In a Sunburned Country

Written by Bill Bryson

Narrated by Bill Bryson

Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door, memorable travel literature threatens to break out. This time in Australia.

His previous excursion along the Appalachian Trail resulted in the sublime national bestseller A Walk in the Woods. In A Sunburned Country is his report on what he found in an entirely different place: Australia, the country that doubles as a continent, and a place with the friendliest inhabitants, the hottest, driest weather, and the most peculiar and lethal wildlife to be found on the planet. The result is a deliciously funny, fact-filled, and adventurous performance by a writer who combines humor, wonder, and unflagging curiousity.

Despite the fact that Australia harbors more things that can kill you in extremely nasty ways than anywhere else, including sharks, crocodiles, snakes, even riptides and deserts, Bill Bryson adores the place, and he takes his readers on a rollicking ride far beyond that beaten tourist path. Wherever he goes he finds Australians who are cheerful, extroverted, and unfailingly obliging, and these beaming products of land with clean, safe cities, cold beer, and constant sunshine fill the pages of this wonderful book.

Australia is an immense and fortunate land, and it has found in Bill Bryson its perfect guide.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Jul 5, 2000
• ISBN: 9780553753172

Reviews for In a Sunburned Country

[mbmackay · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's extremely hard not to enjoy a Bill Bryson book. This was a re-read to prepare for visitors to Australia from the US.
I laughed a lot, and learned a lot.

[atticusfinch1048 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another very funny travelogue from Bill Bryson this time from his adventures down under in Australia. Bryson meanders around Australia so we the reader do not have too. There are plenty of belly laughs throughout the book.

When Bryson opens his account, he reminds the reader that there are more things in Australia that can kill you than anywhere else on earth. Bryson is obsessed with this fact throughout the course of the book, and understandably so when he travels to the areas that this is a real possibility.

The book reflects that Australia is not only a country but a continent and that the majority of the civilisation is gathered around the coastline. The rest of the country is a massive area of bush and desert. It is a country that is teeming with life and Bryson that falls in love with the country.

Even though Bryson wanders around the towns and cities on foot it not until the very end of his travels that he suffers sunburn. You find that Bryson always travels with books to explain the history of the places he visits as well exploring the museums, gardens and outback. Bryson highlights Australia’s history, some of it shameful, some of it unknown and plenty that has been forgotten. Another brilliant Bryson book.

[mktoronto · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

All these years later I remember vividly his section on box jellyfish. I had already been in Australia when I read it and it brought back an appreciation for that wonderful country. Feels like I should re-read it again at some point.

[hobbitprincess · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Although this book is 22 years old at this point, it is still a wonderfully funny and informative book about Australia. The audiobook is read by the author, which makes it more interesting. I learned much about Australia that I did not know, some things trivial and some not. I learned again that cricket is incredibly boring - I laughed out loud through much of that section. I knew but had it confirmed that there are many interesting ways to die in Australia that are unique, from poisonous snakes and spiders, to crocodiles, to the extreme conditions in the Outback, to all manner of sea creatures with strong stings. Bryson writes about the history of the country, in brief, and in particular included how the aboriginal peoples were heavily discriminated against until very recently. I am sure that some of it still goes on. As with all of Bryson's books, I enjoyed the book very much.

[mlhershey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Funny, entertaining, long!

[dualmon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bryson is always a great read

[samuelvd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In this book, we accompany Bill Bryson on his journey through the forgotten continent, Australia. Throughout the pages, the author interweaves historical facts, curiosities, and his own experiences. Thanks to this combination, we gain a more complete view of the places the author visits.

In this time, when we can't travel as much as we would like, reading this type of book is a good solution. In fact, I have already noted several places on my list that I would like to visit in the near future.

The negative points are that, at times, the narration of historical events slows down the pace of the book. On the other hand, some of the author's comments have rubbed me the wrong way a bit. Nevertheless, I would like to continue traveling through the books of Bill Bryson. (Translated from Spanish)

[jsabrina-219220 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an utterly charming and delightful book. Bryson travels through Australia with an open mind, a taste for adventure, and a frank open-heartedness and humor that make him the perfect companion and guide. He enhances the stories of his own travels with tales and tidbits about Australia's human and natural history, making even botany and geology fun and engaging.

