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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
So many people I respect love Bryson in general as well as this particular book. I tried so hard to like it, I really did. I like that it's a compilation of columns he wrote, which makes it nice to read on public transportation. However, his style is very formulaic and his unwavering lack of deviation from it is exhausting.
In the past two years, I've been more intentional about creating a gender balance in the writing I engage with (including books, online articles, etc.). The biggest thing about Bryson style is it is very Bougie White Cishet Dude. While I tend to agree with most of his views (despite some misogynous microaggressions when referring to his wife disguised as pet names), his humor and style is unoriginal, exhausting, and completely out of touch with anyone who does not share his particular class/race/gender makeup. I am disheartened by how often people, be they individuals or publishers, take his particular class/race/gender combination to be The Voice of people, when it's merely the voice of one kind of people -- yet it is the most widely published voice. This book is a perfect example of that.
In the past two years, I've been more intentional about creating a gender balance in the writing I engage with (including books, online articles, etc.). The biggest thing about Bryson style is it is very Bougie White Cishet Dude. While I tend to agree with most of his views (despite some misogynous microaggressions when referring to his wife disguised as pet names), his humor and style is unoriginal, exhausting, and completely out of touch with anyone who does not share his particular class/race/gender makeup. I am disheartened by how often people, be they individuals or publishers, take his particular class/race/gender combination to be The Voice of people, when it's merely the voice of one kind of people -- yet it is the most widely published voice. This book is a perfect example of that.
I love Bryson's writing, so I was not surprised by how much I enjoyed the book, which is a compilation of weekly articles written about American life for an English newspaper. Although I was expecting more of a travelogue/different places in America kind of book, I was not disappointed. The articles' short length make them perfect for commute/light reading. Although the book was written around 15 years ago, many aspects of our culture are still the same.
This book is a collection of Bryson's weekly columns for the English written after he moved back to America. He is an exceptional writer, and I often found myself laughing out loud in response to one of his many stories that I could often relate to. If there's a downside to the columns, it's that he can come across sometimes as a curmudgeon. Other than that, it's fun and light reading.
I think I can only take Bryson in small doses. He can be amusing, but he can also be so in love with his own joke it can be irritating. He feels like a younger brother who you sometimes just want to give a punch-in-the-arm to.
It’s not really helped by the fact that this book is about 20 years out of date. It is fun to see people having to deal with problems that today's technology has taken care of. Like, payphones and how hard it is to get to connect to the right number. Ha! Get a cellphone, Bryson!
It is sad how little has changed, though; Americans still have the reputation of being ignorant, violent, fat and lazy (but friendly!). The stereotype is a stereotype and therefore not accurate for many, but twenty years later, the world still sees us this way.
It is also hard to tell how many of these jokes were actually fresh at their time but now have become clichéd. Fancy coffee! Why is it so hard to get a standard cup of Joe these days? Now it’s all mocha cappuccino venti whip! Not even the sizes are in good ol’ English! This brings up another problem with Bryson: his exaggeration. I can’t trust him, because he often takes things to the extreme and out of reality. In his rant about being unable to get regular coffee (WHICH IS NOT TRUE EVERYONE HAS REAL COFFEE IT IS SUPER EASY TO ORDER, GOOD GOD MAN!) he has the barista ask him if he wants an americano and he is like FINE JUST GIVE ME COFFEE and the barista asks, “with whip?” NO ONE PUTS WHIP ON AMERICANO. That is only on mochas. Not even lattes (sadly). Americano is just espresso and water – whip is NOT standard and NO ONE asks about that. It is clear that Bryson is just taking the idea of Can’t Get Regular Coffee No More to its (il)logical extreme. I know comedians do this, and it’s a way to be funny, but I find it annoying. I want a humorous but realistic look at a situation. That is not what Bryson wants to give me.
He also sometimes takes an okay joke WAY TOO FAR. Like his tax schtick. Taxes! So confusing! The forms so incomprehensible! Okay, yes, make that joke Bryson! On the other hand you don’t need pages and pages and pages about it. It just gets extremely irritating, having someone unable to end a one-note joke. I just ended up skipping the ones like this (also: computer instructions. Computers! So crazy! Instructions! So incomprehensible! Might as well be written in Chinese, amirite?).
When Bryson calms down a little, he can be funny. And it is interesting to see America through British eyes (Bryson may be American, but he’s writing for a British audience). But it's not quite the biting wit I was looking for.
It’s not really helped by the fact that this book is about 20 years out of date. It is fun to see people having to deal with problems that today's technology has taken care of. Like, payphones and how hard it is to get to connect to the right number. Ha! Get a cellphone, Bryson!
It is sad how little has changed, though; Americans still have the reputation of being ignorant, violent, fat and lazy (but friendly!). The stereotype is a stereotype and therefore not accurate for many, but twenty years later, the world still sees us this way.
It is also hard to tell how many of these jokes were actually fresh at their time but now have become clichéd. Fancy coffee! Why is it so hard to get a standard cup of Joe these days? Now it’s all mocha cappuccino venti whip! Not even the sizes are in good ol’ English! This brings up another problem with Bryson: his exaggeration. I can’t trust him, because he often takes things to the extreme and out of reality. In his rant about being unable to get regular coffee (WHICH IS NOT TRUE EVERYONE HAS REAL COFFEE IT IS SUPER EASY TO ORDER, GOOD GOD MAN!) he has the barista ask him if he wants an americano and he is like FINE JUST GIVE ME COFFEE and the barista asks, “with whip?” NO ONE PUTS WHIP ON AMERICANO. That is only on mochas. Not even lattes (sadly). Americano is just espresso and water – whip is NOT standard and NO ONE asks about that. It is clear that Bryson is just taking the idea of Can’t Get Regular Coffee No More to its (il)logical extreme. I know comedians do this, and it’s a way to be funny, but I find it annoying. I want a humorous but realistic look at a situation. That is not what Bryson wants to give me.
