In A Sunburned Country
By Bill Bryson
Harcourt Brace, 2000

Fans of Bill Bryson can't agree if he's a humor writer who travels or a travel writer said to be so funny you should never read his books in a hammock. Regardless, they cheer when he decides to leave home. His latest book, In a Sunburned Country, details his love affair with Australia, which, as he reminds us never gets the attention here in the States that it should: after all, it is the world's largest island and sixth-largest country, the only nation that began as a prison. So why do we get more reporting about ice cream than we do about Australia?

It is also, as he will tell you, the only place where travel guides will glibly warn you that if you happen to spot a dodge viper, you should simply let the snake slither over your shoes. After all, like so much of Australia, the thing can kill you.

About the author
Bill Bryson's many books include, most recently, A History of Nearly Everything, I'm a Stranger Here Myself, as well as A Walk in the Woods, The Lost Continent, Notes from a Small Island, Neither Here Nor There, Made in America, and Mother Tongue.

Born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951, he lived in England for almost two decades. He now lives in Hanover, New Hampshire, with his wife and four children.

Books by Bill Bryson
• In A Sunburned Country (Broadway Books, 2000)
• I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away (Broadway Books, 1999)
• A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (Broadway Books, 1998)
• Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe (Avon Books, 1993)