Notes from a Small Island

Shortly after it was first published, I picked this book up in the bookstore at Heathrow on my way home from a business trip. I spent the entire flight glued to it and laughing out loud.

This was Bryson’s first travel book and one that changed my perception of what travel writing could be. It is perceptive, irreverent, and focuses on the small, often quirky, details that make travel so interesting. I am now a huge fan of all of Bryson’s books, but this was the one that got me hooked.

In choosing my favorite Bryson travelogue for my list, I alternated between A Walk in the Woods and Notes from a Small Island. The latter's setting gives more material—no less than Britain's entire history, geography, and culture—in contrast to the Appalachian Trail's "Long Green Tunnel" of rocks, trees, and shoddy shelters. Bryson's good nature redeems his shortcomings. Even when he's taking the mickey out of individuals and nationalities, it's clear that he's playing the English national sport rather than condescending. Bryson is all voice; he is not particularly interesting when expatiating on science or history or industry (yawn!), but… show more.

Bryson is just a brilliant writer who makes you feel as though you’re with him in intimate conversation in his head. His powers of observation in small things, which may seem familiar but are extraordinary, wakes you up to life. This book means a lot to me because of its beginning. He mentions my first big project after designing Jorvik Viking Centre, which was to conceive of and design an exhibition in Dover on the coast of Kent, ‘White Cliffs Experience’. His arrival as a young man and subsequent time spent almost as a down-and-out in that town captured for… show more.

Bryson is an American who has settled in England and is an inveterate walker. He spends much of his time wandering around the various counties of the UK and exploring little-known historical sites and buildings. He infinitely prefers the British way of life to the American, for which he gets my vote for a start. He appreciates all the quirks and subtleties of provincial existence probably better than the British do themselves, who take them for granted. But what makes him so hugely popular is his sense of humour. He can wring irony and laughter from the most ordinary of… show more.

One of the only criticisms we might level at Brill Bryson is that his idea of a crazy quest is likely to be something relatively tame—and heaven forbid it should play out in a developing or non-English-speaking country! But we’ll let him off, of course, because of the writing genius he brings to the party. This is a writer whose style and cutting observational humour I consider the benchmark to which my own real-world books must aspire. So his quest to traverse the United Kingdom exclusively by public transport inevitably makes my list. The fact that it was… show more.

To me, travel writer Bill Bryson represents the world’s yogi-master in literary observational humor. This book is snigger, snigger, chortle, laugh-out-loud funny. Notes from a Small Island is Bill’s first book (I call him Bill because he writes in such a familial way, I feel like I am travelling with him as a friend while reading). Written after the American teacher had spent 20 years living in England, it describes Bryson’s rambling journey around the farms, clifftops, and motorways of the great isle. His observations as an outsider hilariously expose the inanities and insanities of the Brits and their unique… show more.