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| Notes from a Small Island | 
 enlarge | Author: Bill Bryson
Publisher: Black Swan
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
Buy Used: £0.01
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Avg. Customer Rating:  131 reviews
Sales Rank: 1165
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 259
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0552996009
Dewey Decimal Number: 910
EAN: 9780552996006
ASIN: 0552996009
Publication Date: August 1, 1996
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Great book that is now a little dated November 21, 2007
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
Bryson needs to re-write this book. By this I mean he should travel around Britain once more and write a new book based on his experiences. The reason for that is that Notes is now somewhat dated - it was written in the early 1990s and since then the nation has changed enormously, having had to bear the brunt of Blair's ruinous policies, most notably unlimited immigration, plus the general decline in public behaviour and old fashioned genteel Englishness. (His criticisms of the then Tory government have dated particularly badly when we now know how corrupt and incompetent its successor would be.) I'd say that much of what Bryson came across is now very different or has just disappeared. Since seaside towns are now populated by asylum seekers and cities by Third World immigrants, the characteristics and FEEL of our nation has changed considerably. I wonder whether Bryson will be wise and courageous enough to note this? It's a shame that he rarely pens travel books nowadays.
Bryson probably always was guilty of romanticising Britain, but these days he really would have to turn the other cheek plenty of times to keep his romantic notions intact. Manners and traditions have changed considerably in the last 15 years.
A few more observations on this book: it starts superbly; the first chapter set in Dover in the 1970s is funny and nostalgic and cosy and sets a standard that the rest of it can't quite live up to. If it had continued like this it would have been the funniest and most precious book ever written.
Bryson is occasionally prickly and spiky, nothing like the avuncular image he seems to have acquired. The incident in the McDonald's illustrates this - the chap behind the counter was only doing his job.
For me, the whole idea of a man wandering round towns and cities alone is quite evocative and a little sad. But I admire his courage in doing so. His experiences of pubs and Chinese restaurants really make you feel something. Sitting alone in a restaurant has always seemed to me an excruciating experience. However, if you have a copy of this book on me it may be more tolerable. Did I forget to say it's highly enjoyable?
 I have read it again and again October 18, 2007
I love this book. I first read it when it came out and loved it. Now I read bits of it again and again. It's really funny and good to see what he says about places you know well or visit. I like the contrasts between the England of the 1970s when I was a child and of the 90s.Reading this has inspired me to read other travel books at the moment I am on 'Looking for England' by H.V Morton-written in the 1920s.
A polemic against bad town planning August 29, 2007
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I first came across this book when I was at college over ten years ago and although it hasn't aged well it is still a very funny read. Yes, it is historically inaccurate (hence the 4 stars instead of 5 - the research could have been a bit more thorough) and yes, it is one long winge, but Bryson has something to winge about and winges very well. Something in Britain went horribly wrong in the 60s, 70s and 80s (and probably continues to go horribly wrong) and it went especially horribly wrong with building conservation and town planning. Britain in the early nineties was just waking up to the fact that communities had allowed the demolition of their most important buildings. This book was one of the slaps in the face that forced people to come round. A foreigner (a Yank, no less) telling us that we had all but wrecked our built environment? Well yes. Yes we had. Thank goodness now we are much more wise to the worst excesses of developers and planners (there is still room for improvement). Thank goodness for people like Bryson.
A pleasant read July 30, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I gave this book a try despite being disappointed with `A Brief History of Nearly Everything'. I must say I enjoyed this more, it was interesting and amusing to read how we and our country are perceived at a grass-roots level by an American and I think this is where this book probably differs from more conventional travelogues. He doesn't just concentrate on the main attractions, it's his observations about ordinary people in ordinary places that are so amusing. I had assumed that Bill Bryson was an anglophile but at times it was hard to tell as he spent a lot of time criticising places, notably and surprisingly Oxford. I enjoyed the book but not as much as I thought I would considering the praise it's received since it was first published.
Poorly written, mundane, uneventful, rude and yet.... thoroughly enjoyable read! June 28, 2007
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
This was the first Bryson book I read. My first thoughts were, is this it?? I was stunned at how note-like his writing actually is and how he just writes about the most ordinary events and situations like booking into a hotel and what he ate for breakfast. As I was reading it I couldn't help thinking 'my god, he travels all round the country and yet so few interesting events and meetings take place, he must be one hell of a boring guy'. Not only that, he comes across as quite rude and arrogant (unlike in some of his other books) and yet, whilst wondering how anyone could make a living writing such stuff, I found myself unable to put it down. Even though you don't get to learn a great deal about Britain and although I am loathe to admit it, I found it thoroughly enjoyable!
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