This is my 3rd Bill Bryson book and possibly my favorite of his so far. The super short segments (compiled from past published articles) make this book extremely easy to pick up, put down and pick up again. His writing style is exceptionally intelligent, and he finds hilarity in the most mundane of situations. He has a way of making the reader reconsider just how silly much of our lives actually are, while interjecting a few heartwarming and philanthropical comments here and there. Would love a second edition of this!

Bill Bryson brilliantly weaves in American values and culture into social issues, current events, and daily lives. One of the themes Bryson focuses on is the interaction between the average citizen and the U.S. government. The government, at times, can have an approachable face; his local postal office provides free donuts on customer appreciation day, and a Social Security Administration employee calls him Bill and tells him how to get strawberry pop stains out of his shirt. In most cases, however, the government is depicted as an inefficient and faceless organization that never has a real person on the line when you call its services for help. When there is a problem, people hold the government responsible; therefore there is not a single branch in the enormous bureaucracy to blame because it is everyone's fault. American culture brands the government as a big, clumsy bureaucracy and thus heightens the sense of inefficiency and distrust of the government among the people. We should recognize the fact that the government did not intend to be labeled as an inefficient organization by questioning a five year old girl at the immigration office whether she intends to practice polygamy in the U.S and such; it genuinely attempts to improve the lives of its citizens. For example, it tried to enhance security in Milwaukee airport by training the local sheriff's deputies to detect hidden explosives, which, by the way, failed miserably because the deputies forgot where they hid the explosives.

Bill Bryson can look at anything and find the humor in it. His down to earth style makes even the most simple or common situations interesting and fun, and he has an interesting way of making almost everything relevant.

I laughed out loud. Bill Bryson's description of his "re-experiencing" of America is funny, informative, cynical, eye-opening. intelligent, and so relatable. I found myself constantly saying, "Okay, just one more chapter..." I could never put it down!

With "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" Bill Bryson proved to me that I was wrong thinking that "A Walk in the Woods" was unsurpassable. This collection of essays about the United States of America and the lifestyle and often puzzling habits of its inhabitants is a true gem. Now, I might be biased, because I found a lot of my own experience as a foreigner living in America very similar and therefore enjoyed Bryson's reflections, but his usual sharpness and wit, his ability to ponder on small things and point out details are important factors contributing to the objective value of this book.

Bryson returned to America after twenty years abroad, moving to Hanover, New Hampshire with his British wife and British-born children. He was surprised to see how much the country of his childhood had changed and also, how different it was from what he was used to in Europe. The newspaper column was, however, his friend's idea, Bryson's reluctance stemming from the fact that the column was weekly... Luckily, he agreed and produced the articles collected in "I'm a Stranger Here Myself". The collection spans different topics, from driving everywhere, through food, exercise, holidays (a hilarious piece on the Presidents' Day) to immigration procedures. Bryson criticizes and wonders without prejudice, giving his personal opinions about many hot issues, at the same time writing lightly and in a greatly amusing manner. The loving, tender relationship of the author with his country is visible even in his most scornful and negative remarks, in the cruelest jokes. Because of his great, flowing, casual style, even the most mundane and trivial musings are a joy to read.

As I mentioned above, I found many of Bryson's notes reflect my own feelings about America and my own observations - of course he put them into writing much better than I ever could. It may be because of the specificity of New England (I am sure other regions of this country are different still, as Bryson concludes comparing New Hampshire to Iowa of his childhood), but I loved this book and it convinced me that all Bryson's writings are worth the time.

'I'm a Stranger Here Myself' is the second book of Bryson's that I've read, and I have to say that I have not laughed out loud so much at a book in all of my life. Composed of short essays for a magazine in London, 'Stranger' chronicles (as I'm sure you already know) Bryson's return to America after twenty years away. But this time...he's got a family. A very British family.

