Bill Bryson Books

Bill Bryson is best known for writing very humorous travel books, and "In a Sunburned Country" is indeed a funny account of his travels in Australia. Those who love Bill Bryson's books for their humor won't be disappointed.

But unlike most people, I like Bill Bryson best when he's NOT trying to be funny, and my appreciation of this book is mostly due to the great amount of very interesting information presented.

Bill Bryson amazes you with loads of information about the geology, the animal life, the plants and insects, the history, the statistics, the folklore, etc., etc. The many dangers: poisonous snakes, poisonous insects, poisonous jellyfish, crocodiles, sharks, and rip currents - they're all out to get you. The inhospitable deserts, the beautiful beaches, the huge distances; Bill Bryson gives you a feeling of what it's all like.

The book goes into detail about many aspects of Australian life that are fairly unknown, including the discovery (and re-discovery) of Australia, the settlement by British prisoners, the early expeditions to explore the interior, the gold rushes, the outlaws, and the devastation caused by rabbits and other imported animals and plants. Bill Bryson talks about the many unusual animal species found only in Australia, including giant earthworms that grow up to 1 meter (and can be stretched to 4 meters) and the platypus, a cross between a reptile and a mammal. He talks about Australians and the Australian society, and the situation regarding the native people, the aboriginals.

Bill Bryson doesn't cover all of Australia from the geographical point of view, and the parts he does cover are somewhat random. But that doesn't matter because he captures the spirit of the whole country based on the parts he does visit and the general information he includes.

A very positive aspect is that Bill Bryson makes it clear that he loves Australia. The feeling is infectious, and it makes you want to pack your bags and head "down under" for a long leisurely trip so you can do your own exploring.

If I were to mention two things I was less happy about, it would be the occasional excessive attempts to be funny and the lack of contact with Australians. One of the best parts of the book is about his traveling together with an Australian couple for 3-4 days, but other than this passage Bill Bryson is mostly playing the typical tourist, with little or no contact with Australians. And despite a fairly long discussion about the aboriginal situation he does not ever get into contact with any aboriginals. Why not?

A final note regarding the unabridged audio version of the book, read by Bill Bryson himself: Most authors are poor readers, but Mr. Bryson does a very good job here, almost on a par with a professional reader. Recommended.

Rennie Petersen

PS. "In a Sunburned Country" has also been published under the title "Down Under". It is exactly the same book.

This book has the exactly same content (word by word) with another Bill Bryson's book under the title 'In a Sunburned Country'.
I searched both books thoroughly and neither of them said anything about another book with the exactly content as itself.
I bought both and felt CHEATED.

I must be honest and say that I started this book in tandem with another just because I didn't think I'd be terribly interested in the subject matter, much as I love Bryson. By the end of the second chapter, I wanted to book a ticket on the next flight to Perth. The flora, fauna and folks that inhabit this wondrous country intrigue me strangely.

Bill Bryson is one of the funniest writers I have ever encountered. I find myself reading bits aloud to my husband at the slightest hint of encouragement. I challenge anyone to read his discussion of running through a park trying to get away from some scary dogs, and ending up in an unsuspecting housewife's back garden, without laughing out loud. If you can get through that section without giggling, you have nerves of steel.

I learned a great deal about Australia that I never, ever had heard before. This is a criminally neglected area of the world and I would love to find out more. What better place to start than with Bill Bryson. Highly recommended.

Bryson's dry wit and way of looking at himself and the world are inspiring and if you get the humor laugh out loud funny, so if you are planning a trip to Australia by all means read this book first, but understand that it's not really a book about traveling in Australia. Bryson is there to get to know the real Australia, he misses the icons of the country completely. The trips that he writes about are visiting friends or wandering the little traveled roads that even few Aussies have.

But you will gain an insight into the soul of Australians, something that will sound very familiar to Americans as their history is so similar to our own, which is probably why we love Australians and more often than not they love us. And after having read the book, if you want to go to Australia and retrace his footsteps and see an Australia that we Americans just miss, we'll, as they say down under, "good on ya".

