Bill Bryson doesn’t encounter any big adventures in Britain. He just walks, rides the train and drives through the whole island to find out what exactly makes Britain British. On the way he tells us stories from the journalist world and about local history and heroes. You get to meet weirdos and normal people and start to ask yourself why something is normal in one place but positively strange in another. It is no objective travel piece, it’s highly opinionated and that’s what makes it partly so funny.
The book was published in 1992 and things have changed since then but nevertheless the buildings he talks about, the British manners and their enthusiasm about talking how to drive just anywhere (I’ve witnessed that myself a month ago) are still a fact today.
He compares places he’s been to twenty years before with the contemporary situation which is also interesting no matter if you’ve been to England in the seventies or not.
There is a lot of description so if you want suspense leave your hands off this book. I’m not exactly a description enthusiast but he can describe everyday situations so skilfully that I really had to rethink my position. However if you just want to relax and travel through Britain in your fantasy and explore the culture go for it.
What I personally liked best about this book is Bryson’s weird but highly entertaining thoughts about certain architects, the questions he asks that the world doesn’t really care about (why is a jumper called a jumper) and his dreams (owning an island and hunting down the guys who destroy Britain and the rest of the world). The episode where he’s in Glasgow is so funny I cried tears because I’ve experienced it just in that very way he describes it.
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