This book made me laugh. I used to think that funny books were not funny to me; I don't even laugh at the Sunday comics. I am often not sure if they are really supposed to make you laugh or not. Maybe they are since my husband often reads me the ones he finds funny.

Then I wondered how Bill Bryson came up with this stuff that happens to him on his vacation. I came to the conclusion that he thinks of something that could happen and runs with it. I say this because my husband and I just took a two week trip across half of America by car and nothing funny happened to us. I just now thought about how I could make my own journal of our trip funny. I really couldn't, because I only came up with this: We drove through the everglades on a two lane dusty road, and there were alligators on each side of the road. We stopped and got out when we saw a turtle being pecked at by vultures. So far true.
What would happen if an alligator appeared? Maybe one is hiding as they are all over the place. We saved the turtle when I placed him near the swamp, which I had actually done, but now the fantasy: "An alligator grabbed my arm. My husband dragged me to the road, but it was too late". Now this isn't even funny. See, my mind does terror, not funny. I worried about our car breaking down and no one else was on the road. I worried that we might have to walk to the main highway, highway 41. And my husband joked: And you fell and twisted your ankle, and then fire ants began eating the flesh off your hand. See, I don't think of funny, but my husband was funny because he enlarged upon my fears in a more unrealistic way, a way that made me laugh.

Bill Bryson's kind of funny was when a friend of his got pigeon poop on his head, went back to the hotel to clean up, came back in twenty minutes smelling of Brut cologne, got poop on his head again and went back to the hotel and came back an hour later wearing a hoodie. Somehow that story of his wasn't too funny, but I could see it even if I didn't believe it.

I prefer a travel book where someone talks about the people they meet and the places that they have visited--a heartwarming book or even a scary one. Still, this light read was good, and I especially liked reading it at bedtime when I read books that I don't have to think about and that make me sleepy in the long run. Now, I do have to say that the book I loved most of his, so far was, "A Walk in the Woods." Now I can make up terrorizing bear stories with that book.

Per il primo 25% eravamo sulle 4 stelle: mi faceva ridere l'umorismo di Bryson e il suo prendersela con tutti i posti assurdi in cui capitava. Poi l'umorismo ha cominciato a stancarmi ed è diventato un 3 stelle. Per finire a 2, quando il libro si è rivelato essere un continuo lamento nei confronti di tutto e tutti. Bryson ce l'ha con i cani, con i gay, con le donne che non si depilano le ascelle, con i ristoranti svizzeri che espongono il menu solo in tedesco, e chi più ne ha più ne metta. Ne esce come un lamentosissimo turista americano in vacanza in Europa, e poco importa se quando ha scritto questo libro già viveva in Inghilterra. C'è poco di interessante in questo libro "di viaggio". Da questo tipo di letteratura mi aspetto di conoscere uno o più paesi, con le loro culture, la gente, ecc. Non mi aspetto un turista (Bryson è un turista, non un viaggiatore) che si lamenta di tutto. Oltre naturalmente a offendersi e indignarsi quando la gente del posto non parla la sua lingua, vero esempio di turista anglosassone che non si degna di abbassarsi a spiccicare qualche parola in un'altra lingua dato che la sua, l'inglese, è quella che domina il mondo.

Ho letto in giro che questo è il peggior libro di Bryson (la mia solita fortuna, iniziare a scoprire un autore col suo libro meno riuscito...) e che negli altri è migliorato moltissimo e non è così malmostoso. Però non so se voglio provare a dargli un'altra chance; di sicuro non a breve.

I'm not an overly big fan of travel books as for me they just leave you depressed as it highlights all the places in the world you haven't been which them gives you itchy feet and at the same time if you haven't been to the places, it's hard to know what he is talking about.

Was an ok book, some good laughs in there.

Three stars.

Having just spent a few a days viewing Europe of the '90s through the eyes of Bill Bryson I have a strange urge to travel by train while simultaneously never wanting to leave home again. He is witty, irreverent and fearless, a somewhat imperfect travel companion but I will happily go wherever he takes me next.

I am a fan of Bill Bryson's. Like so many of his other books, this book did not disappoint me. Occasionally his humor is a bit over-the-top, but I love it anyway!

When Bill Bryson was in college he toured Europe with his friend Stephen Katz. In this book, Bryson is much older, married with kids, and follows in basically the same footsteps, in a sense trying to recreate his earlier tour. He is alone this time, going from Scandinavia to Turkey, mostly by train and bus.

Bryson makes the trip in order re-familiarize himself with the places and cultures of the countries he visits. He has no reservations about telling you what he really thinks. And his remarks are usually steeped in humor; he knows how to turn lemons into lemonade.

What did I learn from this book? Well, in the future I will always prefer American Express travelers checks to those from Visa. I will avoid Austria. I will avoid gypsies, especially the kids. Communism is an economic system to avoid.

This book kept me entertained; most definitely! And I definitely recommend the audiobook. Bill Bryson himself narrates his book, and he is great! He does the various accents with zest and his humor, sarcasm and wit come through with flying colors in the audiobook.

