Lets be honest with ourselves, hes not that funny.

This book was cute. Some parts were extremely funny, especially I guess for someone that did not live their whole life in America. But especially to people who split their lives between the US and other places.

Bryson goes through a bunch of things that don't make complete sense. The best and the worst of the US, and he does that getting a smile or a laugh in almost every chapter.
Coming back to your native land after an absence of many years is a surprisingly unsettling business, a little like waking from a long coma. Time, you discover, has wrought changes that leave you feeling mildly foolish and out of touch. You proffer hopelessly inadequate sums when making small purchases. You puzzle over ATM machines and automated gas pumps and pay phones, and are astounded to discover, by means of a stern grip on your elbow, that gas station road maps are no longer free.

I am already a fan of Bryson, and quotes like this one will make me read more of him:
I mean, here we were living in a paradise of junk food -- the country that gave the world cheese in a spray can -- and she kept bringing home healthy stuff like fresh broccoli and packets of Swedish crispbread.

I found A Walk in the Woods more funny and fun to read. Maybe because this one was a set of columns and not an actual story. About 3.5 stars.

I read this mostly while on the metro in New York, and very much enjoyed it. It’s definitely a book you should read piece by piece, not in one sitting. As someone not from the US, I loved reading this (and obviously taking it with a pinch of salt) while in the US for the first time.

Charming and hilarious; loved it.

My least favorite Bill Bryson book to date, because of the nature of the essays which he originally intended for a different purpose other than a book of collected essays. But his writing is so, so great.

Apparently I rated this 4* on September 25, 2011.
Who is this person?? (Would give 2-ish stars now)
I'm pretty sure I actually read it between 2000-2008, closer to the date of publication. This kind of observational humor was different. I was different.
I just can't imagine reading this for the first time in 2022 and thinking, hey this is really good!
And yet I should really be the target audience for this book - and obviously was at the time I read it!
Bryson left the US around the time I was born and returned to the US when I was in the early years of "adulting" and married to a foreigner to boot! - so I was probably having similar discussions with my husband about "geez whiz" america is weird compared to other places. Now I'm in the position of being "a stranger" to the US, especially since I missed the Obama years, the Trump years, and am missing Covid/Biden. So if I were to move back I would be gee whizzing away and yet, it's falling flat now. Weirdly, I had a similar experience with A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail - really enjoyed it the first go around then blah.
I think also, ironically, because I read the American edition the first time and I am currently reading is the UK version, I think some things were changed in the version I read which would resonate more with me as an American versus the original target of amusing the British Notes From A Big Country
The clip art at the beginning of each chapter is so quaint and ridiculous. And it seems so strange to me that columns written from '96-'98 act as if the internet didn't exist - though Bryson is proudly anti-computer.
Perhaps I've just become anti boomer in the last 20+ years, but the anecdotes are occaisionally chuckle-worthy and I have relegated it to bathroom reading. If it's 2022 and you still find Erma Bombeck, Andy Rooney, Garrison Keillor funny, you might really get a kick out of this. But I encourage you to get with the times!

يتحدث بيل برايسون في هذا الكتاب عن تجربته في العودة إلى الولايات المتحدة بعد أن عاش في إنجلترا لمدة عشرين عامًا. الكتاب يتألف من مجموعة من الأعمدة الصحفية التي كتبها برايسون لمجلة بريطانية، ويؤرخ من خلالها محاولاته للتكيف مع الحياة في أمريكا بعد هذا الغياب الطويل. يكتب برايسون عن مجموعة واسعة من الموضوعات في الكتاب ، بدءًا من تفاصيل الحياة اليومية (مثل محاولة معرفة كيفية استخدام الهاتف المدفوع) إلى التغييرات الأكثر أهمية التي حدثت في الولايات المتحدة منذ مغادرته (مثل ظهور الكمبيوتر الشخصي). الكتاب قديم نسبيا لذلك أعجبني أنه أرخ لفترة التسعينات في أمريكا. كما أنه يقارن ويقارن بين الثقافة الأمريكية والبريطانية، ويقدم ملاحظاته الفريدة عن كلا البلدين. في جميع فصول الكتاب، يحتفظ برايسون بنبرة روح الدعابة والسخرية الذاتية. كما أنه يكتب أيضًا بمحبة واضحة لأمريكا، وفي النهاية يتصالح مع وضعه كـ "غريب في أرض غريبة".

Funny, thought-provoking. Listening to the audio - read by the author, of course! - in 2023, I do think it has aged well since publication more than two decades ago. Obviously much about our society (and certainly technology) has changed, but much has also stayed the same. Bryson is always a treat!

"It sometimes feels like the whole nation has taken Nytol, and the effects haven't quite worn off."

This book's narrative is too comical. It's a parody about our culture and the dumbing down of America.

Everything upon Bill Bryson's return is absurdly complex. This book was published in 2000, so the content was dated with the mention of things like telephone booths, but the content is so relevant to today's climate as it was back then. Some of his funny references include:

- Americans are provided conditions which spare them the need to think...at all...ever!
- Our national obsession with health and the amount of money we invest for perfect inner harmony
- The computer is not my friend.
- Our fascination with the golden age of motels
- How inescapable we are from commercials.
- Gardening the leaves that fall in your yard as the leaves try to move them back where you found them.