Regarding Fai's review "CHEATED", I guess unless you come from Australia, there's little chance of knowing that it is often referred to as a "Sunburnt Country"; a term which came from a famous Australian poem, "My Country". Perhaps "Down Under" is a more popular term that needs no further explanation to the rest of the world, maybe it's more catchy, I'm not really sure why they changed the title, but it shouldn't detract a reader from its content. This book is hilarious and wonderfully informative. We all know Australia houses some of the world's deadliest spiders, snakes, jellyfish...you name it! But there were a lot of trivial things I read here that were never taught at school, which is a shame because if they did, I'm sure my History and Geography classes would've been a blast. Bill Bryson writes in a way that makes a reader feel they are right next to him experiencing the same things, shrieking at the sight of a spider, getting tumbled around mercilessly by the surf or going to the local pub for some much-deserved beer. This book made me realize I haven't really seen much of my country, and I can't wait to hop on that long-haul train ride, with this book in tow of course, and finally see the endless stretch of everything and nothing behind those famous postcards.

My first foray into the world of Bill Bryson's work has left an indelible mark on me - i am in love with it, and cannot get enough of it. It's hard enough to try to get to know and write about a such a great expanse of land when you're not Australian -but Bryson for the most part successfully does so. As an Australian who has lived in the US for the past 8 years, I cannot say i would be able to write as comprehensively and accurately about his country as he has about mine!
A sharp wit combined with a wonderful sense of humor made this a real page turner; Bryson accurately captures the essence and feeling of Australia - he comes not only to appreciate and understand us, but in the little pub in Daly Waters, I believe he becomes one of "us." Bryson captures all the beauty, irony, sadness, history, and geography that makes up this beautiful place I call home, and his gentle blend of fact and humor and anecdote makes this an unforgettable read. To elaborate: his ability to point out the inherent irony in "losing a prime minister" and subsequently naming a public swimming pool after a man who drowned is something that has always baffled me too, and i'm Australian! Or the fact that our national volume of history is only written up to the year 1935 made me question just how "modern" Australia really is. Bryson reports several times throughout that "it feels like 1951" - and that was interesting to learn, given that it is his American perspective. So too, i can similarly say as much about America when i see an antiquated wood-panelled wagon pass me on the most advanced road system in the world, or people signing checks at the supermarket check out (checks are no longer in use in Australia), which makes Bryson's alien perspecitve on Australia all the more interesting!
I enjoyed how Bryson gently touched on sensitive points too - our general lack of confidence and identity for example - i never knew how confused we were, when Bryson accurately note that we're not sure if we're brits or yanks, even in the green room!
My only criticisms would extend to Bryson's implication that aussies are "self absorbed" - something which I would strongly argue as false, given that much more international news reaches Australia's four paltry television stations than it does any of the 400+ cable tv/news media in the US.
Another point of contention: the implication that Australia tends to exist on the peripheries of the planet, outside of the "known world"(p238). I personally found this to be offensive. Bryson's claims that "[in Australia] it is easy to forget....that there is a world out there" (p239) is blatantly untrue; in fact, i find that most Australians are very much engaged in world affairs both internally and abroad, and I would go so far as to say that I think they are more well informed on most international matters than are Americans. I tend to think it is Americans who are more "disconnected," to quote Bryson here, and it is not the implied "distance" which is the cause, but a very controlled and closed media. The reason you don't hear anything about Australia in the US is simply because it is not of interest, it is not reported. Every Australian knows the name of the US President or the capital; however, ask the average American who is Australia's Prime Minister or where Canberra is and all you will get is a blank look in return. My only other quibble is that of the voice; i'm puzzled why Bryson would lend an Australian tone and slang to a book written from an obvoiusly American perspective? I would have prefered to hear "sweater" not jumper etc etc. as this lends to the authenticity of the author's work.

Overall, a beautifully written, comprehensive and detailed account of Van Diemans Land. Bryson sure has done a lot of hard homework in between beers, and it, as well as his love for Australia shows. Further, i am sure all Australians will be thankful to him for many years to come for documenting this place I call home.

I expected to hate the Australia book because of Bryson's general "I'm so funny" tone and my own disdain (unfortunately) for the majority of Australians I have met (no offense, Aussies, this is just my limited experience; most would share my disdain if they were trapped on a tour bus of "fun loving" (read: loud, crass and perpetually drunk) Aussies for a solid month). This book, though, looked at the subject, the history and landscape through a unique lens and was a rewarding read.

It occurs to me that Bryson is more in his depth/element in Australia or America, while his observations on Europe often read like deeply biased American obtuseness and insensitivity. Bryson's wit here, in Australia, and his own seemingly inexhaustible curiosity and apt descriptions of Australia as an amazing, far off, awe-inspiring land we in the rest of the world never see, hear of, or think about are all endearing.

Having never traveled to Australia, I am more tempted to do so after reading this book. To illustrate how little the rest of the world knows-I point out that in all my own travels/experiences, I have been to New Zealand but am always asked when I get back, "How was Australia?" as if the two countries are one and the same.

It is true that Bill Bryson is perhaps the type who would not always let the truth get in the way of a good story, and that not all of the facts in the book are entirely accurate, but overall you could not possibly say that this book is phenomenally bad. There are at least two segments that were hilarious, and Bryson keeps things entertaining. At its best the book could even be called brilliant-there's just something about the story of the two old people who emerge from the fog arguing only to wander off again. 3 stars.

Picked up this book after having heard it was funny, informative, and easy to read. Within the first few pages i became disillusioned! It's hard not to be really, when Mr Bryson refers to spiders as insects, and in his initial segment to point out "some facts", states that Australia is a single island continent. I'd be curious as to which continent New Zealand belongs to then? Maybe Australasia ceased to be in the day he lost crossing the date line? Having spent over a quater of a year in Oz some of his comments managed to make me chuckle, especially regarding Red Back Spiders, but on the whole i was disappointed. At the price, i'm not inspired to buy another of his titles.

As an Australian I am always interested in how others see our country. Mr Bryson notes that in 1996 from evidence in articles in the New York Times Australia was referred to about the same number of times as countries with a GDP about the size of New Jersey, which is to say not much at all. But he does concede that in terms of sporting success Australia per head of population Australia leads the world. For the first days of the 2004 Olympics it was China one, Australia two. Canada, perhaps a comparable country, but greater population, was in the twenties. We are also boring with Australia's dullest man as our Prime Minister. Mr Bryson covers all the usual suspects - sharks, snakes, crocodiles, insects, sea stinging creatures, rabbits, weird politicians such as Pauline Hanson, Jim Cairns and Jo Jhelke Peterson. But he does his homework, writes well, and does not condescend or patronize. I learned that I was born a British subject as Australian Citizenship did not exist until 1949, I learn that Aboriginal people were butchered and used as dog meat, that Myall Creek is famous not because Aboriginal people were slaughtered there but because six whites were hung for those deeds. But Mr Bryson also spends some time outlining unparalleled achievement of Aboriginal people being able to connect still with their cultural origins 40,000 years ago. I understood too that the ten year drought of 1890 was made much worse by the millions of rabbits (originally imported from Britain in 1850 for shooting fun) which had by that time devastated the land in combination with overgrazing by millions of sheep. Maybe the land has not yet recovered.
I hope Australians read this book. Lots of them.

I really enjoyed this book. II was so surprised when my grandparents bought me a book about Australia. I have always wanted to go there. This year our class is doing an international track where we do projects on our country, and so I'm putting this book on display.

Si te gusta la ciencia el libro te va a atrapar desde el principio hasta el fin. En algunas partes te puede marear un poco con muchos nombres y números, pero nunca deja de ser interesante. El autor escribe muy bien y hasta con un sarcasmo gracioso, además toca los temas con la profundidad justa para un libro de ciencias tan general. Muy recomendable para mi gusto.

