a little frustrated with the idea that, for example, while he doesn't have the space or time to describe all the nuances of the huge, barren bush country that comprises much of non-coastal Australia he's essentially describing, you know, the bush country over and over again. You can say “we are way out in the middle of nowhere” but communicating exactly what that means is more difficult than one can expect from even the best travel writer. Bryson does his best by adding key details (e.g. describing how much he hates the ocean and fears jellyfish) and his best is damn good. He also avoids the cliches, never once mentioning vegemite or Men at Work. I liked In a Sunburned Country and I don't want to downplay Bryson's hard work and excellent narratives. His humility is admirable and I think he's underrated possibly because he's so damn uncool. And I'd rather drive around Australia with someone uncool but courteous and appreciative of decent hotel rooms than a guy who wants to mine the trip for hipster stories he can tell at coffee shops back home. Bryson delivers with In a Sunburned Country. The next time my brain is slightly fried I'll work through the next book in his catalog and be happy, I imagine, I did.

Alternatively titled "Down Under", this is Bill Bryson's take on Australia. Very funny in his own quirky way. I found myself learning about parts of Australia unknown to me (as well as discovering many new aspects of this huge continent) while being entertained in a very amusing way.

It's easy to be Australian and not see much of Australia. It's a big place, and very spread out.

I've been as far north as the bit with the ferry in the Daintree, as far south as Tassie, as far west as Adelaide, and as far 'out back' as a place called Chillagoe (which isn't all that far from the coast, but fits what Australians mean by 'out back'). I went caving there with friends, and it was so hot on the drive the air conditioning in the car melted. I also wimped out on the caving, since I will not make even tiny jumps over crevices between rocks (and that was before everyone got to the bit with the crawling). Anyway, this list of place names means I've seen maybe a tenth of Australia. My main 'to see' to go is Western Australia during wildflower season.

Bryson, as usual, turns a lot of mild mockery on the subjects of this book, and it's an entertaining read - though the narrator of the audiobook using a 'Strine' accent for everyone, including Paul Keating, did amuse me considerably. Nor does he skip over the deep racism that makes up a large part of Australia's past (and, sadly, its present).

The broadly drawn portraits capture, well, some facets of Australians - and as an ex-Queenslander it's nice to be reminded that I'm theoretically "mad as a cut snake".

Australia is a fascinating continent/country, but you wouldn't know that by reading this book. Bryson spends so much ink blathering about himself, his visits to pubs, trying to be funny (and mostly failing), driving/riding through the middle of nowhere (repeatedly ad nauseum), complaining about all the creatures that are going to kill him (which he doesn't actually come across), and blundering around town, that "Australia" was pretty much ignored. Except for those rare occasions (most of which are found in the last quarter of the book) where he delivered some interesting historical factoid. The weird and wonderful Australian wildlife got a passing mention, but nothing that anyone wouldn't be able to pick up on a random "worlds most dangerous animals" YouTube video (the video would at least have pictures!). I found this book to be pretty tedious and didn't particularly learn anything I didn't already know about Australia. Anyone interested in the world's largest island that is also a continent should find a travel guide or a picture book. It would at least have pretty pictures to look at and probably more information.

If you have not yet tried Bryson, you probably should seek psychiatric help. He's funny and informative; travel-writing (if you can call it that) at its best. His Walk in the Woods is a classic, and while this book about his visit to Australia is not as uproariously funny - the country is, after all, home to the ten most poisonous animals in the world - his descriptions of Australian institutions will delight you. His description of cricket, a game that has nothing wrong with it that "the introduction of golf carts wouldn't fix in a hurry," is a good example. "It is not true that the English invented cricket as a way of making all other human endeavors look interesting and lively; that was merely an unintended side effect." It is a very popular sport (?) that's "enjoyed by millions, some of them awake and facing the right way, but it is an odd game. It is the only sport that incorporates meal breaks. It is the only sport that shares its name with an insect. It is the only sport in which the spectators burn as many calories as players - more if they are moderately restless. It is the only competitive activity of any type, other than perhaps baking, in which you can dress in white from head to toe and be as clean at the end of the day as you were at the beginning." The pitcher runs at the batter (decked out with a riding hat and "heavy gloves of the sort used to handle radioisotopes, and a mattress strapped to each leg,") and throws the ball at his ankles. This can go on indefinitely until he is "coaxed into a mis-stroke that leads to his being put out [at which time] all the fielders throw up their arms in triumph and have a hug. Then tea is called. . . ." This usually goes on until your library books are all overdue and autumn has become winter. Of course, listening to cricket on the radio is truly something else: "That's right, Clive. I haven't known anyone start his delivery that far back since Stopcock caught his sleeve on the reversing mirror of a number 11 bus during the third test at Brisbane in 1957 and ended up in Goondiwindi four days later owing to some frightful confusion over a changed timetable at Toowoomba Junction." There are long silences during which the announcers have time to run some errands. "So we break for second luncheon, and with 11,200 balls remaining, Australia are 962 for two not half and England are four for a duck and hoping for rain."

Australia remade itself as a country following the Second World War. It realized that with such a small population, it could not afford to rely forever on Britain for its defense and it began to encourage immigration, "that if it didn't use all that empty land and fill those empty spaces someone from the outside might do it for them." They threw open their doors and the population more than doubled in the years following 1945. They welcomed people from all over Europe and "suddenly Australia was full of people who liked wine and good coffee and olives and eggplants, and realized that spaghetti didn't have to be a vivid orange and come from cans." By 1970, they also realized they had become an Asian nation and were no longer predominantly European and they simply eliminated the color bar they previously had used to ban "undesirables." "In a single generation, Australia remade itself. It went from being a half-forgotten outpost of Britain, provincial, dull, and culturally dependent, to being a nation infinitely more sophisticated, confident, interesting and outward-looking. And it did all this, by and large, without discord or disturbance, or serious mistakes - indeed often with a kind of grace."

