Bite Size Bryson (Notes from a Big Country - Bill Bryson)

Member Name: campb3ll

Product:	Notes from a Big Country - Bill Bryson
Date:	15/01/02 (882 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Puts a smile on your face every time

Disadvantages: None

If you've never encountered Bill Bryson's work before then you're in for a treat. 'Notes from a Big Country' is essentially what I'd consider a condensed summary of his best features - writing wise that is. The short introduction indicates that sometime in summer 1996, Bryson was persuaded to write a weekly column about America for the Mail on Sunday's 'Night and Day' magazine to be called 'Notes from a Big Country'. This book features 78 columns from the first 18 months.

Fans of Bryson will need no urging to dive straight on in. For the uninitiated, about all you need to enjoy this book is a good sense of humour and possibly any nationality other than American. Confused? Well, although several of the columns characteristically follow Bryson's love of trivia and inspired off-topic ramblings, quite a lot of the columns are pretty much a summary of America's shortcomings. And that's putting it nicely.

For example, did you know that in 1995 computer hackers successfully breached the Pentagon's security systems 161,000 times or about once every 3.2 minutes? Called me a fool but I don't think I'd leave tons of nuclear weapons lying around so that folks can see what happens when you press the 'fire' buttons. Still perhaps it gives the Pentagon something to do on those cold winter nights - figure out a way to patch up all those security holes (personally, I'd just hire some of those hackers).

It may be mildly alarming stuff to know that the world's foremost superpower is unable to stop teenage nerds from leeching away their country's top secrets but that's Bryson special skill - finding something amusing in any situation he comes across.

Interspersed with all these American facts, there's all those wonderful mundanities that Bryson always has to share with his readers. Apparently 85 per cent of Americans are 'essentially' sendentary an
d 35 per cent are 'totally' sendentary - the average American only walks about 1.4 miles per week. This means that when Bryson tried to get to a bookstore one day (about 50 feet away, across a busy intersection) he had to get back into his car or face turning into a curiously flat red pancake. Not to mention having groceries bagged - what does that achieve for you beyond getting to watch your groceries being bagged? Or the fact that "There is always a little more toothpaste in the tube. Think about it."

One of the reasons why 'Notes from a Big Country' is pretty much stuffed with Can-you-believe-those-Americans type jokes is that Bryson spent quite a long time living over here in Britain. Spending most of your adult life in another country before returning home can leave you feeling like you've been catapulted somewhere into the future, where everything is strangely familiar yet slightly different. Can you imagine going on vacation and then returning home to have conversations along the lines of "I need some of that stuff you fill holes in the wall with. My wife's people call it Polyfilla" and "I need some of those little plastic things you use to hold screws in the wall when you put shelves up. I know them as Rawlplugs" only to be greeted with "Oh, you mean spackle" and "We call them anchors". I think this is why Bryson spends half his time enthusing about how wonderful America is and how nice it is to be home and the other half of the time laughing at his compatriots and raging about their shortcomings.

There are many things that underline the difference between America and Britain. We might speak the same language (mostly) and share the same background (loosely) but when it comes to cupholders, we might as well live on entirely different planets.

Americans buy cars on the basis of cupholders. Honestly! The Dodge Caravan has 17, leaving a generous ratio of 2.43 cu
pholders per passenger. This is important to American car owners. Apparently Volvo had to redesign all its cars for the American market because it foolishly left out cupholders on the premise that what people really want are reliable engines and side impact bars. Well, they soon learnt their lesson.

'Notes from a Big Country' is rich in pointless trivia, outstandingly stupid facts and life in a (nearly foreign) home country. More importantly it is full of humour. Witty, dry, laugh-out-loud humour that is just crying out for you to join in the laughter. This book should be on the bookshelves of every Bryson fan. It would also work extremely well as an introduction to Bryson's writing style. 'Notes from a Big Country' is arranged as it was originally published - as short magazine column length sections. This makes it perfect for dipping in and out from when you have half an hour to spare. Buy a copy and keep it by your side for your mid morning coffee breaks.

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