This book was written in the style of John McPhee and even quoting him once in a while. It includes facts and people like "The Perfect Storm." Then Bill Bryson adds first hand personal experiences. You can identify with his comments that do not have to be funny to be familiar.

This book recounts Bill Bryson's experiences on the Appalachian Trail. The dry facts can be picked up through other material. However the personal experiences are just that, personal. If you have never been hiking then you still get a feel for what you have missed. However if you have hiked then you can really appreciate the people he met, and circumstances that he went through. There are hikers and then there are hikers. In the Boy Scouts you are usually in a well-organized group, in the military you have to be more cautious of objects and terrain, Sierra Club and Outward Bound have their unique points of view. So if his experience is different, it still makes for fun reading.

I even liked the sections on selecting and using the equipment. I am afraid if I had met Bill Bryson on the trail; I would have been one of those "equipment comparing" people.

Anyway do not expect an epic and you will enjoy the time you spend reading this book. Oh, and it does make me want to go hiking.

This is my first Bill Bryson book, so I can't compare this book to his others. But I can say that I really enjoyed the sarcastic humor at the expense of middle America. Many authors try and fail to bring the same amount of wit to their books as Bill Bryson.

Bryson's journey took place in 1988, which makes the book a little dated. But you have to wonder how much less fun the trip would be with a cell phone, email, GPS and Yelp. It's a little depressing to read about how much had changed in this country in 1988, and realize that was 20 years ago.

This just doesn't compare to his earlier two books, nor to his recent memoir. I thought Kerry Shale did a poor job of narrating and finding Bryson's pace. Bryson did a wonderful job of narrating his own memoir ("The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid") and should insist upon doing the rest of his stories on CD.

Actually, 3.4 stars. I am always up for a good American road trip book and I have very much enjoyed Bill Bryson's other books. What I got was early Bryson before he found his heart and an America that was beginning to go to seed on its own indifferent overindulgences. If you have not read anything else by Bill Bryson, do not start with this. He got much better in a hurry and wrote some unmissable books, which you might not be inspired to go for if all you've read is this and ended up with a mild case of indigestion. And that would be a shame.

Anyway, in the late 1980's, Iowa native Bryson, who had spent his adult life to date living in England, returned stateside after his dad's death to rediscover America in much the same way his childhood vacations always went--a ramble by car through the heartland. He envisioned stopping in those small town motels with neon signs that had pots of flowers outside and a nice courtyard pool. He envisioned dining on decent local cuisine in a corner restaurant and later shambling about town on foot, discovering its pleasantries. He headed southeast from Des Moines on the first half of a figure eight shaped path that would hit 38 of the 48 contiguous states before he was done, in his mother's old Chevette. After a promising start in Pella, Iowa, things mostly don't go perfectly. He is often bored, the food and food service often not good, and he finds Americans mostly fat and leading unexamined lives while their heritage slips through their fingers.

Bryson makes a lot of bratty jokes and it is obvious he is writing more for his audience in England than here (when he describes the size of a place, for instance, he compares it to Shropshire). He reminds me of people who say they are licensed to tell Polish jokes because they are of Polish descent. That said, the reason I did not demote this more stars is that he was not wrong and not overly cruel about our unexamined lives circa 1987-88. Looking at his picture in time, America was an accident ready to happen. Now obesity is an epidemic, as is the wanton development and lack of municipal planning that has emptied our small towns and ringed our national parks and historic sites. It seemed to him then that we had lost an incredible amount of our cultural heritage already but for those of us who had progressively absorbed it daily without really paying attention, it is really hitting home now.

Bill Bryson drives aimlessly around America by himself and complains. Not his best work. Anyone who tucks into chicken fried steak every night doesn't get to critique restaurants. If he bothered to study about any culture other than Anglo-American, he might enjoy some of the areas he traveled through. He manages to use racial terms I honestly have not heard in three decades.