Which, I have to say, imbues the book with a sort of charm that I don't think it would have had otherwise. As other reviewers have pointed out, Bill Bryson is a bit of curmudgeon, but he is less curmudgeon-y in this book than others, or so I've heard. His musings on American life slide from the funny and absurd to the poignant and probably horrifying, and it is all done to great effect. Some of the things still hold true, even nine years later, while others seem a bit outdated. Talking about a television with fifty channels no longer phases most Americans.

However, for the most part, the book is highly enjoyable. The one thing that I have to say that is detrimental to the book is the fact that it is composed of many - and I do mean many - small chapters, which don't have the chance to breath and stretch out as I would like to have seen. That is not to say that the shorter chapters didn't make the book a bit more easily consumed. But, then again, I am a big fan of Bryson's.

This book is highly recommended to fans of Bryson's and those looking for a funny mosaic of American life.

I am a big fan of Bill Bryson, and this book did not disappoint. It's full of his trademark witty observations and often outrageous, pee-your-pants funny humor.

The book is a collection of essays Bryson wrote for a newspaper after he had returned to the US after 20 years of living abroad. Each essay (2 to 4 pages) tackles a different topic of modern American life: the post office, television, holidays, airplane travel, to name just a few. He has such a unique view of things and events that we take for granted or consider mundane, especially when he compares life in the US to life in England. His style of writing is informal and conversational, which makes you feel like you're talking to an old friend.

A wonderful, sharp, insightful, and hilarious book, sure to keep you reading, laughing, and thinking for hours!

I hereby nominate Mr. Bryson to take over Andy Rooney's spot on "60 Minutes", whenever Mr. Rooney retires or passes on.

Loved this! Bill Bryson shares a unique view of how we live.
Small things that we take for granted become fodder for his
lively and hysterical commentary. I literally laughed out loud.

I was a stranger to Bill Bryson's work, myself, having avoided his, then new, highly touted, runaway hit, A WALK IN THE WOODS, because it was a highly touted, runaway hit. Herd behavior among humans generally irks me. (I read A WALK later and wondered what the fuss was about. STRANGER is far superior.) This is not a book to read with food or drink in your mouth or throat. Heimlich's trick may not save you. Bryson describes everyday life in America with delightful humor, irony, befuddlement and charm, in prose that repeatedly left me gasping with laughter, wiping tears while I plucked the book off the floor. When he turns more serious, his warmth and sentiment feel absolutely sincere. Having lived twenty years in England, the essays in STRANGER are weekly columns about reentry to Bryson's native land, written for Britain's Mail on Sunday newspaper. The quality of this writing is so uniformly excellent that my first impulse is to take up a collection to send Dave Barry on a two decade remedial sabbatical to the Isles. (Tasteful humor for adult readers is evidently still written and read over there.) STRANGER may be the funniest essay collection in my memory, though like Bryson I am teetering into the years when memory is iffy and, again like the author, it wasn't my strong suit in the first place. Top notch, eh, what?

Thankfully, this was not the first Bryson book I read; because if it was, there would not have been a second.

All the maturity, wit and history he uses to make other books of his like "In a Sunburned Country," "The Lost Continent" and "A Walk in the Woods" decent reads are unavailable here.

Instead, here, Bryson is dull. Anyone who leaves America for Eurabia by choice has to have a screw loose, and Bryson is guilty as charged.

Like most of his books, the furtive mocking of Americans is evident, and overall, as other reviewers indicated, the jokes are mundane.

I'm reviewing this book negatively, since, if you're going to put together a rambling 300 page book, that's enough pages to get into more detail about the local people as well as commentaries on places other than cliche sites. The typical Bryon stories and side comments are not as "witty" as usual either. Much of the writing seems selfish, especially his usual ordeals. It reminded me of a professor, hippie or Steven Colbert pontificating. That's bad if you're over 16.

Many folks either love or hate Bryson. I'm in the middle. He is a good writer and I have read about seven of his books. He's also preachy, condescending and elitist. Take the bad with the good, I suppose.