This was my first Bryson book, and I'm looking forward to reading more.

[librolindsay · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm jonesing to read about Australia right now...

*****

Or I was.

Two things:

1) I was obsessed with Australia in grade school and often realize that I still have a lingering fascination with the continent.

2) Friends and family have been insisting that I read Bill Bryson for years now.

Result? I realized too late that I was supposed to read Bill Bryson as a Bill Bryson fan and not because of the content. I'm only halfway through it, but I. Just. Can't. Do. It. Anymore. I am so sorry, everyone! He is too freaking quaint and self-aware and kind of hypocritical for my tastes and can't get over how quaint the country is to him even in its dangers. The man's got a voice, I'll give him that, but he's just so very clearly a rather sedentary, middle-aged white dude. Reading others' reviews, it appears the content I'm more interested in (ie, anywhere but the over-discussed south-eastern territories) happens in the second half of the book, but I just can't bring myself to continue. Also from reading others' reviews, I seem to be of the lonely few that found his discussion of the history and current state of Australia interesting and approachable. If I could only figure out how to gloss over his more unnecessary personal ramblings to get the meat that I want, I would. Even then, though, he started to allude that he was fudging some facts, which left a really bad taste in my mouth, and henceforth, I found him a totally unreliable narrator--with each discussion I kept wondering, is he stating a fact or yanking our chain? I can appreciate a charismatic approach to non-fiction (I can't usually read it if it isn't), but not at the expense of getting correct information. Maybe Bryson couldn't figure out if this was a memoir or just straight non-fiction. I've got The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin waiting in the ranks, so maybe I'll give that a whirl. See ya, BB.

[perkykeri · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Well written book. Great story for those who love travel books. I liked the author's humor.

[marshapetry · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Bryson has such a beautiful way with words. Every book of his that I've read has been a treat... even makes me, a hard-bitten stay-at-home girl, want to go to australia. Just beautiful... and he's an awesome narrator also. Highly recommend.

[El lector utópico · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It is not a continent/country that holds a significant attraction for me, but I really enjoy books of chronicles and travel, and this one has proven to be instructive and intriguing, apart from the author's carefree style in his narratives. Interesting and entertaining. (Translated from Spanish)

[Rod1969 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A very enjoyable book to read. Bryson recounts his experiences on the road through the most recognized places in Australia and others that are not so well-known. With anecdotes about people and places. Explorers, lost tourists, and ordinary people from that vast and desert-like country. With that characteristic humor of Americans. If you want to read it in a much more interesting way, have a tablet or smartphone handy and look up the places he mentions on Google Maps. The application not only allows you to see a specific area but also provides street-level panoramic photos and videos of all populated points. I even took a virtual tour of the roads between each city and place he describes. (Translated from Spanish)

[addunn3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the fascinating details Bryson passed on as he toured Australia.

[bhiggs-822148 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Unless you are Australian, you probably don't know anything about Australia. This is an amazing travel book that covers all things Australia. It's hilarious and totally engrossing. Like any Bill Bryson book - the audiobook is even better!

[pdcread · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It is sometimes easy to forget just how mind-bogglingly big Australia is. This vast, vast country is approximately 7.7m km@ in size and even though it is an island, it is big enough to count as a continent in its own right. It separated from Pangaea millions of years ago and the paths that evolution took with the flora and fauna were very different when compared to the remainder of the world. The people who first inhabited it are pretty special too, traces of their occupation can be found as far back as 65,000 years ago and they have a deep and passionate connection to the land as well as a rich understanding of how to survive in the blistering heat. It teems with life too; and most of it wants to kill you…

Bill Bryson had never ever visited there before. It was a country that scared him, but he was to find that the folk that live there are the total opposite of the creatures. Their cheerful extrovert personalities meant that he fitted in really well and he slowly falls in love with the country. His journeys take him from Darwin down to Alice Springs and to see the marvel that is Uluru, around the cities of the west coast, across the endless desert to Perth and he tries not to lose where the boat is on the Great Barrier reef.

If you have ever read a Bryson before you’ll come to know that these journeys are a rich vein of self depreciating humour as he observes life as it happens around him and this was as highly entertaining as his other books with several genuine laugh out loud moments. It has been a little while since I have read a Bryson and if you haven’t then I can recommend them as he is still such very very funny travel writer.

