In a Sunburned Country

By Bill Bryson

Deliciously funny, fact-filled and adventurous, In a Sunburned Country takes us on a grand tour of Australia. It's a place where interesting things happen all the time, from a Prime Minister lost — yes, lost — while swimming at sea, to Japanese cult members who may (entirely unnoticed) have set off an atomic bomb on their 500,000 acre property in the great western desert.

Australia is the only island that is also a continent, and the only continent that is also a country. Its aboriginal people, a remote and mysterious race with a tragic history, have made it their home for millennia. And despite the fact that it is the most desiccated, infertile and climatically aggressive of all inhabited continents, it teems with life. In fact, Australia has more things that can kill you in extremely nasty ways than anywhere else: sharks, crocodiles, the planet's ten most deadly poisonous snakes, fluffy yet toxic caterpillars, sea shells that actually attack you, and the unbelievable box jellyfish (don't ask). The dangerous riptides of the sea and the sun-baked wastes of the outback both lie in wait for the unwary.

Australia is an immense and fortunate land, and it has found in Bill Bryson its perfect guide. In a Sunburned Country offers the best of all possible introductions to what may well be the best of all possible nations. Even with those jellyfish.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: May 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9780385674539

Reviews for In a Sunburned Country

[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...

[bnbooklady · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bryson jumps right in with a brief introduction to the history of Australia, beginning with the history of colonization and the fact that Britain orginally used Australia as a prison camp. Interesting, right? As he explores Australia from the big cities to the desolate outback (it gets really hot there, by the way) and discusses the social and cultural history of Australians and its scientific significance (Australia has more species of plants and animals found only in one place in the world than any other location), Bryson works in anecdotes from his personal experiences and misadventures down under, and that’s why I love him so much. His narrative agility and his ability to weave research into story so deftly is unparalleled, at least in travel writing, where so many books feel like “Day One: Went to X, Did Y, Saw Z; lather, rinse, repeat.”In a Sunburned Country taught me about people, places, and things I’d never heard of before, including a number of snakes, spiders, and insects who could kill me with a single bite, and it provided a beautiful, dangerous, occasionally frightening escape from the “real world.” I didn’t even mind that Bryson took a turn for the serious to explore Australia’s treatment of its indigenous people, the Aborigines, because he did it with great intelligence, insight, and depth of feeling.And that just goes to show you that travel writing doesn’t have to be vapid, reliant on jokes about poop, or filled with convenient and stereotypical epiphanies. It can be substantial and educational, and it can assume a certain level of intelligence and worldliness from its readers, and still be wonderful and successful and widely read.Read my full review at The Book Lady's Blog.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Book on CD narrated by the authorBryson 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.

[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)

[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.

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

I laughed a lot. Don't know how I managed to not read any Bill Bryson over the years. This will end now.

[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.

[growgirl55 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bryson applieshis humor to Australia.

[lisa.schureman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Rollicking trips through parts of Australia, since the author had to make several research trips to write the book which in turn led to him making up numerous new verses of "Waltzing Matilda" while driving along a tedious stretch of highway. Sunscreen would be a good investment if you're going to walk ten miles and don't wish to sport a painful burn. The author shares his adventures with you, many times in a humorous fashion and at others with a sense of wonder. When it comes to the health and welfare of the Aborigines he becomes very serious as they are the invisible people without a voice in Australia who have been traumatized since the coming of the Europeans. What the answer is even the author can't say. I had hoped that he was going to cover Brisbane as that's where a number of people from my grandmother's town settled but he only managed to make it to Surfers Paradise. A very interesting book where you learn of explorers who wouldn't give up the boat even if it meant dragging them through a desert.

[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.

[tgraettinger_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great travelogue about Australia, a country most Americans - including myself - seem to know very little about. It's a fascinating place when the guide is Bill Bryson.

[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.

[squirrelontherun · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Bill Bryson is Fabulous.

[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....

[bell7_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Just before the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Bill Bryson travels across the country of Australia, mulling over its history, its various biomes, and the very dangerous toxic animals that you may come across.Bryson's travel books are some of my favorites of his. I enjoy his humor unless he's at his most grumpy, and in this one he isn't much because he really loves Australia. Sometimes he's just sitting back in wonder enjoying something, and it makes for fun reading. He makes me want to travel the continent and see if everything's as wonderful (or as disappointing) as he says, nearly 20 years later. As is typical of his books, it tends to tell you where he went and then digress into the things about the place that he finds interesting, whether it be the treatment of Aborigines or how an Australian Prime Minister went for a swim and was never seen again. Your mileage may vary, but I had a grand time reading.

[jessi.rhodes · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

made me want to move to Australia

[stephmward · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely hilarious! Even though the author gets seriously sunburnt and runs into terrifying creatures, he somehow still makes you want to visit Australia. I'd recommend (and have recommended) this book to anyone planning a trip down under. A pure joy to read...I was sorry to reach the last page.

[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.

[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!

[perkykeri · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

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

[mlhershey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Funny, entertaining, long!

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[addunn3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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

[melzyrose90-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow! What can I say other than In A Sunburned Country was a beautifully informative and occasionally hilarious love letter to Australia; as a reader/listener I felt like I was travelling right alongside Bill as he travelled from NSW to Western Australia and learning so much about Australia that I never knew. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with the remotest interest in Australia, its culture, and its people.

[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.

[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.

[murderbydeath · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An excellent overview of an often overlooked country, I can't recommend this book enough to anyone interested in an informative, but funny, look at a country unlike any other. Bryson is obviously besotted with Australia, but he doesn't pull any punches about what's wrong with it either. Lightly interspersed amongst the travel adventures and colour commentary are quite a lot of facts about this astounding country and it's amazing environmental diversity. His information about the aboriginals is never preachy or judgemental, but doesn't gloss over what's been done, either. He left me wanting to learn more about their culture, in much the same way I'm interested in Native American culture. This was a re-read for me, as I first picked up the book when I moved to Australia, almost 7 years ago. But I still closed it last night, shaking my head in wonder (again) and all this country has and how much of it has yet to be tapped, mapped, or surveyed. I've never tried to share a book with my partner, but I've told him, as a born-and-bred Aussie, that he has to read this book; to have a better appreciation of just how special his country is, but also, to make it easier to convince him of the need to travel more around it.