Bill Bryson's "In a Sunburned Country: An Exploration of Australia"

djh: After reading this book, I feel like I have to experience it myself. A lost country that has soo much to show the world.

United States on Oct 09, 2023

Ed H.: Bill Bryson at his best, loved this book.
Good detail on Australia, captures the place so well, with his usual humour.

United Kingdom on Oct 07, 2023

Beryl Anne williams: Book was in excellent condition

Australia on Sep 12, 2023

G's Mum: As a UK visitor to Australia to see family since 1986, I loved this book. Unsurprisingly I haven’t visited many of the wonderful places in Bills book but have a hunger to do so next time I go and will plan accordingly.
Thanks for not shirking the reports of the incomprehensible attitude of some Australians towards the Aboriginal people, counterbalanced with the accurate recount of the warmth good nature and hospitality of most citizens. I love Oz and this book has helped me love it more. Thank you

United Kingdom on Jul 24, 2023

Yashi Sinha: The most endearing part of the book is it's humour. It's packed with information about Australia's flora and fauna, it's geography and history, all narrated with humour and warmth for this little known country. But the canvas covered by Bryson is so vast that the book kind of lacks shape, if you know what I mean. Good but not outstanding as a friend had made me believe.

India on Jul 10, 2023

Viveck Crishna: feels a little dated but gives an all round picture of the giant island continent

India on May 30, 2023

Sue: I prematurely judged this book too harshly. ! I absolutely loved A Walk in the Woods and thought I would love his others as well. It took me weeks to read the first 5 chapters and finally just quit all together. Total snooze fest. Go pick up a history of Australia textbook and it’s probably more interesting. I expected a tale of first hand adventures and got a history book filled with boring facts. I eventually came back to it because i don’t like to leave things unfinished and lo, and behold chapter 6 it finally gets good. I flew through the rest of it and was genuinely enjoying it. In spite of the slow start, I still recommend it!

United States on May 09, 2023

Kindle Customer: His best book and I have read most of them
if you have never been to Australia, this nook will make start dreaming of going there.
By beginning on the far Eastern area, to the Southeast,and then walking us through towns that vary in climate, style of living , and people themselves, this is a journey well worth taking. Then you are up in the northeast and Bryson gives you the feel of what huge variable country it is.
From the Northeast you will travel across the far north and discover the dangers and weather that can stop you in your tracks.
Next is the exhausting and rugged trip to Alice Springs. So much to see and learn. From there a flight to Perth on the south west side ANF up the western coast as far as the roads go. You will get a sense of the enormity of the country, the central undeveloped land that larger than most countries and how lifeless it seems, but at the same time you discover life that has adapted to the extreme heat (140 degrees, F.) . we meet many of the strange and unique animals, fish, and plants that have developed that haven't changed since even before the dinosaurs. Unlike some Britain's books that get repetitive, like some of the British ones,...

United States on Mar 25, 2023

G. C. Carter: The 2001 book entitled: “In a Sunburned Country” by Bill Bryson is an entertaining book about Australia recommended to me after I read and enjoyed another excellent Bryson book ( “The Body’). This book too is worth purchasing and reading; perhaps more so if you are planning a trip to Australia, have done so or considering doing so.
Illustrative of both style and content, Bryson writes: “I encountered the startling fact that in 1967 the prime minister, Harold Holt, was strolling along a beach in Victoria when he plunged into the surf and vanished. No trace of the poor man was ever seen again. This seemed doubly astounding to me—first that Australia could just lose a prime minister (I mean, come on) and second that news of this had never reached me… Australia… Its population, just over 18 million… as an economic entity, it ranks about level with Illinois… Australia is the world’s sixth largest country... It is the only island that is also… a continent, and the only continent that is also a country… It is the only nation that began as a prison… It is the home of the largest living thing on earth, the Great Barrier Reef, and of the largest monolith,...

United States on Apr 07, 2022