In A Sunburned Country(ISBN=9780767903868)

　　So the question is: will Bill Bryson be able to deliver yet another travel book that educates, entertains and makes the delighted reader laugh aloud? No worries, mate, because 'Bryson visits Australia' (or Down Under, to use its proper title) doesn't disappoint. Our boy Bill declares his love for the Antipodes and proves it beyond doubt. This is another well-researched serio-comic treat, featuring Bryson's classic creation - a bemused American tourist who masks his generosity of spirit and genuine wonder behind a wisecracking persona (the character known as 'Bill Bryson'). Bryson's delight in language and wordplay is perhaps his greatest gift. My favourites from Down Underinclude his collection of Australian Parliamentary epithets ('you perfumed gigolo/mangy maggot/stunned mullet') and his encounter with a complete stranger in the shadow of a giant fibreglass lobster somewhere south of Melbourne (the punch-line to which is 'man crushed by falling bullock's bollocks'). Another winner is the vicious parody of Ozzie radio cricket commentary ('I don't think I've seen offside medium slow fast pace bowling to match it since Baden-Powell took Rangachangabanga for a maiden ovary at Bangalore in 1948'). He's also acute on politics. The plight of the Aborigines in the land that they settled 45,000 years ago lingers in the mind. He remains tough on American junk culture, too: 'We Yanks have created a philosophy of retailing that is totally without aesthetics and totally irresistible.' Bryson's tales of overindulgence in the local brew - familiar from previous books - are still surreally funny but have become a little disturbing. Whether he knows it or not (and I expect he does), he is slowly revealing intriguing aspects of his complicated personality to his many readers. There's an underlying world-weariness here, even an existential angst. EXCELLENT. I continue to find Bryson fascinating company, warts and all. Review by KERRY SHALE (Kirkus UK)

　　Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door, memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion along the Appalachian Trail resulted in the sublime national bestseller A Walk in the Woods. In A Sunburned Country is his report on what he found in an entirely different place: Australia, the country that doubles as a continent, and a place with the friendliest inhabitants, the hottest, driest weather, and the most peculiar and lethal wildlife to be found on the planet. The result is a deliciously funny, fact-filled, and adventurous performance by a writer who combines humor, wonder, and unflagging curiousity.
　　Despite the fact that Australia harbors more things that can kill you in extremely nasty ways than anywhere else, including sharks, crocodiles, snakes, even riptides and deserts, Bill Bryson adores the place, and he takes his readers on a rollicking ride far beyond that beaten tourist path. Wherever he goes he finds Australians who are cheerful, extroverted, and unfailingly obliging, and these beaming products of land with clean, safe cities, cold beer, and constant sunshine fill the pages of this wonderful book. Australia is an immense and fortunate land, and it has found in Bill Bryson its perfect guide.

　　Bill Bryson's many books include, most recently, I'm a Stranger Here Myself, as well as A Walk in the Woods, Lost Continent, Notes from a Small Island, and Mother Tongue. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951, he lived in England for almost two decades. He now lives in Hanover, New Hampshire, with his wife and their four children.