Rating: 
Summary: A tailspin into mundanity
Review: after reading "A Walk In the Woods", I was extremely excited to get my paws on another Bryson book. I was dissapointed. "Neither here nor there" has about half the humor, one tenth of the adventure and even less of the overall appeal of "A walk in the woods". It is a book that starts off on a promising note, with a description of his quest to see the northern lights in northern norway in the middle of winter; it had me thinking, 'great, here we go, typical Bryson, doing whacky things that come to him on a whim'. However, as the book progresses it digresses into a mundane journal of the rather ordinary wanderings of a solo traveler. Part of the problem is that he makes very little effort to interact with others. Because of this there is an awful lot of, " I went from the train station, found a hotel, had some dinner, drank a coke, went to bed" kind of "action" that even Brysons astounding propensity for making ordinary situations seem extraordinary cannot save it. One other major flaw it seems is that Brysons trip had no ultimate goal, no purpose. It seems to me that most satisfying travel literature begins with the author expressing a desperate need to find or achieve something, then chronicles the pursuit and struggle to meet those ends, cope with failure, and come to some kind of grand catharsis. My all time favorite, "tales of a female nomad" is the story of a womans need to find something fufilling in her life and in herself after essentially losing the "family woman role" that had come to define her. Her travels are not planned to a T, but she does travel cognisent of purpose/goal/need, and this makes that book very compelling indeed. I am not saying that travel literature must have all of those elements, but at least a little dose of purpose would have gone a long way towards making this book compelling. Do yourself a favor and put the 15 bucks you would spend buying this book in savings toward your own trip to Europe.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Byrson's Best
Review: I've read a number of Bryson's books and this is by far the weakest one in my opinion. It's not terrible, but Bryson seems to be traveling just for the sake of crossing cities off of his to-visit list. He has a great writing style, but he seems to have very few really intriguing experiences and spends so little time interacting with the locals that you wonder why he bothers leaving home. If you want a more entertaining and informative story about traveling in Western Europe, I would recommend "Searching for the Holy Grail: My Travels in Western Europe."
Rating: 
Summary: Why Leave Home?
Review: A page and a half from the end of this worthless narrative is the key to Mr. Bryson's travel philosophy: "...what an odd thing tourism is. You fly off to a strange land, eagerly abandoning all the comforts of home, and then expend vast quantities of time and money in a largely futile effort to recapture the comforts that you wouldn't have lost if you hadn't left home in the first place." This is a perfect attitude for the armchair traveler; these are exactly the people that should not travel. Buy Mr. Bryson's books and stay home. I hope no one with this attitude would presume to make themselves an ambassador to any foreign land. The whole point of travel/tourism is to have new experiences and to realize that your miniscule world is not all there is. I unfortunately forced myself to finish Neither Here Nor There at the end of a trip to New Hampshire. Had I realized Mr. Bryson's residence was so close, I would have liked to have coffee, simply to see if such a narrow-minded attitude is more than a writing persona.
Rating: 
Summary: He's not a Xenophobe
Review: Bill Bryson does make fun of the cultures he encounters in this book. Yep, on just about every page. But guess what? He also makes fun of his own native culture, America (for an entire book of Bryson poking fun at the oddities of American culture, see "I'm A Stranger Here Myself") and of the UK, the country that he adopted as his own for 20 years. No, Bill Bryson is not a xenophobe: he makes fun of everyone equally, and he does it in a way which makes it obvious that he is in loving awe of the differences that can occur amongst members of the same species depending on where/how/by whom they were raised.
This book has two personalities to it- the involved tourist and the observational tourist. Bryson spends some time recalling the previous trek he took across Europe in the 1970's with his friend (of "A Walk in the Woods" notoriety) when he was much more involved in what was going on around him. He communicated with the people and the culture of the places he visited. During his return visit, 20 years later as a lone middle-aged tourist, he was less involved and chose to merely peer through the glass at the places he visited; this part of the story involves a lot of "I went from here to here, I couldn't find a hotel, the last bus had left, no one spoke English," etc etc. While this aspect of the book might not be as fun to read as Bryson's misadventures from other books, it is endearing because it is real. This is not a book that gushingly romanticizes travel, rather it is one witty, sarcastic man's take on the people and cultures that he encountered, both in the 1990's as a middle aged American expat, and in the 1970's as a curious 20-something backpacker. My favorite Bryson book.