Back to New England after a two decade long spell in the old one, Bryson penned these articles for a British newspaper supposedly over protestations that he didn't have the time to do so. You would never know it. The result is a thoroughly entertaining book. Well, OK; a pretty entertaining book. But, it's thoroughly entertaining in places, not to mention brimming over with wonderful bits of utterly useless information.

Like any collection of essays some are better than others (of course), but the good ones really shine. Living in the UK allowed Bryson for a cultural comparative model, and upon return to his homeland the good, the bad, the ugly, and (most importantly) the absurd all became abundantly clear. In short, American society was begging to made fun of. Bryson skewers new and unsettling trends along with what he previously took for granted or never gave much thought to. Absolutely, he complains a good deal, but he does it well and goodness knows someone has to. His writing flows in that buoyant, easy manner for which he has become famous. Some jokes fall flat, but most hit their mark. And he could descibe moss for a full two paragraphs and still make it sound interesting. I bought I'M A STRANGER HERE MYSELF as NOTES FROM A BIG COUNTRY which was paired with his book about England entitled NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND. Together, these form a compendium called THE COMPLETE NOTES which held my interest for weeks, and which - admittedly - encouraged me to have a go at writing myself.

Troy Parfitt, author of Notes from the Other China - Adventures in Asia

I read through about the first third of this offering by Bill Bryson and found I simply could not get into it. Written in the spirit of Dave Barry, Mary Roach and maybe Erma Bombeck, it is intended to draw humor from the little idiosyncrasies of daily American life as seen by an expatriot returned from years in the U.K.

Where I find Dave Barry's turns of phrase highly amusing I tend to find Bill's commentary more rankling. Each article highlights some aspect of American life that I find less than satisfying and the commentary, though trying to be amusing, simply comes off as frustrating.

This book has a charming premise. Bryson is an American writer who lived in Britain for over twenty years, marrying an Englishwoman and raising two children. He moved back to the States with his family, where he wrote a series of essays about America for a British audience.

Bryson is a keen and witty observer of life. How many of us could write an entire essay prompted by the existence of a 24-hour help line on a dental floss dispenser? The essays are uniformly amusing, sometimes side-splitting.

Thought not as consistently funny as Dave Barry, Bryson goes further by adding a healthy dose of thoughtfulness to it all. Throughout the book he ponders what it means to be American, comparing and contrasting it with what it means to British. Every so often the question of Canadianness pops in as well. As countries divided by a common language, they provide a nice playground for Bryson, and he has a good time with them.

Laugh-out-loud hilarious. Bryson's observations about American society and its absurdities rings so true and the author is the perfect vehicle for showcasing these stories. He is just so lovable in his books. His absentmindedness and his sharp wit both serve him extremely well. While poking fun at others, he also pokes fun at himself. His work is just priceless.

In this book, Bill Bryson presents a compilation of weekly columns he had published upon his return from England to the States, after being away for 20 years. And boy did he had a cultural shock! He presents in a VERY funny way the things that we take for granted every day and, one by one, dissects the very elements that make up the American way of life in an insightful way.

The book is assembled in a chapter fashion with a certain structure that connects them whenever applicable. The chapters are short and self-contained enough to turn the book into an endless feed of amazing 5-minute fun reads before bedtime or while you are sitting in a waiting room.

Bill Bryson has to be one of the 'most readable' authors for folk who prefer a good chuckle. My wife is not so happy and moans about my giggling keeping her awake.
Keep up the good work Bill

this book is a collection of articles B.B. plublished in a british newspaper.
Most are amazingly funny - in the laugh-out-loud kind of way, and very few are slightly boring (but as they are all just a few pages long you can go through them realy fast or just skip them). I would definitely recommend this book.

If you enjoy reading books by Bill Bryson, this is a very funny book. Easy to read and entertaining.

This book is great. It does not read like a traditional story. Instead it is a composite of a bunch of articles that Mr. Bryson wrote for a British newspaper after returning to America after living in Britain for 20 or so years. Each chapter reads as a separate article that he wrote for the paper. The chapters are very short and sometimes he makes connections to previous articles or chapters.

