Rating: 
Summary: Read this book, but not all at once!
Review: The first part of this book was amazing, it really made me laugh. Unfortunatly, the book does not continue to the same high standard throughout. There are a few funny parts later on in the book, I see that there are a lot of people who found the 'Vodaphone Man' amusing, but sometimes the jokes may offend people. As I am British myself, I sometimes found myself being irritated by Bryson's comments about this country, but I think the overall picture is flattering. In spite of its shortcomings (it is sometimes repetitive) I liked this book so much I recommended it to an American friend who wanted to know more about Britain. I hope he finds it as entertaining as I did.
Rating: 
Summary: o.k if you have nothing better to do
Review: This was the first Bill Bryson book that I read and I have to say I was not that impressed with it. I must say though that there are some quite enjoyable bits for example the 'mobile phone' man. There is also some good humour in this book and some of the cameos that are shown are really heartwarming(the poor family in the museum). Apart from this though I thought the book was a little bit repetitive and tended to lack any adventure. It was quite bland and Bryson tended to ramble on a bit. He was also quite rude and out of order with some of the comments he made for example ''a parkinsons convention' was not a joke but a sick and pathetic attempt to raise a laugh. Overall the book was not badly written but I have to say honestly I did not enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Funny,even if you aren`t English!
Review: "Notes From a Small Island" is the first Bryson book I`d read (and can I make the point that I had to for my English A Level! )but I have to admit it is an EXCELLENT read and very funny in some places. Basically, it is a critical but loved review by Bryson about the island he called home for so many years. Even if the readers aren`t British and don`t know our way of life or our attitude, they will still find it a scream! Thumbs up!
Rating:
Summary: Not bad but not great!
Review: Bill Bryson did manage to entertain me with his humorous digressions and anecdotes, however over a period of time his style in creating laughs became a little repetitive. Although there were some very funny parts such as the cameos of 'Vodafone Man' and Vince and interesting historical information, Bryson did tend to waffle on. Information such as prices and shopping features became a little tedious after a while and i felt much of this was not really relavant.The beginning of the book and the ending were my favourite parts as i found much of the middle section boring.It was a fairly good read but only to do so the once.I would not buy this book!
Rating: 
Summary: you learn something new every day
Review: Maybe it's because I've had to really analyse this book, or maybe it's because I've heard all the gags before, but I find this book to be a boring waste of paper. There are people out there who love this book, a small number of fellow students loved this book from start to finish, unfortunately, most others didn't. The jokes in this book have all been heard before, although some have been spruced up before being sent out to paperback hell (more commonly known as a critic's desk). But this book isn't all bad, I would be the first to admit that there were some (rare) occasions when this book brought a smile to my face, such as the "big, blue condom" joke. But the jokes are only funny once, and Mr Bryson has an annoying habit of reminding the reader that he cracked a joke a few pages ago by repeating the gag again. Also, this book seems to have so much depth you could swim in it. Every time I read through this book, I find something new that I didn't notice before. If you like discovering new bits every time you go through, this is the book for you. This type of book is one that will try to appeal to everybody, but unfortunately it only caters for a niche market (namely the people that haven't been criticised, and there are very few of them). By all means try this book, but don't be disappoonted if this book doesn't do it for you. A worthy borrow, but don't waste your money buying it.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your money with this book!
Review: Maybe it is because I am not a native English speaker...maybe it is because I was OBLIGED to read it by my teacher...but I really didn't like this book! Apart from the first few chapters, it is on the whole very boring... Bryson does nothing but complaining about everything(food,hotels,architecture...) and he is so rude toward British ("British",not "English"! )people,that one can hardly believe he loves them.He reaches the climax when he describes his reaction to a Mc Donald's employee.Really...How can someone be so rude and arrogant toward people who are simply doing their job? And the worst thing is that he thinks he is funny...Very irritating...And what about the humour? Or,rather,where is the humour? It is often artificial and not at all original and his descriptions(alas,often old clichés..) of the British are sometimes so mean and irritating,that I am really glad he didn't write a similar book about my country... Don't buy it ,don't read it,if you're looking for something interesting and funny.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing special...
Review: I enjoyed the first few chapters, but after a while, my enjoyment trailed off into boredom, and I had to force myself to finish. Don't get me wrong, there are some excellent sections, but on the whole, not that good a book to sit down with if you feel like a truly *good* read...
Rating:
Summary: He's better with places than with people
Review: This is a great read, a fascinating book about the writer's journey through Great Britain, with the author's impressions cleverly expressed. He's like an earthier Paul Theroux, or like Peter Mayle as channeled by Dave Barry. Bryson is good at using both humor and hyperbole to illustrate good points about his British travels as well as disappointments. After reading the book, you feel you've had a conversation with an old friend who gave you the lowdown on his trip without any sugar-coating. You feel that everything Bryson says comes directly from the heart. The only reason I didn't rate the book 5 stars is that, a few times too often, Bryson goes into great detail about how rude he was toward service people who were just doing their jobs and whose performance wasn't precisely what he wanted. He reaches a low point when he takes almost a page to describe his reaction to a McDonald's employee who made the mistake of asking if he wanted "an apple turnover with that." Maybe it's because I've waited tables, but Bryson struck me as exactly the kind of arrogant, self-righteous, condescending customer you prayed you wouldn't have to serve. He comes close in these passages to personifying the ugly American: willing to enjoy England's riches, but not tolerant of its shortcomings. Nevertheless, that's no reason not to read the book. Bryson's insights into the places he visits are more than worth the price of admission.
Rating:
Summary: Very good - for a traveling book
Review: Although I really dislike travelling books, Bryson made me think about them in a new different way. Of course he took a very detailled view of GB, but he does it in a very humoroes way. If I want to know something about some places i'd probably by a postals. Of course he describes the big cities of GB but he lays more emphasize on the small towns and villages. That's what I like at Bryson's books. He is able to reflect the dry and sometimes black humour of the "Brits" to the reader in exact the way it is. I just think of the old men, sitting in their pubs, who were discussing the best and shortest route between their little home and London,because a tourist was so naiv to ask them for it. Sure that's not very funny but after reading Bryson's description of their several-hours-discussion about it just to get the result that the tourist would better take a look on his map, you know, why I like Bill Bryson.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Bill Bryson has such wonderful wit. The book was excellent and extremely funny. However I think you may need to be British or to have lived in the UK for a few years to really appreciate it! The part in the book where he is describing catching a train and observing British people asking whether it is the correct train (even after being told & the train pointed out) had me in tears of laughter. My Australian husband upon seeing me doubled up with tears streaming down my face asked what I was laughing about, after being told he looked blankly at me and said "what's so funny about that"? As I said you really need to be British to understand. I honestly thought that I was the only person in England with this particular idiosyncrassy, I never realised other people did it too!
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