[cindywho-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My Mom sent me this one after I told her we were thinking of a trip to Melbourne. It may have been funnier as a listen - he did have a decent sense of humor. Over the course of a few visits in the 90s (I think) Bryson explores the wonders of Australia - and it is pretty cool. From populous Victoria to they many way-out boonies. I hope we do get to go...

[xiaomarlo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I freely admit that I wasn't really interested in Australia before reading this book, and Bryson definitely got me very intrigued, and now I'd very much like to travel there.

It was really good, but I wish I'd heard more about the Aborigines. He definitely talked about them, but I wish there'd been more.

[nicolewbrown · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Bryson bases the title of his book on the famous and much beloved Australian poem "Core of My Heart" by Dorothea Mackellar where she states that "I love a sunburnt country/A land of sweeping plains,/ Of ragged mountain ranges/ Of droughts and flooding rains." It pretty much sums up Australia. And yes, Bryson realizes that the line is sunburnt and he made it sunburned. Its a play on words. He does get sunburned once during his time there. This review is hard to write because, like Australia, this book covers a vast amount of interesting stuff. It's hard to know where to start.



Australians are the nicest group of people you are likely to meet. They have no history of having a revolution or a despot leading their government or of anything really bad. Which is how they get forgotten so easily. But the true forgotten people are the indigenous people of Australia the Aborigines. They traveled to Australia by boat when people weren't really using boats to travel and somehow made it to Australia some 60,000 years ago. And they are the oldest living continuous culture. For a long time after the whites arrived, it was okay to kill them or lynch them without consequence. Then in June 1838 in Myall, some cattle were rustled and then blamed on the Aborigines. They gathered the men, women, and children up in a ball and played with them for hours before killing them with rifles and swords. The city was outraged and put the men on trial and was at first acquited but a second trial found them guilty and they were then found guilty and hung. This, however, did not end the violence against the Aborigines it just made it go underground. And this was by no means the worse atrocity committed to Aborigines. It just happened to be the only time that whites were brought to trial and found guilty for it. There's not much to see in Myall. Most people go there to hunt for minerals. The events there long forgotten.



The only time that they ran into rude or otherwise uncooperative Australians was in a little town in the Northern Territories called Darwin. But a museum there more than made up for any inconvenience they received from the locals. It contained an exhibit of the tragedy of Cyclone Tracy which came through in 1974 and leveled the place. Included was a recording made by a priest of the cyclone which is very eerie and creepy. The cyclone flattened nine thousand homes and killed sixty-four people. Also included were stuffed animals from the area's diverse background that can probably kill you with the crocodile "Sweetheart" a male crock that killed fifteen boats before being accidentally killed when being moved to another area. He was seventeen feet and seventeen hundred pounds. But what he came here to see was the dead box jellyfish that was on display. It is the most dangerous creature known to man. The sea snake is also an interesting animal in that it is an inquisitive creature with a sweet nature but cross them and they can kill you three times over. This is a nation where 80% of the world's most venomous plants and creatures live. Also, animals and plants not native to the area have a way of thriving and trying to take over. For example, the rabbit that some Englishmen brought over to hunt and got loose and overtook Australia eating up foliage in the process. On top of that, the prickly pear was introduced to the Northern Territory and nearly took up every available space until it was destroyed.



Australia is a vast and empty land filled with all sorts of things and people as this book shows. But a huge portion of the land has not been explored not to mention the plants and animals that haven't been cataloged. This book is part travelogue, part history story. You'll be traveling down a road in Canberra or Melbourne, or Alice Springs, or any number of small tiny towns he stops to overnight while driving to different cities and he'll wander down a side street and discover some unknown place or about some unknown people like the Prime Minister who in the 1960s wandered out into the surf of the Queensland and disappeared and how those of Queensland is crazier than a bag of cut snakes. But that people of Queensland feel they are misunderstood by their fellow Aussies. To me, it seems like the Florida of Australia. Where crazy things happen all the time for no discernable reason. Also included is a series of articles that he wrote about the Sydney 2000 Olympics, which is highly entertaining. I really loved this book and give it five out of five stars.



