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I grabbed my February Smithsonian to enjoy with lunch and was reading the shorts at the front of the magazine. One article, "Boys Life," appeared to be an historical monograph about growing up in post-war Des Moines. I was ambushed. I found myself laughing out loud. (and that is not my typical behavior) The author, listed as Bill Bryson, is hilarious. He didn't even blink. I was hit three times before I realized that it was not a straight piece. Now, what else has this man written?
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He's also written several very good travelogues. I've read A Walk in the Woods and Notes from a Small Island and greatly enjoyed both.
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Shoot! I had "A Short History of Nearly Everything" in my hand at the bookstore just two weeks ago, and set it down without looking closely. I will see if the libraricito here can get one of these in. If not, will be a month before I am back to civilization again. Thanks
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His latest book is out in hardback, called "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid", and is vaguely autobiographical. He's one of the few authors I can count on to make me laugh out loud on a regular basis.
A Short History is great, but very long. A Walk in the Woods is probably my favorite of his.
Edit: In fact, I'll bet the article you read was an excerpt from his latest, as I definitely remember a chapter or two on that subject.
Edit2: And I meant to recommend it to Bob_S, since he's around the same age and is living in that area now.
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'Notes From A Small Island' and 'Notes From A Big Country' are a great look at the UK and USA respectively. I read 'Down Under' on the flight to Australia when I visited that country for the first time, and found it a useful source of historic and cultural anecdotes.
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His worst book, that I've read, is "I am a stranger here myself." It's about his travels as a younger and older man in Europe- and it's alot of griping about things and not alot of cheer.
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