He also sometimes takes an okay joke WAY TOO FAR. Like his tax schtick. Taxes! So confusing! The forms so incomprehensible! Okay, yes, make that joke Bryson! On the other hand you don’t need pages and pages and pages about it. It just gets extremely irritating, having someone unable to end a one-note joke. I just ended up skipping the ones like this (also: computer instructions. Computers! So crazy! Instructions! So incomprehensible! Might as well be written in Chinese, amirite?).
When Bryson calms down a little, he can be funny. And it is interesting to see America through British eyes (Bryson may be American, but he’s writing for a British audience). But it's not quite the biting wit I was looking for.
Bryson is a funny guy and I quite enjoyed this, it's a bit dated. In the 20 years since this book was written, you've probably already heard and made fun of many of the oddities of America and Americans that he so delightfully describes. Also, it's a collection of newspaper columns which i'm sure works a lot better in that context than in a book (here it gets a bit repetitive sometimes). But i've had quite a few good laughs.
So do read Bill Bryson but maybe try something newer or something more focused (I tremendously enjoyed his Short history of nearly everything).
So do read Bill Bryson but maybe try something newer or something more focused (I tremendously enjoyed his Short history of nearly everything).
lighthearted
medium-paced
Bill Bryson is the modern Sei Shōnagon. The man can write delightful and amusing lists!
This book is a collection of short essays and many of them contain entertaining lists. Though this book is written 30 some years ago, the content (and complaints) still rings true today. I think Bryson has mastered the art of complaining hilariously. I find his rants entertaining; many schadenfreude derived from Bryson's frustrations.
This book showcases Bryson's self-deprecating humor and his keen observation of the loveliness and ridiculousness in modern life. Oh, and the cover creeps me out.
This book is a collection of short essays and many of them contain entertaining lists. Though this book is written 30 some years ago, the content (and complaints) still rings true today. I think Bryson has mastered the art of complaining hilariously. I find his rants entertaining; many schadenfreude derived from Bryson's frustrations.
This book showcases Bryson's self-deprecating humor and his keen observation of the loveliness and ridiculousness in modern life. Oh, and the cover creeps me out.
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Having never lived outside of the United States, I feel this book was not for me. Other than several hours spent in Juarez, Mexico, and a few days spent in Niagara Falls when I was a kid, I've never even left the country. So a book that makes fun of all the daily things which seem normal to me was not my cup of tea.
Bryson has the annoying habit of making fun of anything that is remotely technical or scientific. There's a word that's more than three syllables? Better add another two made-up syllables to emphasize that he didn't understand it. It also undermines the credibility of an article dealing with the ineptitude of the American government when you state that a CIA double agent was sentenced to "a zillion years". Some of the articles contained paragraph after paragraph of statistics, but knowing that numbers are randomly made up at other points, you really have no way of knowing what is truth and what is just thrown in for laughs.
Bryson points out many "humorous" facts about America, such as "Most businesses in America have their own parking lots” but he doesn't give any contrasting information. I assume he's implying that most European businesses do NOT have their own parking lots, and this is the norm elsewhere in the world, but he never supplies that information.
Another big problem with most of this book is that the content is too old. Many (perhaps all) of these articles were originally written in the 90's, so the laughs were well played out years ago. Hey, remember when you didn't know what was gonna happen with Y2K? That sure was a doozy.
I don't want you to think every section was bad. When the articles dealt more with basic observations (such as the section on population and immigration) I actually enjoyed it. Granted these were the less-humorous sections, so perhaps I just have a poor sense of humor. Also, near the end he includes his ten rules for life which he gave at a commencement speech for Kimball Union Academy. Some of them were actually pretty deep and a nice change from the repetitive humor which was wasted on me.
Bryson has the annoying habit of making fun of anything that is remotely technical or scientific. There's a word that's more than three syllables? Better add another two made-up syllables to emphasize that he didn't understand it. It also undermines the credibility of an article dealing with the ineptitude of the American government when you state that a CIA double agent was sentenced to "a zillion years". Some of the articles contained paragraph after paragraph of statistics, but knowing that numbers are randomly made up at other points, you really have no way of knowing what is truth and what is just thrown in for laughs.
Bryson points out many "humorous" facts about America, such as "Most businesses in America have their own parking lots” but he doesn't give any contrasting information. I assume he's implying that most European businesses do NOT have their own parking lots, and this is the norm elsewhere in the world, but he never supplies that information.
Another big problem with most of this book is that the content is too old. Many (perhaps all) of these articles were originally written in the 90's, so the laughs were well played out years ago. Hey, remember when you didn't know what was gonna happen with Y2K? That sure was a doozy.
I don't want you to think every section was bad. When the articles dealt more with basic observations (such as the section on population and immigration) I actually enjoyed it. Granted these were the less-humorous sections, so perhaps I just have a poor sense of humor. Also, near the end he includes his ten rules for life which he gave at a commencement speech for Kimball Union Academy. Some of them were actually pretty deep and a nice change from the repetitive humor which was wasted on me.