Book Review - In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson is best known for his humorous travel writing.  Previously, I had read two of Bryon’s other books.  One was titled, I’m a Stranger Here Myself.  This book was about Bryson’s return to living in the United States after living in Great Britain for twenty years or so.  His writing portrayed how differently Americans are from the rest of the world, from the cars we drive to our love of fast food restaurants.  The second book of his I read was titled, A Walk in the Woods.  This book was about Bryson’s attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail, from start to finish (Georgia to Maine).  He accurately portrayed the difficulties in hiking pretty much the entire east coast and all of the interesting animals and people one might encounter while on the mighty trek. 

Keeping in line with his first two books, the third book I read was called In a Sunburned Country.  This book deals with Bryson’s multi-week trip through the massive land mass that is Australia.  The author traveled to all of the major tourist destinations, from viewing the Sydney Opera House to the Great Barrier Reef, and everywhere in between.  He seems to have traveled at a leisurely pace and a very generous budget. 

While reading In a Sunburned Country, you notice how much character Australia has as a whole, and also how quirky it is.  Bryson notes several times that Australia has dozens of prized, larger-than-life monuments of random objects.  For example, he travels to a giant earth worm museum located in a, you guessed it, enormous earth-worm shaped building.  Some might consider this type of monument weird, but it is one of the many unique things that Australia has and takes pride in.  If Australia has the largest, most disgusting worm in the world, why not show it off? 

Bill Bryson also discusses many times how the country has thousands of animals that are not even discovered yet and do not exist anywhere else in the world.  People constantly trek into the jungle or Outback to look for undiscovered animals, and the result is that once in a while an animal that was thought to be extinct thousands of years ago is found.  Not only are there rare animals, but there are trees that rival the size of any trees in the world and some of the oldest organisms in the world, that simply look like a gray mush. 

One of the constant themes in this book is that the country is much larger than anyone realizes.  Cities are spread out here and there, and the large ones are on the coast, but there are small cities of hundreds of thousands of people that are thousands of miles away from any other city.  Getting from one city to another may take a day or two, and everywhere in between the two cities is desert with an occasional gas station and bar.  The larger cities on the coast have main-stream hotels, restaurants from every culture, and many bars that Bryson utilizes. 

The best part of the book in my opinion is when the author visits the Great Barrier Reef with a good friend.  He travels to the Reef on a large boat with approximately 400 people and takes part in various water-related activities.  There is also talk of a couple who were killed near the Reef several years in the past, and rumors of Jellyfish and sharks that like to nibble on humans, so Bryson is careful the entire time he is near the water.

Overall, In a Sunburned Country is very entertaining and will definitely make you laugh once or twice every chapter.  Bill Bryson has a straight-forward, easy-to-understand way of writing and will always leave you wanting to read more.  Although the book is a bit long, it is still very entertaining.  I would rate this book a 4 out of 5.