down under travels in a sunburned country

He does manage to be extremely funny, however, which left me laughing out loud quite a few times while reading the book. Naturally, his interests are of a 50-year old reporter and author, and are different from my interests, but still this book is full with useful knowledge about what to visit. Rather, he tells of what he did, and his reasons for visiting some places and skipping others. Bryson doesn't impose his views on the reader. The book contains tons of interesting information about many 'hot spots' in Australia and can serve as a rough guide around the country. In this cheerful, at times hillarious narration, Bryson tells about his travels all around Australia, divided into several separate trips which all together covered most of the country. I picked this book up in preparation for our big trip to Australia and New Zealand later this year, and I'm very glad I did - it was worth every penny and every minute spent reading. 'In a sunburned country' (previously called 'Down under', much more appropriately) deals with his visits to the 'southern land' - Australia. He is a prolific author of travel books - telling about his 'adventures' in various places around the world. First serial to Outside magazine BOMC selection.Bill Bryson is an excellent author who artfully blends lots of information with a humorous, light-to-read style. Peppered with seemingly irrelevant (albeit amusing) yarns, this work is a delight to read, whether or not a trip to the continent is planned. He glorifies the country, alternating between awe, reverence and fear, and he expresses these sentiments with frankness and candor, via truly funny prose and a conversational pace that is at once unhurried and captivating. Pitfalls aside, Bryson revels in the beauty of this country, home to ravishing beaches and countless unique species (''80% of all that lives in Australia, plant and animal, lives nowhere else'').

His unrelenting insistence that Australia is the most dangerous place on earth (''If you are not stung or pronged to death in some unexpected manner, you may be fatally chomped by sharks or crocodiles, or carried helplessly out to sea by irresistible currents, or left to stagger to an unhappy death in the baking outback'') spins off dozens of tales involving jellyfish, spiders and the world's 10 most poisonous snakes. Arranged loosely by region, the book bounces between Canberra and Melbourne, the Outback and the Gold Coast, showing Bryson alone and with partners in tow.

The author of A Walk in the Woods draws readers in campfire-style, relating wacky anecdotes and random facts gathered on multiple trips down under, all the while lightening the statistics with infusions of whimsical humor. Still, Bryson's lively take is a welcome recess from packaged, staid guides.

With the Olympics approaching, books on Australia abound.

Down under travels in a sunburned country