Down Under – Bill Bryson
Having come back from London a few weeks back armed with a fat copy of the Bryson science epic, I settled down to read it. Then I remembered that just a short while earlier I had found a copy of Down Under, the only other Bryson book I had never read, going cheap in a charity shop. Bryson truly is one of my favourite authors – I believe he speaks to me personally, we share a sense of humour and of the ridiculous, and of course the man is a journalist. Once a sub-editor, always a sub-editor. It's not a state of mind you can ever shake off – and rest assured that the above apostrophe is correctly placed.
Anyway, to un-digress, the only thing that had stopped me reading Down Under for this long had been a feeling of not much interest in visiting Australia. Like Ransome's Rod and Line, however, I was perfectly prepared to deal with uncongenial subject-matter for the sake of the author's company.
Before I'd read half of this excellent book I was wanting to book my plane ticket. Or should I say my train ticket, since it seems the land Down Under has long-distance rail journeys to please the most ardent enthusiast. He makes the country come alive, he offers delicious small servings of history, biology and politics along with the amusing anecdotes, and there is plenty of insightful analysis as well as humour. One thing that has happened to Bryson as his writing career has progressed is that the issues he cares about have come more and more to the fore – conservation being primary among them and this book is laced with a fair amount of polemic on this and other subjects – no bad thing at all, I felt.
I guess I feared 'Bryson does Oz' would just be a re-run of 'The young Bryson does Europe', 'The middle-aged Bryson does Britain' and 'The inept Bryson takes a long and dangerous hike'. And what would happen to the man when he ran out of continents to wander across? But the best thing about this is that it is not just 'Bryson does Oz' and for that reason, as well as all the others mentioned above, it comes highly recommended. Another thing I find refreshing about this book is that in a cynical, impervious world, Bryson actually likes and enjoys meeting his fellow humans. Perhaps things aren't so bad after all.
Now for another crack at 'Bryson does science'.