I thought this book was hilarious. If you enjoy the humor of the show Sienfeld each chapter of this book reads as a basis for a Sienfeld episode. That is the best way I can describe it. The reason for this is because he makes humor out of situations that every American faces.

There are so many great chapters in this book. Some of my most memorable topics include: toothpaste hotline, tax forms, experiencing the outdoors indoors, technology, and many others.

In conclusion if you like the humor of the show Sienfeld you must read this book. If you do not care for that show then pass up on this book.

I hope it is not a back handed compliment to say that this book belongs in the bathroom. But the consistently short length, the consistent formula and somewhat repetative nature of Mr. Bryson's musings are not the stuff of a long sit down. While his perspective as an American coming home after 20 years abroad is refreshing in his humor, I found the collection more dated and tedious than funny. There were several moments of out-loud laughter, but just as many times I though to myself, "I've read this before...I know what he is saying...I recognize his writing style and formula."
So I recommend this as a sometimes book. Of the 70 short essays, many are insightful and wise-the one on why trees leaves change color comes to mind-and others fun. They are best experienced in passing glances.

Bill Bryson's I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away was one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read. His observations are entertaining and informative and provided me with many hearty laughs. I highly recommend this title.

Bill Bryson's "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" is one of my favorite books at it combines thoughtful insights about his family and culture with laugh out loud humor. Many of his observations are, however, serious and shocking. How America had 800,000 lawyers in 1999 more than the rest of the world out together. Bryson says that breaks down to 300 lawyers for 100,000 citizens whereas Briton by contrast has 82 and Japan 1.
Bryson also points out how the Gross Domestic Product GDP is a dismal measure of national income as it shows the amount of dollars we spend, both good and bad, on services over a given period. Bad activities like the O.J. Simpson's $200 million trial, New York City's cleanup after 9/11 and reckless pollution often generate more GDP. A leading economist joked, "According to the GDP the nation's economic hero is a terminal cancer patient going through a costly divorce." Another economist pointed out, "The current national accounting system treats the earth as a business in liquidation."
In a lighter vein Bryon shares stories about his somewhat inept memory. He said his family suggested some labels suitable for him, "Caution: When Door Says `Pull' It's Absolutely No Use Pushing" and "Warning: Do Not Attempt to Remove Sweater Over Head While Walking Among Chairs and Tables." His favorite was "Caution: Ensure That Shirt Buttons Are in Correct Holes Before Leaving the House."

A short and sweet review! This book is a great read. I appreciate the author's sense of humor and variety of topics. His essay/graduation address should be read by all graduating high school students and read again when they graduate college! His basic advice centers on the idea that--you're special--but not that special--learn to have some care for other people. This was my introduction to Bill Bryson and I have since read some of
his other books and hope to read more.

One of the funniest books I've read, maybe because I feel like the author being real
foreigner.

Bill Bryson is a great travel writer. His descriptions are evocative and his prose is gut-wrenchingly funny. In fact, I don't read his books in public because I usually wind up crying from laughter. This one, the first of his books that I read, is a classic. Bryson details his readjustment to American culture after 20 years in England, and offers a number of hilarious insights about life in both countries - and about his unfailing ability to poke fun at any situation. Because it's basically a collection of short (2-4 page) newspaper columns, it's particularly easy to read. You can also take a break without losing the narrative flow - there really isn't one. When you're done with this one, hopefully having decided you love Bill Bryson as much as I do, move on to two of his best works: A Walk in the Woods, about his adventures on the Appalachian Trial, and In a Sunburned Country, about the wilds of Australia.

I bought this book while browing because (1) I had read and loved In a Sunburned Country, and (2) because I spent the first 18 years of my life as an American living overseas. I moved permanently back to the U.S. several months ago, and I was interested to see another American's perspectives on being here.