Quotes

After years of patient study (and with cricket there can be no other kind) I have decided that there is nothing wrong with the game that the introduction of golf carts wouldn’t fix in a hurry. It is not ture that the English invented cricket as a way of making all other human endeavours look interesting and lively; that was merely an unintended side effect. I don’t wish to denegrade a sport that is played by millions, some of them awake and facing the right way, but it is an odd game. It is the only sport that incoporporates meal breaks. It is the only sport that shares its name with an insect. It is the only sport in which spectators burn as many calories as the players—more if they are moderately restless. It is the only competitive activity of any type, other than perhaps baking, in which you can dress in white from head to toe and be as clean at the end of the day as you were at the beginning.


-Bill Bryson (In a Sunburned Country p 105-6)



No, the mystery of cricket is not that Australians play it well, but that they play it at all. It has always seemed to me a game much too restrained for the rough-and-tumble Australian temperament. Australians much prefer games in which brawny men in scanty clothing bloody each other’s noses. I am quite certain that if the rest of the world vanished overnight and the development of cricket was left in Australian hands, within a generation the players would be wearing shorts and using bats to hit each other. And the thing is, it would be a much better game for it.

-Bill Bryson (In A Sunburned Country p 108)



“Are bushfires a big worry?” “Well, they are when they happen. Sometimes they’re colossal. Gum trees just want to burn, you know. It’s part of their strategy. How they outcompete other plants. They’re full of oil, and once they catch fire they’re a bugger to put out.”

-Bill Bryson (In a Sunburned Country p 162-3)



I often use alcohol as an artificial check on my pool-playing skills. It’s a way for me to help strangers gain confidence in their abilities and get in touch with my inner wallet.

-Bill Bryson (In a Sunburned Country p 242)



When even camels can’t manage a desert, you know you’ve found a tough part of the world.

-on the Outback Bill Bryson (In a Sunburned Country p 245)



I don’t know why, but every Olympics these days has a mascot. Moscow had a bear called Mischa. Nagano had cute snowflake creatures. Atlanta, I believe had a person being shot on a street corner.

-Bill Bryson (In A Sunburned Country p 319)



A cynic might conclude that our policy toward drugs in America is to send users either to prison or to the Olympics.

-Bill Bryson (In a Sunburned Country p 324)

[bookconcierge · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Book on CD narrated by the author

Bryson turns his journalistic skills to an exploration of the only continent that is also a country, and an island.

I loved the small details that he included, was enthralled by his adventures (whether in person or through research), and really felt that I got a good sense of the country, the people, the customs and the landscape (varied doesn’t begin to describe the latter aspect). I felt as giddy as a child discovering a new wonder when I read about one obscure fact after another, or imagined myself traversing the outback in a four-wheel-drive vehicle (with TWO extra containers of petrol) with hardly a person, gas station, shelter or convenience store in sight. I could feel the cooling sea breezes, was just as annoyed as Bryson by the flies, delighted in the droll explanations of the locals, was warmed by his descriptions of desert-heat, and longed to witness the marvels of nature he depicted.

It’s a wonderful memoir / travel journal. If Australia weren’t already on my bucket list, it certainly would be now.

Bryson narrates the audiobook himself. I found his delivery rather dry and somewhat slow-paced; he hardly sounded excited about any of the sites he saw. I wound up reading at least half the book in text format, and found I preferred the “voice in my head” to the author’s actual voice on the audio.

[GuilloHerrera · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Travel narrative through Australia, a mix of historical and scientific adventure, with touches of local color, very well written, a lovely book. (Translated from Spanish)

[c_why · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Certainly made me want to steer clear of Australia. very vivid -- all those creepy creatures on land & water. Despair

[course8 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This travelogue is interesting and entertaining if you stay in the bubble that is Bryson's worldview. Unfortunately he is biased. It is a view of Australia limited to the perspective of the invaders and colonizers with only perfunctory acknowledgement of the original inhabitants. There are plenty of encounters and conversations with white Australians but none whatsoever with Aboriginal people or even the many people of Asian heritage and other nationalities who made up the population at the time of Bryson's travels.