Rating: 
Summary: Audio CD review - an excellent listen, but sadly abridged
Review: I am a huge Bryson fan, I love his humor and his talent for noticing absurdity in everyday situations.
This audiobook is on 5 CDs and plays for 6 hours, and features Bryson's sardonic voice telling us about his adventures over Europe. If you have liked his other books, you will like this one. He writes in a detailed enough way that you will want to slow down to savor this book, so hearing it read aloud is perfect.
Unfortunately, this audiobook is abridged, and while that is not always a problem for me, since I get bored easily and prefer the story to move along, with Bryson, I always feel like I am missing a little extra something with his audiobooks. His books are good enough to want to savor every word.
So, do buy this audio CD version, but perhaps read the book first so you get the entire scoop and all the description, and listen to the audiobook in the car or while doing something else. It is one you will likely want to keep and listen to every time you get antsy for travel.
Rating:
Summary: Irreverent portrait of Europe
Review: Bryson might be the funniest travel writer around. He is also very informative. This is one of his early books, he has not yet really found his style.
Mr. Bryson travels through continental Europe. His journey has two purposes: he wants to write about Europe, and he wants to relieve a journey he made in his youth with, the by now infamous, Katz. His inner journey is a middle-aged man trying to remember his youth, even if you sometimes wonder if he has really grown out of it! His outer journey lets him experience the feel of all the places he visits. That is by far the best aspect of the book! Here he is no-holds barred funny! He can pinpoint the national bad habits of every country he visits. Since he also lets us know about his own bad habits it is not insulting. There is a love and a respect hidden among all his writings. He loves travelling, and he loves all places he visits. He seems to have a nack for capturing the soul of the places he visits. His books can almost be used as travel guides.
Rating:
Summary: A tailspin into mundanity
Review: Bryson's best book is "Notes From a Small Island," about traveling in Great Britain. It's one of the funniest books I've read. The British are funny, and Bryson knows them well after living in Britain for 20+ years.His book about Australia, "In a Sunburned Country," is also entertaining. He studied Australian history, met many interesting locals, etc. After reading it, I feel like an expert on Australia and its people. His book about Europe, "Neither Here Nor There," isn't so good. The problem is that he speaks no languages other than English. He didn't talk to anyone on this trip. Wwithout any characters (other than Bryson) the book isn't engaging. The book has only one joke, which he repeats: "The waiter/hotel clerk/taxi driver didn't speak English so I tried to make him understand that I needed..." Some of these moments are quite funny, but they don't constitute a book. Bryson didn't study the places he visits. Unlike the Australian book, you learn almost nothing about the countries he visited. Bryson's book about America, "I'm a Stranger Here Myself," failed to make me laugh. It reads like a series of Erma Bombeck columns. Bryson comments about various aspects of his life in a small town in New England. Not other people's lives, which might have been interesting, but only about his domestic life. I got only a few chapters into his book about the Appalachian Trail, "A Walk in the Woods." I wasn't amused that two people with no backpacking experience would attempt a six-month hike. After several chapters of Bryson repeating one joke -- "I know nothing about any of this!" -- I stopped reading. This suggests that the old advice "write about what you know" is worth following. It also made me realize that traveling is only enjoyable if you do two things: meet interesting people, preferably by speaking their language; and studying the area you're visiting. Review by Thomas David Kehoe, author of "Hearts and Minds: How Our Brains Are Hardwired for Relationships"
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre at best
Review: Sure he's kind of funny, but this book was more frustrating than rewarding for me. Bryson here seems to be extraordinarily ethnocentric and much of the humor is from looking down on other cultures. He offers observations but no real insight and is more like a spoiled kid on a trip than a travel writer. I did learn one good thing about the bizarre Capuchin Monk tomb in Rome, other than that the book was a waste. I abandoned it in a foreign hotel room- not even worth carrying home to the used bookstore.
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