The book was highly entertaining. Many of Bryson's observations made me laugh out loud. My parents also enjoyed the book. Despite the fact that Bryson's topics were a little more trite than what I had been expecting, I thoroughly enjoyed his hilarious style of writing. I would definitely recommend this book, and I plan on reading more of Bryson's books in the future.

If you have read "Notes from a big country", this is the same book with a different title (American version, while Notes is the British version), so be careful. I fell for it. But otherwise, Bill Bryson is as hilarious as ever, and the book is great fun and highly entertaining. The insights into daily US life are very telling and also social history. Some things make you think, but they all make you laugh, too. Nobody need be offended, but everybody should be delighted!

I keep reading and listening to his books because everyone says how good they are, but I have never found this to be so. He always strikes me as someone who potters around never really interacting with people who then goes home and writes about it. He seems more at home studying statistics (which he includes everywhere) and drawing his own facile conclusions from these statistics. I always imagine him stuck in his room reading his newspaper, surfing the net and smugly summing up his brief interactions with people in the real world. All his travel books are equally awful as he never really interacts with anyone - just comments on them later. Still lots of people think he is great

Bill Bryson makes excellent observations about the American culture and lifestyle. As a foreigner who studied and worked in the USA for a few years I can pretty much share the author's views on life in this country. A must-read for a person coming to live in America for an extended period of time. The book is also very witty and hilarious at times.

This collection of short essays he published in an English paper (and meant for an English audience) seem to miss the mark for American readers. It's as if he published this because he needed money. There was nothing original in this book, nothing really funny and what few authentically funny parts there were seemd trite and at times exaggerated.

I got tired of this book half-way through and gave up.

Not particularly interesting or funny. None of the ridiculous turns of language of a Dave Barry column, no elder-statesman crabbiness like Andy Rooney's. Just routine bitching about airlines, office supplies, and so on. Save it for "A Walk in the Woods" or "A Short History of Nearly Everything"

Bryson has been one of my favorite authors for years now - the first thing of his that I read was a magazine article comparing American weather extremes with those in his beloved England. This collection of his writings on things American has me confused. Most of it, as his wife points out, is griping about this and that. Bryson has a tendency to talk down anything that doesn't fit into his view of how life ought to be and a maddening myopia when it comes to understanding why things are the way they are in this modern world. Balancing that though is his self-deprecating humor and his beautiful writing skills. There is a piece on global warming in this book that all ought to read. So, basically, even though he is preachy, and a bit gripy, he is laugh-out-loud funny and writes so very well that I will keep reading him.

I had recently finished a string of somewhat more serious, heavy books ranging from social fiction to mathematics. Needless to say, I was in desperate need of something a bit more relaxing and this book fit the bill perfectly.

I picked it up because I had read some of Bryson's previous work (In a Sunburned Country, A Short History of Nearly Everything) and considered him hilarious. He is the only author that has caused me to actually laugh while reading, at times embarassingly and in public!

This book is a collection of weekly essays he wrote for a period of three years, and the material is all stream-of-conscious style. So you can read for 5 minutes or 5 hours and still enjoy it, perfect for commuters, both of the subway and the airlines. Though it's supposed to cover 'American' life, he really just writes about his own and only occasionally plays up the contrast to the British culture, as an American I never felt lost or confused.

All in all, read this book at some point when you've found that your reading material of late has became a tad bit dreary or monotonous.

I enjoy his writing, and was still entertained by this book. But the tone caught me off guard. Now, I know that this was written for a british audience, out of weekly articles thrown together for light amuzment. And since it was a weekly article, the complaining wouldn't get old so fast. That all said, it only makes sense that, this is probably more entertaining to a british audience, and to be taken in small doses.

Maybe it was the chronic exaggeration, but I just didn't relate to a lot of what he considered the american experience. And because of that, I didn't get a lot of the humor. Furthermore, if you're american, you feel like the butt of the joke more often then not in the book. Teamed with the fact that you may think he is misleading foreigners with his misconceptions and exaggerations, it almost feels like anti-american propoganda.

