Down and Out (Down Under - Bill Bryson)

Member Name: Highwayman

Product:	Down Under - Bill Bryson
Date:	30/04/02 (36 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: funny

Disadvantages: not a guide book, factually inaccurate

An Interesting read, because as far as I am aware, this is the first book Bill Bryson has written where he is recording his first impressions as they are formed. All the other Books are either topics he knows well ( Language, the US) or a revisitation of places or ideas.

The problem with recording first impressions, is that you record feelings as facts - and in this book he seems to have quite a bit wrong.

Take Canberra, for instance - nothing was open, no food etc etc. This is the urban myth about Canberra. It actually has more restaurants per head of population than anywhere else in the southern hemisphere. If he had asked a taxi driver, he would have found that out. There are other instances I found in the book which were inaccurate too - but that one in particular stuck in my mind, maybe because I lived in Canberra for 20 years. To list the other instances I would have to read the book again.

I did enjoy the book - much the same way as I enjoyed Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. An interesting idea with some pointed observations of human behaviour, but I would be bloody careful using it as a guide to Australians or Australia.

Summary: