Down Under

Rating:
Summary: Informative, amusing and well written
Review: As an Australian I am always interested in how others see our country. Mr Bryson notes that in 1996 from evidence in articles in the New York Times Australia was referred to about the same number of times as countries with a GDP about the size of New Jersey, which is to say not much at all. But he does concede that in terms of sporting success Australia per head of population Australia leads the world. For the first days of the 2004 Olympics it was China one, Australia two. Canada, perhaps a comparable country, but greater population, was in the twenties. We are also boring with Australia's dullest man as our Prime Minister. Mr Bryson covers all the usual suspects - sharks, snakes, crocodiles, insects, sea stinging creatures, rabbits, weird politicians such as Pauline Hanson, Jim Cairns and Jo Jhelke Peterson. But he does his homework, writes well, and does not condescend or patronize. I learned that I was born a British subject as Australian Citizenship did not exist until 1949, I learn that Aboriginal people were butchered and used as dog meat, that Myall Creek is famous not because Aboriginal people were slaughtered there but because six whites were hung for those deeds. But Mr Bryson also spends some time outlining unparalleled achievement of Aboriginal people being able to connect still with their cultural origins 40,000 years ago. I understood too that the ten year drought of 1890 was made much worse by the millions of rabbits (originally imported from Britain in 1850 for shooting fun) which had by that time devastated the land in combination with overgrazing by millions of sheep. Maybe the land has not yet recovered.
I hope Australians read this book. Lots of them.

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: Bryson has done it again! I lived in Australia for quite a few years and reading this book brought back a rush of memories. His wit is insightful, and internationally "spot on." He doesn't really have a go at the Australians, as much as say, guitely pointing out unique quirks the Auzzies have developed for themselves down under.

I read this book on a plane ride back from Australia a few years ago, and caught myself laughing out load more than once.

Great book, Bill.

Rating:
Summary: My God This is a Good Book
Review: I first found this book at the Melbourne airport where there were piles of these books with bright yellow covers flying off the shelves to eager buyers.

I was in a hurry at the time and on this trip did not see much of Australia. In any case this is a wonderful book and made up for a lack of travel time. It is really excellent. Gives a picture of day to day life around the wilds of Australia. It wants to make you follow in his steps and re-trace his travels, pub by pub or through each isolated chinese restaurant in the outback.

Jack in Toronto

Rating:
Summary: down under
Review: It is true that Bill Bryson is perhaps the type who would not always let the truth get in the way of a good story, and that not all of the facts in the book are entirely accurate, but overall you could not possibly say that this book is phenomenally bad. There are at least two segments that were hilarious, and Bryson keeps things entertaining. At its best the book could even be called brilliant-there's just something about the story of the two old people who emerge from the fog arguing only to wander off again. 3 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Unimpressed
Review: Picked up this book after having heard it was funny, informative, and easy to read. Within the first few pages i became disillusioned! It's hard not to be really, when Mr Bryson refers to spiders as insects, and in his initial segment to point out "some facts", states that Australia is a single island continent. I'd be curious as to which continent New Zealand belongs to then? Maybe Australasia ceased to be in the day he lost crossing the date line? Having spent over a quater of a year in Oz some of his comments managed to make me chuckle, especially regarding Red Back Spiders, but on the whole i was disappointed. At the price, i'm not inspired to buy another of his titles.