He writes comprehensively about the history of white Australia but makes only cursory mention (about 4 pages) of the challenges imposed on the Aboriginal people by invasion, colonization, legal genocide, seizing of land, introduction of invasive animals and plants which have terraformed the continent and the impact of disenfranchisement from citizenship for most of the years since the invasion. He only devotes a few pages to the pre-invasion history, even though the Aboriginal people have been in Australia for at least 40,000 years and maybe as long as 60,000 years.

He writes only a few paragraphs about the government program that separated generations of Aboriginal children from their parents in an effort at social engineering. Imagine, a van would drive up to your home, government workers would get out, seize all of your children and transport them thousands of miles away. You have no recourse because legally you have neither citizenship nor custody rights, only the government has custody of your children. You will never hear from or about them again. Your children are told their parents are either dead or do not want them anymore. The results were horrendous and predictable.

There also is no mention of any of the positive contributions of the indigenous people. He characterizes them as being invisible, he does not see them participating in any "productive capacity in the normal workaday world." It is startling and sad to read this statement. In reality, Aboriginal people in Australia are actively participating in many aspects of society. Maybe Bryson just had blinders on his eyes.

I purchased this book to prepare for a trip to Australia but had to put it down because of its limited perspective. I finished reading it after my trip. My experiences there just reinforced my initial negative impressions of the Bryson's writing. I also was disappointed by the flippant attitude, snide comments and off-color jokes. He spends a lot of time being bored or disappointed by various aspects of the country. But as he is on the road and stops off in very small towns it is to be expected that he will not find fine food, scintillating conversation or great cultural attractions every day. The same could be said of any small town in middle America. No reason to be so high-handed in criticism of them. There is a beauty in ordinary people carrying on with ordinary lives that he seems to miss.

[profh-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

There are moments of research and interest, but most of this travel writing is cliche. At times the writer seems very impressed with his own (unremarkable) wit. While I occasionally enjoyed hearing about his personal experiences in distant places, I felt it necessary to consider his boorish nature and self-aggrandizing way in relation to fact. In sum, this is a collection of shallow, superficial experiences with moments of interest concerning a fascinating country.

[mrgan-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A shaggy-dog travelogue, all random bits and musings, incomplete and oddly outlined. But no matter—Bryson is a tremendously entertaining writer, so even when his anecdotes aren't A material, even when he writes about the tritest little bits of his travels, he puts out a damn readable book.

[pgchuis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was entertaining, laugh out loud funny in places, but slightly dated - it was published in 2000. Bryson's main points - that Australia is huge, largely empty and even largely unmapped/investigated - are made over and over. It was quite a long book and I was glad to get to the end of it. It didn't really make me want to go to Australia, but I am much better informed about that country than I was, and it was worth reading for the paragraphs on cricket alone.

I wish he had actually spoken to some Aborigines though, rather than merely describing them as looking "beaten up", and discussing how badly they have been treated with other white men.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In A Sunburned Country is a year 2000 Australian travelogue presented by Bill Bryson in a humorous and approachable manner. Although filled with clever anecdotes and funny situations the author still manages to pass along a great deal of information about that unique country.

The book is based on a number of trips the author made to Australia, including a cross country rail trip and various driving excursions and boat trips. Whether he is detailing stats about population, giving the reader history lessons, describing the awesome beauty or considering the varied and sometimes dangerous flora and fauna, his sheer joy of being in that country comes across on every page.

In A Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson’s admiration for Australia made me want to pack my suitcase and run away to the ‘land down under’. I needed an escape from real life right now and this book certainly managed to carry me away. It’s a frank, funny and overall, a very captivating read.

[apopova-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Did not read the Kindle edition, but this is the pb edition available in Canada, by Anchor Canada, and it does not appear in the list of editions....

[cheryl_in_cc_nv · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ok, this one was pretty good. Still more about Bryson than about the peoples & places, but at least this time he wasn't whining. Or should I say whinging - as I've been given to understand (elsewhere) Aussies dot it. I am discussing the book on Aussie Readers before I return it to the library.

[miaculpa-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Bryson is the foremost travel writer of our generation and, after travels through the US, the UK and Europe, he turned his focus to Australia with "In a Sunburned Country".

Being Australian, I had special knowledge of what Bryson wrote about, and found he made a few mistakes; his statement about senators from the territories is incorrect (and I'm surprised it made its way to print), and of course I take umbrage to his negative views on cricket. Bryson is a very funny man though so I can forgive him these discretions.