Of course, if you are an Aborigine, the outlook is somewhat different and Bryson, to his credit, does not overlook the truly horrible discrimination and crimes committed against this venerable and ancient people - their history is truly astonishing. Whites in Australia had a tendency to treat them the way whites in this country treated the buffalo.

The vastness of Australia cannot be underestimated, and it's a naturalist's paradise with new species being discovered - and probably made extinct - almost daily. The mineral wealth is enormous and barely tapped, not to mention a biodiversity that includes living fossils. There is a species of living rock that dates back to the early eons of the earth and is worth a visit halfway around the world just to see it - if you can avoid the most venomous animals in the world, the sharks, the crocodiles and all the other poisonous stuff. A marvelous book.

"That is of course the thing about Australia- that there is such a lot to find in it, but such a lot of it to find it in."

“In a Sunburned Country” is a delightful read, and worth your time if for no other reason than that many of us will probably never get to Australia except in books and film and this text gets us there in its own way.
Bill Bryson has mixed anecdotal history, modern travel, biological and geographical history of the continent of Australia in an amusing and mostly quick to read style that I found engaging. It was not a labor to pick up this book, and that is no small thing.
Mr. Bryson is at times dismissive of people and some places, which I found a little jarring. However, if that is his honest reaction I should be glad for it. I also think his healthy ego comes thru from time to time. Nevertheless, these are rather small quibbles with what is otherwise a really interesting text.
The writing is humorous, at times really insightful, and mostly always informative. “In a Sunburned Country” is worth a read because it will expand your worldview. And you will enjoy it to boot!

In a Sunburned Country - Bill Bryson What Bill Bryson taught me about Australia: everything wants to kill you, whether or not it is animate, let alone conscious.Everything. And all of the critters are weird, many adorably so. We’re big on quakkas at my house. And Bryson is at his funniest describing a deep and embarrassing sleep he fell into. Oh, and the country is too damn big to see more than just a tiny bit, especially since the most inhabited parts, that is, the cities, are all dotted along the perimeter, and the middle is all desolate wasteland filled with dragons. No, wait, the dragons were from Novik.
When I got to that description of Bryson sleeping, I felt compelled to read some aloud to Veronica. When she later read the same book, she was compelled to read part of that aloud to me.This might be an important finding about compatibility, or humor, or something.

August 10,2000

I have a fascination with Australia, but on most days I have no desire to ever go there. It's too hot, has too many deadly animals, and most of the cities are more isolated than I'd care for. Before reading this book, I was more acquainted with the sheep farming culture of Australia than anything else (thanks to an Australian television series I fell in love with called "McLeod's Daughters" and a book favorite,The Thorn Birds). There certainly are no shortage of tall handsome men in Australia, but the fictional accounts I've read of them seem to paint the guys in a poor light. So I went into this book mainly with one image of Australia and its people and came out with images of other facets of Australia.

I'd never read a book by Bill Bryson before and was pleasantly surprised at what a fun travel companion he made. I like his deadpan tongue-in-cheek silliness which is really my kind of humor. He almost made me want to visit Australia ... almost. However, his recounting of 101 ways to die in Australia has probably taken the country off my to-visit list forever. This means that I can safely assume I'll never have to drink Bill Bryson's or my own urine for survival in an Australian desert. Whew!

There are some things he did make me want to see, though. Chief among them, I'd like to do a treetop walk. Ayers Rock is intriguing, but I'm not sure it would be worth the journey. And, while I don't think the trek to see them would be worth it, I'd at least like to read more about stromatolites which are among the most ancient of our fossil records.

This was written 13 years ago, so I wonder how much has changed in that time. For example, at the time he wrote this, there were people he encountered who were thrilled to have just gotten electricity out on their sheep station. The School of the Air has been transformed from teaching children in remote areas by radio to teaching via interactive two-way broadband satellite network. And Canberra even has Indian and Thai restaurants when 13 years ago, Bryson was only able to find KFC, Pizza Hut, and a sad little Italian restaurant.

I'm very keen to travel with Bill Bryson again sometime. Wonder where we'll go next.

5 Stars for In a Sunburned Country (audiobook) by Bill Bryson read by the author.

This is a must read for anyone interested in Australia. The book is a great mix of the author’s travel stories and historical stories that he has researched. Australia is such a fascinating place. I’d love to get to explore it some day.

This might seem a low but it’s great considering how little I get along with non-fiction! There were also a few outdated comments which I found inappropriate.

I didn’t finish. A number of crude/sexual comments and two f-words so I stopped.

The first time a read this book I enjoyed it. The second time I read it, a couple of years later after learning a great deal more about Australia from other sources, I loved it. Bill Bryson does not take you to the typical tourist stops. Rather he takes you to many places best avoided, but he explains why in the process. His focus is on odd happenings in history, and quirky people he meets along the way. He is always researching museums and reading local papers to ferret out more little know factoids about the place. He does not spend a lick of time at the Great Barrier Reef except to tell us about the couple that was left there to try to snorkel thirty miles back to shore. They were most likely eaten by sharks as they tried to reach a buoy resting on the other side of a deep channel where the big boys roam. Instead, he takes us to the distant shores of Western Australia, a place so vast that it has never been completely explored, to stare at blobs of matter called stromatolites credited with being the first bits of life in our universe. No matter where we are he always throws in a bit of sly, self-deprecating humor. Fun read chock full of information and insights into the people and the place down under.