As has been pointed out by everyone else,
Mr. Bryson whines and complains through the
whole book. BUT, it still has a lot of laugh
out loud moments, getting me strange looks from
everyone several places where I happened to be reading it.

Chabon's novella is a tender evocation of Arthur Conan Doyle, with its aged amateur detective, sincere but stolid professional policemen, quiet English village, and modest but muddled murder mystery.

The search is for a parrot, who recites numbers in German, and the parrot's theft from a mute Jewish boy. The setting of the story in 1944 gives the story a sinister twist, as spies and clandestine deciphering agencies come into play. In the end, though, the final solution is both more mundane, and far more poignant than any spy tale.

Not a world-changing masterpiece, but a small, exquisitely-crafted piece of art.

In Chabon's tribute to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle he creates a puzzle with language for readers that make a reader work. As always his characterization and carefully crafted language support an intriguing plot that features multiple timelines and historical references. Not my favorite Chabon novel but well worth reading... even though it's light you should take it slow because this novel is packed with a surprise at every turn with one big one at the end. Read carefully and enjoy.

This is "exquisite," as several other reviewers have said. It is skillfully done, it is clever. It is deliberately old fashioned.

But I think a reader needs to ask: why write such a book? If this is entertaining, then so is the whimsy and cuteness in "Murder, She Wrote" or the delicate fake nostalgia in Merchant and Ivory films.

Late in his life, someone asked Ezra Pound to write a preface to his first book of poems, published when he was young. The early book was called "A lume spento" -- the poems were pretentious, precious, and old fashioned. Pound knew it, can said they were "stale cream puffs." I know that Chabon writes in several different styles, but I am not going to read any of his other books. Why? Because if he thinks something this artificial and concocted is entertaining, then I do not trust his taste. He can't possibly be a writer for the twenty-first century.

I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when I spotted this book. It not only revolves around an African grey parrot, but it is about the "world's first consulting detective" - none other than Sherlock Holmes (I love stories about Holmes almost as much as I love my African greys - and the books almost never bite me!) It takes place during the latter years of World War II, when Holmes, now a retired beekeeper in the English countryside (never mentioned by name in the book), meets a young boy wandering about the countryside with an African grey parrot. No one knows where they come from, and communication is difficult as the boy only speaks German.

The bird disappears, and the great detective comes out of retirement to find it. There are hints that this bird perhaps holds the key to a German code, and Holmes finds himself matching wits with British army intelligence, which apparently wants the bird, also.

Chabon uses an interesting technique in the next-to-last chapter of the book: he tells that chapter from the perspective of the parrot. One thing I'm not certain about is the accuracy in describing the parrot's sense of smell. There seems to be some debate as to whether parrots have a well-developed sense of smell, and the bird in this story does seem to have a keen olfactory sense.

I also felt a little irritated by the spelling of African grey as "gray" in the book. Technically, the use of an "a" is correct American spelling for the word "gray" when referring to a color, but using "e" when referring to Psittacus erithacus by its common name is standard practice in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom, a detail obviously overlooked by the author. I won't tell you how it ends of course, but if you like mysteries - especially Holmes mysteries - you'll probably enjoy this story, despite some of its flaws in the details regarding grey parrots.

I love Michael Chabon's life and work. Working at the creative fringe of multiple genres, and succeeding at most of them. I can think of few contemporary authors who would write a new Sherlock Holmes mystery with Holmes as a crotchety 89-year-old beekeeper. It's a delightful concept.

But that doesn't mean that the book is equally delightful. The writing is fine, and certainly consistent with Chabon's work elsewhere. The images of an aging Holmes are memorable. But the mystery is pedestrian, and the ah-hah moment of its solution lacks the thrill that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would have evoked. It is a worthy read, but falls short of truly emulating the best of Doyle and of Holmes.

This book may disappoint you a bit if you are used to Bryson's other books. It contains the characteristic marks of Bryson's books, but it isn't as well done as the others. Something is missing. Maybe the brief format or more serious subject matter tempered things a bit? I don't know. Oh well, this book was done for a good cause. And I applaud that effort.