And the bitterness--a few times anyway--has such a genuine feel. Which makes the book hardly lighthearted from my perspective. Anyway, the bitterness is kind of hard to understand because, a lot of the book is spent decrying the effects of american convenience, but then constantly complaining that american life should be easier. Not to add that he doesn't seem to admit that in any country--particularly where you have many individual law makers with different views, addressing only a handful of issues at a time--you will have all kinds of contradictions and non sensical laws; britain included. Even his views on american norms didn't always relate with me. He also makes sweeping generalizations. For example, he essentially labels the post office as bumbling because they returned a letter to him that he didn't put the address on, and implys that it isn't in the same league as the british version as far as mailing letters goes. Which, I guess is said with tongue in cheek; but then, maybe not. And it's all based on one experience he had. I'd call that a misconception. Some of his experiences though, are right on and funny, albeit caricatures, on american life and norms. Still others, are only relatable to foreigners and immigrants, and all those who think everything was perfect back when they were kids.

If you take his complaints in the context of being written for british entertainment, in a weekly essay format, and that realistically he was probably struggling just to pop out an article, it's pretty good. His writing is, as always, witty and entertaining. And exaggeration is a key to his humor. So his tone with american life probably isn't as severe as his essays would make it seem. But who knows.

Either way, this book is more for his fans who just can't get enough of Bryson I think. And with all those things working against it with reguards to my opinion, I still enjoyed it, even with it's disagreeable content, because I just like his writing style, top to bottom. And can't wait to read some other Bryson work.

I have recently been on something of a Bill Bryson binge. After having read The Mother Tongue and Short History of Nearly Everything, which are two of his more scholarly-oriented books, I decided to try this book (perhaps it should be noted that I have yet to read A Walk in the Woods; this title just appealed to me more). The stories are often clever, and despite his complaining Bryson rarely, if ever, leaves the threshold of good intentions. You have to realize that he is a reasonable man, and some of these irrational rants are merely for entertainment's sake and should not be analyzed too closely. That said, I agree with the editorial review in that sometimes he enters Dave Barry-like hyperbole, something that I personally find cheap and overdone, although Dave Barry sells lots of books, so many people must think that style is funny. Personally, the more subtle humor, such as the little pet names for his wife he inserts in what are supposedly transcripts of actual conversations with her, that amuses me, as well as his joyful musings on American life. Sure, this isn't too profound, but it manages to be intelligent and critical, while maintaining a whimsical air. I can just picture ol' Bill with a content smirk on his face while writing these articles in his house in Hanover. To sum it all up, Bill Bryson seems like the kind of guy I would love to have over for dinner, assuming he is as entertaining in person as he is in this book.

I loved this book. I am not a critic... just a person who thought this book was hysterical. I never laugh aloud reading, but did on this one. He has a great dry sense of humor that matched mine. I would recommend to anyone.. only exception would be other big writers and critics... I am sure they would rip his book for something. I liked his other book about hiking the Appalachian Trail too, but this one was funnier.

As a fan of collections of brief articles, and a bigger fan of Bill Bryson's work, this collection was a joy to read. My only mistake was reading it in a public setting, where laughing out loud was met with strange gazes and glares from others.

The basic gist is this: after living in England for many years, Bill Bryson and his family move to America and to small-town New Hampshire. He continued to write a column for a newspaper in England, however, the subject of which was the peculiarities of life in America. It is these articles that are collected here. Whether you'll love each individual article depends on your mood at the moment and whether you're interested in the topic; for example, I skipped through exactly one story (detailing his struggles with computer tech support).

