In a Sunburned CountryEvery time Bill Bryson walks out the door memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion up, down, and over the Appalachian Trail (well, most of it) resulted in the sublime national bestseller A Walk in the Woods. Now he has traveled across the world and all the way Down Under to Australia, a shockingly under-discovered country with the friendliest inhabitants, the hottest, driest weather, and the most peculiar and lethal wildlife to be found on the planet. In a Sunburned Country is his report on what he found there--a deliciously funny, fact-filled, and adventurous performance by a writer who combines humor, wonder, and unflagging curiosity. Australia is a country that exists on a vast scale. It is the only island that is also a continent and the only continent that is also a country. Despite being the most desiccated, infertile, and climatically aggressive of all inhabited continents, it teems with life. In fact, Australia has more things that can kill you in extremely nasty ways than anywhere else: sharks, crocodiles, the ten most deadly poisonous snakes on the planet, fluffy yet toxic caterpillars, seashells that actually attack you, and the unbelievable box jellyfish (don't ask). The dangerous riptides of the sea and the sun-baked wastes of the outback both lie in wait for the unwary. It's one tough country. Bill Bryson adores it, of course, and he takes his readers on a rollicking ride far beyond the beaten tourist path. Here is a place where interesting things happen all the time, from a Prime Minister lost--yes, lost--while swimming at sea to Japanese cult members who may have set off an atomic bomb (sic) entirely unnoticed on their500,000-acre property in the great western desert. Wherever he goes (and Bryson goes just about everywhere) he finds Australians who are cheerful, extroverted, and unfailingly obliging--the beaming products of a land with clean, safe cities, cold beer, and constant sunshine. On occasion the Aborigines, a remote and mysterious race with a tragic history, make a haunting appearance in this book. But by and large Australia is an immense and fortunate land, and it has found in Bill Bryson its perfect guide. Published just in time for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, In a Sunburned Country offers the best of all possible introductions to what may well be the best of all possible nations. Even with those jellyfish. |
From inside the book
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Page 83
... museum's collection — the large banner that the rioters carried in 1861. It is known as " the roll - up flag " because neatly embroidered across it are the words “ Roll Up . Roll Up . No Chinese . ” In his book A Secret Country , which ...
... museum's collection — the large banner that the rioters carried in 1861. It is known as " the roll - up flag " because neatly embroidered across it are the words “ Roll Up . Roll Up . No Chinese . ” In his book A Secret Country , which ...
Page 231
... museum was given over to cases of stuffed animals illustrating the Northern Territory's extraordinary biological diversity . Pride of place was given to an enormous stuffed crocodile named Sweetheart , who was for a time the most famous ...
... museum was given over to cases of stuffed animals illustrating the Northern Territory's extraordinary biological diversity . Pride of place was given to an enormous stuffed crocodile named Sweetheart , who was for a time the most famous ...
Page 263
... museum in an old hangar next door . Curiously , no one was in attendance , but the door was open , so I stepped inside and had a look around . The museum had a fairly predictable assort- ment of old engines and walls of yellowing ...
... museum in an old hangar next door . Curiously , no one was in attendance , but the door was open , so I stepped inside and had a look around . The museum had a fairly predictable assort- ment of old engines and walls of yellowing ...
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Common terms and phrases
Aborigines Adelaide Alan Alice Springs Allan arrived asked beach beer boat box jellyfish Broken Hill building bush Cairns Canberra Carmel coast couple course crocodile Daintree Daly Waters Darwin desert drive earth empty feet half Harold Holt head highway hills hundred miles Indian Pacific jellyfish kangaroos kilometers Kingsford Smith land landscape living lonely look Melbourne Menindee million minutes morning museum named National nearly never nodded once outback Park passed Perth place called Queensland realized reef road rock seemed seen sharks smile South Australia South Wales stand stood story street stroll stromatolites Stuart Highway Surfers Paradise swim Sydney tell There's thing thought thousand tion took town trees turned Uluru Victoria visitors walked watched Western Australia wonder young