Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as his other books
Review: I was quite curious to see what Bryson would make of Milan, the city where I live. I'd already read quite a few of his other books so I was looking forward to an interesting, intelligent read. Instead, I was amazed: the man was unable to find a coffee shop in the centre of town.This makes me have my doubts about Bryson as a travel writer. If he couldn't find a coffee shop in a town that has at least two on every block, who knows how many other things he is wrong about? Can I trust his observations on other countries? On the positive side, the book is amusing, the anecdotes about his youth are funny and his observations are interesting even if after a while they become somewhat trite and predictable. They usually run along the lines of "Why would anyone in their right mind tear down this <insert word here> to put up a modern <insert word here>"). This is a book that's certainly worth reading, even if it's not worth taking seriously.
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of time and money
Review: Unfortunately this book is not funny. It is not even entertaining. And it is not a travel book at all. It is a contribution to intolerance and prejudice. I wonder how can be one so superficial, narrow-minded and intolerant! Bill Bryson should think about the difference between a traveller and a tourist. Why do people travel? Probably because they want to experience new cultures and the best way to do it is doing it in an open-minded and sensitive way. But BB did not. He seemed to hunt for negative things only in the most prejudicing way. And he was on a hunt through Europe! Travelling is about SPENDING TIME instead of rushing from one place to another. Travelling is also about TALKING TO PEOPLE instead of reading books in restaurants and other places. I hope that Americans visiting Europe are not biased by this intolerant point of view and hopefully enjoy the diversity of Europe. I also hope that BB stays at home in the future instead of throwing 'Travel books' on the market (isn't there a recent one about Australia - well-timed to the Olympics?)
Rating: 
Summary: Best Book I Ever Laughed and Read
Review: This is a fabulous book. A good read. A make you feel good book about life. This is guy is a great read and now I am a big fan and hungry for his next book. He takes the things we do in every day life and makes them funny. This guy should win the Nobel Peace Prize or become the Laureate for Literature.
Rating:
Summary: 200+ pages of whingeing and surliness
Review: I did not find this book funny. I DID find it mean-spirited, intolerant, and whiny. And let me state for the record that I have backpacked through many of the countries Mr Bryson visited. I have only the following to say to him: - The idea of traveling is to be able to experience and encounter new cultures societies and accept them for what they are, not to criticise, criticise, and then criticise some more. So the Germans and Swiss have an inordinate number of rules, and the French cut queues. Nobody asked you to visit, and if you don't like it you can always go home. - Not everyone speaks English. - The Second World War ended 55 years ago (or 45 years at the time he wrote the book). It is not nice to keep harping on it, when those responsible for it have expressed their contrition and been punished. (If he has a problem with the Second War, go pick on the Japanese, who seem able only to whine about 2 nuclear bombs being dropped on them and have conveniently forgotten the countless atrocities they committed in Asia.) - Industrial development is an inevitable part of progress. It cannot always be done in a pretty manner, and even if it could, that might cost money which the country can ill-afford to spend. So too bad if you find that your sense of aesthetics offended; the decisions of governments are not made with only you in mind. - It's perverted to want a place to have more dangerous, reckless drivers just to fit your image of what that country should be like. - Things change in 18 years. Doubtless you were a lot more tolerant when you were 20. It's sad to devote a holiday to revisiting the places you went to long ago and, instead of reveling in the familiar amidst the different, spend it tut-tutting about how different it was 18 years ago. Quit dwelling in the past! - It would be nice if you could be happy about more tourist dollars enriching the local economy instead of whingeing about the inconvenience additional tourists pose to YOUR personal comfort. - You complain about hordes of American/Japanese/German tourists spoiling everything, and bemoan the prospect of more tourists on group tours clogging up Europe. That's not the problem, the problem is all the whingeing that emits from these tourists, and unfortunately, in terms of attitude, you are indistinguishable from them. - A holiday goes a lot easier if you PLAN and BOOK in advance. Then you won't have to spend so much time queueing for tickets only to be told they were sold out ages ago. Then you won't have to complain so much. - On the last page, you state a desire to forge on ahead and see Asia. PLEASE DON'T COME HERE. You can't even survive Europe without complaining about the crowds and the litter and the service and the people. What makes you think you can survive here? And we can do without the worst kind of tourist of all - a cross between the American whinger and the intolerant Englishwoman he complains infests Italy.
Rating: 
Summary: The sexual humour and bad language ruined a gem.
Review: There is no doubt that Bill Bryson can make me laugh. Out loud even! Bryson's whimsical description of his stop and go tour through Europe constantly entertains. I learnt about Europe, the idiosyncrasies of its places and people. Probably one of the highlights was Bryson's hilarious description of his desperation to reach the toilet of his hotel room while his terribly overfull bladder is bursting. Without giving my belly a chance to recover from laughing, this account was immediately followed by the equally hilarious description of Bryson's efforts to find food in the hotel to satisfy the urgent needs of his terribly empty stomach, an attempt which involved dead end fire-escapes, three drunken Japanese men in blue business suits, a stubborn elevator that keeps returning to the same floor, locked doors, and an over-zealous waiter who takes away the very peanuts that our starved hero so desperately needed. What I find most disappointing about this book, however, is that Bryson frequently sees the need to resort to a brand of humor below the waist and above the knees. Such gutter humour, sexual jokes and innuendos are hardly necessary given Bryson's incredible talent with words. Although there are chapters without this foul-mouthed and low-down humour, on the whole Bryson has painted the whole book with this gutter-style brush of sexual humour. In my view this negative cancels out all the positives of the book. If it wasn't for this, "Neither Here Nor There" would be a brilliant book. As it is, however, Bryson has successfully allowed his book to be re-classified amongst a great deal of "trash" in the humour section. Too bad. On the bright side, this book is one of Bryson's early works, and he seems to have matured with age. The weaknesses of this book are much less evident in his most recent work, "In a Sunburned Country", which describes his trip to Australia. If you are going to buy only one Bill Bryson book, I would recommend purchasing this latter title instead.