There are so many comical scenes that are too numerous to mention about Bill's beloved homeland. This is a book that is true, uncut comic-relief!

Have you ever visited a foreign country for a length of time, to the point where you were caught up in a completely different lifestyle and society, and then when you finally returned home, you experienced a form of reverse culture shock?

That is what happened to Bill Bryson when he moved back to the U.S. after living in England for two decades. This delightful book is a collection of weekly columns he wrote for the Mail on Sunday newspaper from 1996 to 1998. Bryson has fun talking about American food, going shopping, holiday seasons, going to the movies, going to the beach, the U.S. postal service, U.S. tax forms, and dozens of awkward and humorous encounters he had with fellow citizens.

Even though some of the columns showed their age a bit (such as referencing pre-Internet computers and habits) or they included statistics from the 1990s when Bryson was trying to make a point, the pieces were still largely relevant and got at the heart of what it was like to live in America.

Q&A
Is this your favorite Bryson book?
No, that honor would go to "A Walk in the Woods," with "At Home" getting second place.

Would you recommend this to fellow readers?
Yes, but I would say that I don't think it should be the first Bryson book you read. The short columns are fun, but they're not as cohesive as his travelogues or history books.

Is this one of those times when you would recommend listening to the audiobook instead of reading the print?
Yes, I would. Bryson is a wonderful narrator and I think I enjoyed the book more because I listened to him tell these shorter stories.

Why are you reading so many Bill Bryson books? You're getting a bit obsessive. We're concerned and we're thinking of an intervention.
WHOA. Everyone can calm down. I'm not obsessed, I've just been working my way through a collection of his audiobooks. They are a delightful way to pass my daily commute to work. You should try it -- some days a Bryson story makes me laugh so hard that it brings tears to my eyes. It's a great way to start the day. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go listen to his book about visiting Australia.

Some favorite quotes:

"Coming back to your native land after an absence of many years is a surprisingly unsettling business, a little like waking from a long coma. Time, you discover, has wrought changes that leave you feeling mildly foolish and out of touch. You proffer hopelessly inadequate sums when making small purchases. You puzzle over ATM machines and automated gas pumps and pay phones, and are astounded to discover, by means of a stern grip on your elbow, that gas station road maps are no longer free."

"Some weeks ago I announced to my wife that I was going to the supermarket with her next time she went because the stuff she kept bringing home was -- how can I put this? -- not fully in the spirit of American eating. I mean, here we were living in a paradise of junk food -- the country that gave the world cheese in a spray can -- and she kept bringing home healthy stuff like fresh broccoli and packets of Swedish crispbread. It was because she was English, of course. She didn't really understand the rich, unrivaled possibilities for greasiness and goo that the American diet offers. I longed for artificial bacon bits, melted cheese in a shade of yellow unknown to nature, and creamy chocolate fillings, sometimes all the in same product. I wanted food that squirts when you bite into it or plops onto your shirt front in such gross quantities that you have to rise very, very carefully from the table and sort of limbo over to the sink to clean yourself up."

"I'm going to have to be quick because it's a Sunday and the weather is glorious and Mrs. Bryson has outlined a big, ambitious program of gardening. Worse, she's wearing what I nervously call her Nike expression -- the one that says, 'Just do it.' Now don't get me wrong. Mrs. Bryson is a rare and delightful creature and goodness knows my life needs structure and supervision, but when she gets out a pad and pen and writes the words 'Things to Do' (vigorously underscored several times) you know it's going to be a long time till Monday."

[On why his mother was not a great cook] To be perfectly fair to her, my mother had several strikes against her in the kitchen department. To begin with, she couldn't have been a great cook even if she had wanted to. She had a career, you see -- she worked for the local newspaper, which meant that she was always flying in the door two minutes before it was time to put dinner on the table. On top of this, she was a trifle absentminded. Her particular specialty was to cook things while they were still in the packaging. I was almost full-grown before I realized that Saran Wrap wasn't a sort of chewy glaze. A combination of haste, forgetfulness, and a charming incompetence where household appliances were concerned meant that most of her cooking experiences were punctuated with billows of smoke and occasional small explosions. In our house, as a rule of thumb, you knew it was time to eat when the firemen departed."

My rating: 3.5 stars rounded up to 4

eh. it's pretty cool. I liked certain essays/short memoirs better than others. I was a ~little~ bit disappointed, because i thought it was going to be as good as some of Harrison Scott Key's work, but it wasn't. Mostly it just made me appreciate Harrison Scott Key more. If you're thinking of picking up this book, try "Congratulations, Who Are You?" before this one. anyways.

A series of essays, written by a former expat, detailing his observations about life back in America.
These were short, amusing, and too true. I laughed out loud several times.
This was written years ago (Clinton was president!) which gave the book a fun, nostalgic feel.