Loved the book, which is written with Bryson's characteristic humor. With a very detailed account of his short trip to Kenya, I could see what Bryson was seeing and feel what he was feeling all along the way. I would highly recommend the book for giving an eye-opening glimpse into the lives of people in Kenya. The proceeds from the book's sale go to CARE.

this book was short, but what can you expect when he only spends a week there? he brings the reality of africa and kenya and all of the proceeds go to CARE.

As someone who has spent a considerable amount of time in the country of Kenya, I enjoyed reading Bryson's thoughts and comments about the sites and sounds of East Africa, many of which I have observed myself. I just would have like to have heard more. Great read for someone who has been there because the allusions and humor definitely hit home.

Bill Bryson is the funniest travel writer working today, I believe, and even when he takes on what is an unpleasant task - visiting one of the most depressed areas of the world in order to raise funds for CARE, he does it in a hilarious way.

In this short little book, Bryson not only shares with us his (by turns) funny and heartbreaking journey, we also get to meet some amazing people. The lady who works twelve-hour days in order to get a profit of some $7 or $8 - the farmer who has made a fantastic farm and is very proud of it - the villagers who come out to welcome the visitors with open arms because of a well that was built, eliminating the need for the women of the village to make a seven-hour roundtrip journey to the nearest water source. This is what it's all about - this is the magical work that CARE does with the funds that are donated.

Bryson is his usual, witty self, freely confessing that the homework he did in preparing for his trip was watching Out of Africa numerous times, and he thought that he was going to be on an estate being served coffee for most of the trip. The reality was somewhat different, but still far afield from what he expected. That I not only laughed out loud but insisted on reading choice bits aloud to my husband is a testament to the talent and humor that Bryson brings to everything he does.

Anyone who enjoys metalworking and is searching for introductory information on heat treating will find this book is a thing of beauty. To quote the preface, "This is not a book about metallurgy, but a book that describes in simple terms what happens to metal during heat treatment!" Right from the start ("Chapter 1. What is Steel" and "Chapter 2. Exactly What is Heat Treatment Doing?") the author explains step-by-step how to treat the major classes and most common alloys of tool steel. If you want to know the how and why of hardening, tempering and annealing at a level that will allow you to really do it yourself, look no further.

The book decodes the naming conventions, explains the differences between air, water and oil steels, offers insight into the effects of various alloys and provides full recipes for hardening, quenching and tempering the most used steels. He goes on to discuss the effects of subsequent operations such as grinding, welding and EDM. The back is filled with tables with data for all the steels you're ever likely to use.

I had tried a few project prior to finding this book with mixed results, mostly because it's impossible to tell "straw" from "pale amber" with going through an old-fashioned apprenticeship. This book offers exact instructions, temperatures, soak schedules and tips that produce excellent results.

On finding the link to recommend this book to a friend, I was shocked to find that it had such a low reader rating (3/5 stars). Of the six other reviews here, three are the arrogant sarcasm of people who have so much free time that they read about other people's vacations. Regarding the fourth, if you are as well versed in 16th century texts on metallurgy as in the "cutting edge" of technology, then this book is not for you either.

I don't know much about heat treatment myself, but if this Bill Bryson doesn't then he sure has me fooled. Following the step-by-step instructions in this book has got to be WAY better than guesswork with a torch and a pail of water, no matter what some snobs might think. The instructions appear detailed and probably more cautious and meticulous than I would actually be in practice. If anybody has better info than this, they ought to stop alluding mysteriously and write their own book to let us all in on the secret.

The only "fault" with the book I can see is it is a bit redundant for bedtime reading material, being organized for practical work.

This is an entirely different Bill Bryson from the guy who writes travel/history books. Don't let the joking, stupid, and/or over-puffed reviews here deter you from doing heat treatment a whole lot better than you are probably doing it now.