Rating:
Summary: no less than 5
Review: i simply cannot fathom how one would grow tired of this book, or so disgruntled with it as to give it a less than 5 or 4 star rating. i grew up as an only child, so there was never much need to laugh out loud at, say, the television, or a book i was reading. BUT this book had me laughing absolutely painfully and out loud. yes, it's a book-reviewer's cliche, but it's true. bill bryson has a cynicism by which his tales always border on the sarcasticly absurd, but not so negative that his love for life does not shine through, and also not so exaggerative that the truth is hidden. this book is a real find, and i have since read 2 more of bryson's books (walk in the woods, stranger here myself), and have yet to grow tired of his musings.
Rating:
Summary: MERITS: ENTERTAINING AND NOTHING ELSE
Review: In Neither here nor there, Bryson soaks up Europe and sprinkles it with his wit, observations and humour to go. You have to admire his ability. He goes to Rome and Paris and Berlin, but doesn't stop there because this is Europe we are talking about. He finds himself in Bulgaria and Hammerfest, looks at Istanbul and trots along Oslo. What is the result? An undoubtedly entertaining book. The first few chapters are as fresh and engaging, the words flow through your conscience magically. One country's culture is analysed and evaluated in the most brilliantly delightful way. There are jokes. None of them are subtle and are all of the same mode, Bryson-esque, and for 75% of the time,they please. He makes a particularly good day of his a good chapter. You laugh. He loves the sunshine, museums and parks. Then sets in. Bryson appears to enjoy making fun of people. He makes fun of himself and pleases the reader at his expense, but openly insulting a poor waiter? And there are the occassional comments that you have to read several times in order to come close to not saying, "Hey, this is racist." And he uses the term, 'What a wonderful country', several times. He spends too little time here and rushes off to the next, only to waste pages and pages there. Why does he always tell us about his experiences with dining? It begins to flag. And his travels become slightly tiresome. He has to go to parks and museums. You begin not to care about whether or not he goes to Sorrento and Capri because you know he'll throw around the same jokes and make roughly the same comments as he did with Rome. It's only during the last quarter of the book, which is a bit too late, that you feel this is a good book. Because you realise the contrasts between the beginning and the end. These are pedantic quibbles, but they are warranted and should be considered. Bryson is honest with us. He shares his opinions, recalls his travels with Katz twenty years earlier, relieves us with extremely amusing anecdotes. He tells us whether he likes this place or that, or whether he loathes whatever. It is great but, because he stops inventing after a while, it becomes a slight chore. And the question that I ask is if Europe can be condensed into bite-sized diluted pieces of writing to form a 300-page book. No? If you aren't particularly critical and enjoy a read where for the most part, you can leave your brain behind, Neither here nor there is a smashing read. But, and here it is, but his later books, especially Note from a Small Island and A Walk in the Woods are much more enjoyable, detailed but at the same time readable. This isn't to say Neither here not there isn't good or delectable or lovable, but it simply isn't as good. His later books seem like results of learning from mistakes in this book and, it comes down to this, they are much more worth your cash. Invest in these books if you want Bill Bryson. If you've read all of his except for this, you'll probably be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Mixed feelings
Review: I always enjoy reading Bill Bryson's books, but this was a little disappointing. I have the same mixed feelings about the book as he does the places he's describing. He moves around too quickly, and although he seems to have a good "feel" for the cities etc. he visits, they are inevitably a bit superficial. Indeed, some of his observations are flawed. For example, he must be joking when he says that, "the Italians technological contribution to humankind stopped with the pizza oven". A typical Anglo-Saxon stereotype, and, as it happens wildly inaccurate: the Italians are fine engineers, and....what about Marconi, for example? I also found his (Anglo-Saxon) "can't (won't) speak the language" attitude rather irritating. With a little more effort, perhaps he might have done better.
Rating:
Summary: Let this be your European laugh bible!
Review: Very few book provide laugh out loud humor. In fact, I didn't realize this book did until people on the plane started asking me what had me crying in the aisle! So, if you've been to Europe and haven't read TRAVELS, your trip isn't complete! If you haven't been to Europe, don't read this on pain of becoming most unbecomingly jealous of those who have! Live Europe through the perspicacious and witty eyes of fellow traveler Bill Bryson, the very personable Master of the Travelogue renaissance. A joy to read, it's as much a series of shorts on various locations throughout Europe as a complete novel, connnected by the trials and tribulations of one B. Bryson and companion. TRAVELS also provides a great view back 20 years in European travel - back when Europe seemed a bit more like a 3rd world country, if all is to be believed. Don't let this scare you, things have changed quite a lot (if not the toilets, of course). Cheers, BilFish
Rating:
Summary: Depressing
Review: I didn't like it. It is the first book of Bill Bryson's I have read, and probably won't read another one. I have also traveled extensively in Europe, and similiar to Bryson, never planned my hotels, etc. But while I always have a good time, he just seems to dislike everything. It depressed me to picture him traveling through Europe, being that negative. Skip this book, and read an intelligent and interesting travel book, like something by David Hatcher Childress.
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