To American readers, the book allows us to laugh at ourselves and the nitty gritty details of our society that we shake our heads at constantly. Since the book's components were written for a non-American audience, I would speculate that others would be equally amused. In any event, Bill Bryson's unique style and constant bewilderment at the way other people's minds work will keep any reader entertained.

i normally love Bryson's books, but this book is just a collection of rants and complaints. He seems to be trying too hard to be funny and ends up sounding like a complainer. There really is nothing in these articles, nothing that anyone of us couldn't write. For example, he serves up a full article on why credit card numbers and library numbers are 16 digits long. Thats apparently too long for Bryson and he believes there is no reason for it to be so long and all these folks need to shorten the numbers. And thats how all the articles progress. He finds a minor inconvenience and makes it a major article. You can see him struggle to come up with something to write every week...its not fair to him, to think of something to complain about every week, but thats what he has been asked to do. He is a much much better writer when he has a theme and an agenda. His other books- Walk in the woods and A short history or nearly everything- are much better. In fact, i think both those books are worth owning. But, i'm a stranger here, is mainly irritating, not much insight and really is just a collection of newspaper articles and really not worth a buy. Maybe your public library has a copy- mine did- read a sample first and decide if you want to invest your time on the book. I've already invested a lot of time in this review.

This book was really fun to read, it's clever and funny. Since each chapter is was a newspaper column originally, it reads like a collection of short stories.

Having lived outside the USA for the last 38 years, I return as a tourist, who feels strangely at home. B. Bryson's observations are often my own. His send-up of American "civilization" rings true and is wonderfully refreshing. It makes me glad to be back so I can see for myself! Benjamin Franklin was right when he recommended the American national emblem be the turkey.

Bryson originally wrote this collection of essays on the quirks of the American lifestyle as a weekly column in a British publication. Each chapter is a a single week's very short musing, anecdote, or tirade, succinct, funny, and wildly divergent in subject from the previous one. It's easy to keep thinking, "just three more pages," and suddenly finish the whole thing in one sitting...which is just what I did. But it's probably better enjoyed in small morsels.

The book suffers some from the serial format -- Bryson himself attests to how hard it was for him to come up with good content under time pressure, and some of the resulting material is hackneyed. Bryson's bellyaching about lawsuits, taxes, the postal service, bureaucrats, consumerism, junk food, malls, police officers, and computer usability is nothing we haven't heard before. But the tales of his personal bumblings make even the most dull topic an entertaining read. Bryson's friendly, self-deprecating sense of humor always comes through, and consistently made me smile. While there's no narrative thread, the recurring themes, like Bryson's yearnings for old-fashioned, small-town Americana, do give the book a sense of unity. And some of his observations were fresh and novel.

At any rate, if one story fails to amuse, there is always the next one, just a few pages later. Anyone who likes Bryson will get a kick out of it; in fact, it's hard to imagine anyone who wouldn't.

First I have to mention that I am not a U.S. Citizen, and I did read the German version of Bill Bryson's book.
After six years of living in the U.S. it's easy reading, and depending what subject you're on, it can be fun.
A lot of topics are covered by a view that I doubt can be shared by many, because the "facts" stated seem to be valid for "his little American corner of the country" only.
Though he often makes jokes about himself, he at the same time manages to sound superior over the "average American".
You do tend to wonder quite often why he didn't move back to England, if most things here are so horribly wrong and ridiculous.
A tendency to spread political views (left) gives the a last bitter taste to this book.
It's good writing, just don't put too much thought into what's being written, or you won't enjoy it.

I've read books about the USA written by people who have lived here their whole lives, and by people who immigrated, but Bill Bryson's perspective as an American who has been gone 20 years is truly fascinating. He points out things that I never would have thought about, like the difficulties of going to an American hardware store when you only know the British words for things. Who knew that two countries that share a common language and (for the most part) a common culture could be so different?

Bryson's writing is funny at times, and makes me angry at times, but is always thought provoking. I do think the fact that he's only lived in small-town Iowa and New Hampshire slanted his perspecive somewhat; when reading, one has to keep in mind that many of the generalizations Bryson makes about America do not apply to cities with populations over 100,000. If he had moved to Manhattan this would be a very different book indeed!

That said, as someone who was raised in the US herself, lived abroad for a time, and then returned, I really enjoyed reading Bryson's observations. Most importantly, this book made me laugh out loud, quite a bit in fact. For that reason alone, I will definitely be reading more of Bryson's books in the future!