This book is terrible. I listened to it on CD, and the writing was so predictable that I found myself completing each sentence before it was spoken. That was, in fact, the only way I managed to keep my attention on the book rather than contemplating the fascinating landscape of Indiana visible out my window. But the book wasn't just boring, it was also embarrassingly bad. I was a huge Bill Bryson fan in high school. I decided to hike the Appalachian Trial after reading A Walk in the Woods. But I think if I went back and read that book, I would find it just as obnoxious, boring, and lame. Anyone with more than 15 years of life experience would have to. His jokes are in bad taste, which would be ok if they were funny, but they are not. He is so self-deprecating as to make it obvious that he actually has a huge ego that he's trying to conceal so the audience will like him. I wish I had never listened to his book, because my opinion of him is forever tainted. Also, who writes a travel book that describes the meals, repeatedly, with "I dined lightly," or "I dined heavily," and the buildings with "It was lovely," or "It was disappointing"? Wow. That really makes me want to go to...nowhere.

A true genius in travel writing . A lot of this book would not be considered P.C. In these hyper- sensitive times, but I don’t know any other author that consistently makes me LOL while describing mundane daily occurrences .

I would recommend this book and almost all of his others to anyone who does not take themselves too seriously!!

Mike Makin

Why bother to actually travel when you can just regurgitate stereotypes that have been passed around since man invented borders? Honest to God, he really complains about haughty Parisian waiters. I didn’t find anything in this book of essays to be even remotely insightful and I don’t ever find Bryson's travel stuff to be funny. Most of what I have read by him is just a collection of his gripes against the rest of humanity.

I've never read any of his travel stuff where he actually meets an interesting person who has something worth saying. When I first read this several years ago I just figured that it was the first thing Bryson wrote, perhaps when he was a college student back-packing around Europe. It was published when he was 4o years old. It is completely lacking in the sort of wisdom you would expect from a writer of that age.

I like most of his non-travel books, just so you won't think that I have it in for this guy. He just seems to hate to travel and he despises everyone he meets along the way. Stay the fuck home.

I had a rather curious experience while reading this book. Because I'll be in Europe shortly, and I've been on a Bryson binge anyway, I downloaded the audiobook onto my phone and began listening. I took a walk and was merrily following along, until, at about one third of the way through, a thought flashed through my mind—This book sucks!

I was taken by surprise, because up until then I thought I'd been enjoying it. But the further I read, the more my judgment was justified. I'm sorry to say this, Bill, but this book is not very good.

To put it briefly, Bryson comes across as extremely immature in this book, both as a writer and as a person. He tries hard to be funny, but too often ends up making jokes about cultural stereotypes—Italians are bad drivers, the French are rude, and so on—or simply engaging in hyperbolic descriptions of extremely ordinary events, which unfortunately only serve to magnify their ordinariness rather than to alleviate it. This book contains very few of Bryson's trademark little-known anecdotes, and almost nothing that could be deemed insightful about the places he visits. He spends a distressing about of time talking about hotels and restaurants—mostly to complain about them—and more than once ends up eating in a McDonald's. Bryson even complains that a menu in a German restaurant was written in German. He might as well have stayed at home.

I am, however, happy to report that Bryson has shown a definite progress in his writing ability and worldview over the years. In chronological order, of Bryson's books I've read Neither Here nor There (1993), Notes from a Small Island (1995), A Walk in the Woods (1998), In a Sunburned Country (2000), and A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003). And in terms of quality, I would rank them in the same order. So however immature he may have been, at least he's shaped up; and it's a great sign when people are able to change for the better.

Usually, I find Bryson funny enough, but this fell through. He manages to write about Europe as if he personally had to hack his way through the continent with a machete, though his big adventure is the art of crossing a bloody street in Paris. Having crossed streets in both Paris and way worse (actually, I don't remember Paris traffic as bad), I can't say that's anything to dedicate 3-4 pages to in a book. Might be funny if you're 14 or so, but Bryson was actually grown up when writing this, so I'm thoroughly underwhelmed.

Fun read!!

Neither Here, Nor There was another quality offering from the author.
I recently went up to the cottage, and put this one on for the ride.

Author William McGuire Bryson is an American–British writer of books on travel, the English language, science, and other nonfiction topics. Born in the United States, he has been a resident of Britain for most of his adult life, returning to the U.S. between 1995 and 2003, and holds dual American and British citizenship. He served as the chancellor of Durham University from 2005 to 2011.

n  Bill Bryson:n
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Bryson is my go-to author for long rides in the car. There's something I really enjoy about listening to his travel stories while going on my own trips.

The writing here is typical Bryson. He writes in a uniquely deadpan, tongue-in-cheek manner that really cracks me up. I always enjoy listening to his fractured take on the people and places he visits in his travels, and his hilarious accompanying commentary.
In this case, he meanders through Europe with a backpack. He begins his journey in Hamemrfest, Norway, and then makes his way down to Istanbul, Turkey.

*****************

Neither Here, Nor There is my 5th book from the author. Thankfully, this one also met the high water mark established by Bryson in his other writings. He's quite a talented wordsmith, IMO.
I would definitely recommend this one. It's a great, light-hearted book that had me chuckling many times throughout.
An easy 5 stars.