I bought this book about a year ago in order to understand the heat treating process of common tool steels. It is a well written set of "recipes" for the hobby and home shop machinist. It is not a canonical text on metallurgy.
So far I have used it to heat treat several projects that I used A2 (air hardening) tool steel in. I found the directions easy to follow and got the desired results without any mistakes.
As always, one should follow the manufacturers recommendations for a particular steel. The manufacturer specifies the "what". This book specifies the "how" (and some of the "why".)
I highly recommend this book.
-David Utidjian-

I agree with Julian, while this particular book may be a bit more technical than his others, it is certainly worth the money and belongs on every Bryson fan's shelf. The insights into metal are as plentiful as the humor - especially when the author dives into the always hilarious topics of carburization and TTT diagrams. Side splitting! I never knew that working with metals could be so entertaining but I guess I should expect that from Bryson. He can make any topic a joy.

While the book provides a wide range of knowledge - I'm sure this will become the standard for manuals on grinding which I think is the books strongest section. It is also the section the allows Bryson to really exercise his comedic genuis even if some of the humor may be lost on the casual fan.

My only complaint is that this gem isn't available on audio-cassette but I'm sure that Random House will fix that soon. I would love to hear these words from Bill's own mouth especially when he talks about getting the most out of a furnace!

Also make sure to look for Bill's book "Cryogenics" which I think he was working on while still living in England - it, too, is a joy to read - especially the highly entertaining section on liquid nitrogen! The section on Stress in Materials was also top notch - almost as humorous as his observations about the women of Iowa in earlier books. Keep up the good work Bill!

I am always surprized at the lack of information about the metal heat treating field. This book is definitely included in this. Although many of the processing techniques are good, some make me cringe and want to run for cover. The metallurgical information is remaniscent of Biringuccio or Agricola, both written in the 1500's. If you have enough metallurgical knowledge to know what is correct and what processing techniques are good, then you don't need this book. If you don't have enough knowledge to decipher this, then it is unreliable. On a lighter note, the other sections, not dealing with heat treating, seem good.

BRYSON'S DICTIONARY FOR WRITERS AND EDITORS BY BILL BRYSON: Bestselling author Bill Bryson has already amassed quite a career for himself with successful travel writing books like A Walk in the Woods and In a Sunburned Country, as well as books on literature and language like The Mother Tongue and Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words, and even attempting to present a concise history of science with A Short History of Nearly Everything; Bryson now returns with Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors.

He admits in his preface that it is a personal collection, "built over thirty years as a writer and editor in two countries," and that some of the obscure references and definitions may not be useful to many, like the name of the Sydney district Woolloomooloo, or that the residence of the Danish Royal Family in Copenhagen is the Amalienborg Palace. Nevertheless, Bryson addresses many of the common issues that make a writer hesitate - amoral or immoral? Effect or affect?. He dispenses with the dictionary's phonetic alphabet, instead providing pronunciation help where necessary; as well as cross indexing so that in the example mentioned above, the entry can be found filed under both amoral and immoral for the writer's and editor's ease.

Bryson's Dictionary is filled with innumerable references and spellings for authors, book titles, series, philosophers, scientists . . . you name it, making them even easier to find than looking up on the Internet. Bryson also includes appendices of punctuation and its definitions, words ending in -able and -ible, a list of the world's airports and their codes, the different currencies of the world, conversion tables, and an extensive glossary on grammar.

Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors is the ideal book for most people who do any sort of reading and writing, whether it is the freshman heading off for college for the first time, the freelance writer looking to get published, or the retired crossword addict looking for exact spelling at their fingertips.

[...]

This book is FUN and so helpful. Keep it by my bed and read a few pages before falling asleep. I keep learning more wonderful and unique facts about language, about life, about so many things. Try it. You'll love it!

May D

The book is a dictionary about difficult or strange expressions and names. It's a new edition of Bryson's 2002 "Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words". It's very nice written (typically Bryson's style), full of cynical explanations that will make you laugh and enormously useful when writing English texts.
As a German speaking human being, I have to admit that there are quite a lot of misspelled German words... But this unfortunately seems to be quite often the case with Americans writing in German (... and vice versa...)