I am a big fan of Bill Bryson and I have read or listened to most of his books. This one was not one of his best books. It is a collection of articles he wrote for a British publication on life in America. Some of the articles are hilarious and insightful. At other times I got a bit tired of his complaining. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I find his travel books better, as is "A Short History of Nearly Everything".

This book is different from the other Bryson books I've read. Rather than addressing a single (mostly) coherent topic, this book is a collection of newspaper columns covering a rather broad and eclectic range of topics. He makes a number of interesting observations about the state of American society in the 1990's, especially the rise of the specialty coffee industry, and our tendancy to drive everywhere, including the gym to get exercise. While there are some laugh-out-loud bits buried in here, I somehow was expecting it to be more amusing as whole. In the introducton, Bryson notes these articles were originally written for a British audience and he has tried to remove "chunks of explication that an American would find unnecessary." I find this a bit disappointing--these bits might have been interesting, and would have provided some insights into the differences between the two countries. Overall, this was a light and diverting book, but certainly not the best Bryson has to offer.

I was severely disappointed in this book, as I am a huge fan of Mr. Bryson's work. I've read Made in America, so I know that he can write about America in a critical, but loving way, not in the absolutely nasty tone of this work. Bitch, bitch, bitch, his wife says, and I'm inclined to agree with her. Not to mention the number of thing he simply gets WRONG. I felt like throwing the book down after reading the bit about lawyers and lawsuits. Everyone can agree that lawsuits are a big problem, but the example of a chemical accident in Richmond was really not the way to go. News flash Mr. Bryson, we in Richmond live in between two major oil refineries. About two years after the incident you described, we had another accident. Pollution and asthma are rampant. And we can't all move to Hanover, as it's very poor and crime-ridden here. Love how he didn't talk about any of the serious problems in America either. So, in summation, if you like Bill Bryson and you know anything about America, don't read this book. It will only ower your opinion of the man.

Others have noted that this is not his best work. I have the audio cassette version and his tone gets in the way of his writing. He sounds both peeved and incredulous at most things American.... like a pissed-off John Malkovich. It's hard to emphasize with his observations since he sounds so superior to the rest of the country in most of his notings.

Other reviewers have noted that his "facts" are just plain wrong, and I'll add another "fact" to the pile. He mentions a friend who tries to get temp employment at the Post Office, yet gets turned down because of a drug felony. Why should this person work at a FEDERAL agency? He/she must have lied on the application, right in the section that says "Have you ever been convicted?" Otherwise, the P.O. would not have bothered running a background check.

Bryson goes on to say that if you are a convicted murderer you'd be able to get a job at the P.O., it's just drug charges they are concerned about. Somehow, I can't see how Bryson could have validated this claim. Does he have another friend who is a convicted murderer who has been able to secure employment at the P.O.? Again, I wouldn't apply at any government job if I had a history of malfeasance. His friend sounds like maybe the drugs did their job too well.

I find myself mentally disagreeing with him as I listen to the book on tape. He could be funny if he weren't so disapproving.

Book arrive promptly, it was clean and unmarked, exactly as described. I would not hesitate to use this supplier again.

I loved this book and told all of my friends about it. In addition to being funny, it was well-researched, interesting, and informative. The author is humble and gracious and is able to laugh at himself, a quality I find admirable and refreshing. He is honest in his opinions without being self-righteous; and even in his criticism of the country, he expresses a hopefulness that it is possible to correct social injustice if we work together as a nation.

However, none of that is the main point of the book. It is simply a collection of his columns written for a British audience in which he makes observations about Americana that are hilarious most of the time. I found myself laughing out loud in a waiting room full of people and then explaining to others what I was reading. If you're looking for a book that will make you smile on an otherwise dreary day, this is the book for you.

Divided into short chapters, it's a book that's easy to read in short bursts--a great book for someone who has difficulty commiting to a lengthy novel.