This is one of those little works that may or may not appeal to the average reader, and may or may not live up to the expectations of its title. I have a very large shelf of reference books, dictionaries, and the like setting above my desk. I also have my computer in front of me (obviously, as I am using it now). A small 300 plus page book is in no way going to replace these books or my temperamental machine, or even come close. When I purchase this little volume, I did not have the unrealistic expectations that in was the beginning and end of all reference books. Rather, I enjoy Bryson's writing. I enjoy trivia. I enjoy having little books around that I can pick up, read a few lines and enjoy them and learn something to boot. This work fulfilled my personal needs quite well. I seldom take anything Bryson writes all that serious, but I personally think he is funny and I do enjoy his quirky, curious mind.

This, according to the author's statement is a persona list of words, names, places, etc. that he has encountered over the years. It addresses the usage of these words; it gives a brief one line description of places, people and things. It also, as the author points out, addresses words that are sort of at the edge of your mind, i.e. you know of them, sort of, you know of their usage, sort of, but you are not quite sure. As an example, and this pertains to just me, Bryson tells us the difference between "douse" and "dowse." Now I know these two words, but to be frank, was not real sure of the difference when I really stopped to think of it. This book quickly explains it in just twelve words. Neat! I have always, for some reason had problems with the usage of "its" verses "it's." (I know, I am an illiterate clod, no use in pointing it out). Bryson explains their usage in a quick, pain free, three lines. This is sure nicer than digging through The Little, Brown Handbook, and trying to figure out what in the world they are talking about.

If you spend your hard earned money on a short work such as this and expect to receive an all inclusive reference book, then you probably deserve to be parted from your cash. If you buy this simply for the entertainment value, then you will probably get your monies worth.

With a different title I would have given this book five stars, and I would highly recommend it for newsrooms.

But the majority of the world's writers and editors do not work in newsrooms. They do not write news articles. They write web pages or annual reports for corporations or books on software or educational materials or white papers on technical topics or corporate policy statements or publicity pieces -- or a thousand other kinds of writing, often with audiences just as large as a newspaper's circulation.

The problem with this book, in other words, is not the quality of its entries, but their selection. The book has lots of help for accurate spelling of proper names, but surprisingly little help with topics that today are either ubiquitous or ubiquitous for large swaths of society.

Under "E," for example, you will find an entry for "Elliot, Denholm" with the correct spelling of that actor's name. But you won't find an entry on "email" discussing whether the preferred spelling is hyphenated ("e-mail"). Nor will you find any guidance on "e-commerce" (or eCommerce or E-commerce or any of a number of other variants). You will (thank goodness?) find the correct spelling of "Edgware Road," the London street and Underground station.

Under "H" you will find the correct spellings of Harper's Bazaar, Harpers Ferry, Harper's Magazine and Hartsfield-Jackson (note the hyphen!) Atlanta International Airport. What you won't find is any discussion of the compound "health care" and whether it should ever be written as a solid (as in "universal healthcare").

Also under "H" you will find the correct spellings of Hindu Kush (the Afghan mountain range), Hippocrates (ancient Greek physician), and Al Hirschfield (the American caricaturist). But you won't find a reminder that the correct acronym for the landmark 1996 legislation (provisions of which affect every U.S. hospital, medical facility, health plan, and pharmaceutical company) is HIPAA, not HIPPA (which is how it's pronounced), because the full name of that legislation is the "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act."

Bottom line: This is not a bad book; it's just a book primarily for newspeople. It should have been promoted as such.

The two stars (rather than none) is for the fact that there are lots of entries that are actually useful (equable vs. equitable; precipitant, precipitate, and precipitous; stanch vs. staunch), and for the most part they are very clearly written. And when an entry calls for advice -- see, for example, the entry on "hopefully" -- Bryson's taste and judgment are sound.