I think that the book loses something by being read. Although it is funny at parts so much that I was laughing out loud, It gets a little tedious to hear multiple spellings for words over and over. And I found it more difficult to make subtle comparisons than I hearing words than if I had been able to see them. It can't be helped though, after all, it is a book about grammer, spelling and syntax.

This book contains more than you expect. Bill Bryson covers language its self with a focus on English. The book covers speech from a historical view, a physical view, an environmental view, a utilitarian view, and many other views. You will want to play the tape over again as it cruses through many concepts that leave you thinking and speculating how it could have all gone differently.

A highlight for me (aside from his dirty word list) was the recognition that we try to impose Old Latin syntaxes on Modern English and it can get reticules.
My only disappointment comes when he mentions things I have already read and gets it wrong or off the mark.
The advantage of the tape is that you actually hear the pronunciations. When it is a matter of spelling the reader will spell it out for you. Also the reader has the ability to change accents to fit the dialect samples.
The disadvantage is when you want to turn back to a particular page for cross-reference; there is no page to turn. So I would be smart to won both versions.

This book is entitled either plain "Troublesome Words" or in older editions, "The Penguin Dictionary of Troublesome Words".

For most of us non-Grammarians whose English is instinctive rather than based on intimate knowledge of linguistic rules, trying to improve our English by reading books in grammar or English usage can be quite an ordeal, as most of them are dry and technical. Bill Bryson's book is slim (192 pages in my edition), palatable and great fun. Alphabetically, Mr Bryson sets out the most common mistakes in English spelling, grammar and usage which he has come across. Most of the more obvious "troublesome words" are covered succinctly, clearly and with lashings of humour. Examples: "VERY should be made to pay its way in sentences"; "VARIOUS DIFFERENT is inescapably redundant"; "The Oxford English Dictionary contains 414,825 words. IRREGARDLESS is not one of them." At the end of the book is a section on punctuation. Illustrations of correct and incorrect usage are helpfully given. What adds to the fun is that most illustrations of wrong usage are taken from leading US and UK newspapers and periodicals, and even occasionally from an authority on the language; how nice to see their feet of clay. Another point in this book's favour; Mr Bryson being an American who has spent much of his professional life in the British journalistic profession, sees things from both sides of the Atlantic and does not have an overt bias one way or the other. (Unlike many British who have an almost hysterical aversion to Americanisms.)

While admirable and enjoyable, this book is too short and too personal to serve as a good reference. If you have a particular problem, it may or may not be addressed in this book. (This lack of comprehensiveness is why I give this four stars instead of five.) Nonetheless, anyone who studies and takes to heart the contents of this book will undoubtedly improve his English and will do his tiny part to stem the tide of sloppy and plain bad English which threatens to swamp us all today. It is a shame this book is out of print. I would love to send a copy to every journalist I know.

Finally, I must tell of how my edition of this book unwittingly demonstrates the pervasiveness of bad English and the desperation of the good fight against it. Mr Bryson says "FULSOME is one of the most frequently misused words in English. The sense that is usually accorded it - of being copious or lavish or unstinting - is almost the opposite of the word's dictionary meaning. FULSOME is related to FOUL and means odious and overfull, offensively insincere. 'Fulsome praise', properly used, isn't a lavish tribute; it is unctuous and insincere toadying." In my edition (1997 reissue of the second edition), the back page quotes the Guardian (a leading UK newspaper, for Americans who may not know), as saying "Deserves fulsome praise. Its merit is that it is trying to equate the rules prescribed by good English with the demands of the general consensus." Oh dear, indeed. Sabotaged by one's own publisher.

I got this book from a thrift shop. It was the best $2.00 I have ever spent. If you are a person who likes to write a lot then this book should be beside your computer or word processor. Bryson shows you how to properly use the more troublesome words in the English vocabulary that often leaves us stumped and confused. I enjoyed flicking through it (I am a bit of a word buff) just for fun and it is a lot easier to use than a dictionary which does not tell you in what context to put certain words such as "affect" and "effect" to name just two. However this book DOES NOT replace a dictionary, rather it complements it, so for all your word buffs, go and get this book, it's a real eye opener...well it is if you like the English Language and all the silly things we do with it!

Bill Bryson is an excellent writer. His skills are matched by few writing today, certainly in comedy. He is an American who moved to England in the early 70's, worked as a journalist there and decided to move back to The United States after becoming a successful writer.

This book chronicles his farewell journey around Great Britain and notes his humorous observations. He does this remarkably well. His biting humor and excellent, graphic descriptive are a pleasure to read. The situations he finds himself in and the observations he makes are almost always very funny if not very accurate.

Americans, shelf your patriotism when reading this book. A lot of what the author writes is directed toward a U.K. reading audience so misrepresentations and fallacies abound. A good deal of cliche and stereotypical depiction of life and the people in the United States appears on every page a comparison is made. Once you acclimate to the stilt, you will enjoy the humor.

For the reader in the U.K., know a lot of what Bill Bryson writes about his own country is fictional. He uses typecast people and places often and sometimes departs the actual. America is not much like what he writes, thought one could find such a place or person in America.

As for his observations, some truly are scathing and unfair. Some are literally attacks, even if they to elicit a giggle or two. His pen does drip poison from time to time in the descriptive of some individuals and their appearance and activities. This will turn some readers off entirely.

This book does, surprisingly, gives a clear, concise history of politics and commerce in England that is objective. An unexpected bonus, though a wry and humourous one.

A good read, though a bit acidic at times, funny and very well written, give it a try and keep your nationalism in check, you will enjoy it.

The thing that I liked best about "Notes From a Small Island" is the fact that by the time you have finished reading it Bill Bryson feels like an old friend. He is completely open with the reader and is not afraid to laugh at himself. Most of the humour comes from the fact that everything he says about the British is so true! I know that I often fall into the "mustn't grumble" category!

I have decided against giving this book 5 stars, however, because Bill does tend to whine on rather about his obsession with cities and how modern architecture is ruining them. This book had me falling about in fits of laughter, especially the scene with the waterproofs, but it would have been ten times better if Bill had just cut out some of the rubbish.

In conclusion, however, this book is a brilliant and enjoyable read, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a laugh.

Before returning to his native United States after a sojourn of some twenty years in England, Bryson decided to take a trip around that "small island." The hysterical comments in this book are the result. The British loved it so much it was a best-seller for months, and they turned it into a TV series. The book even includes a glossary of English terms. For example, do you know the difference between a village and a hamlet? One is a small town where people live, the other a play by Shakespeare!

Bryson is certainly not your average travel writer - as anyone who has read my reviews of his other books knows - and despite his often scathing wit, it's never done with malice, even when very critical of a subject. What astounds me is Bryson's vigor and willingness to put up with all sorts of cold and wet weather. He made his trek during the off-season, i.e., late October, not an especially delightful time of year in Britain. He did not take a car, relying solely on buses and British Rail, a decision that often forced him to make long, out-of-the-way walks of as far as twenty miles, either because schedules didn't
coincide, or the irregular bus did not run during the off-season.

He delightfully intermingles political commentary with travelogue. He visits Blackpool, for example, where there are long beaches - that officially don't exist. "I am not making this up. In the late 1980s, when the European Community issued a directive about the standards of ocean-borne sewage, it turned out that nearly every British seaside town failed to come anywhere near even the minimum compliance levels. Most of the bigger resorts like Blackpool went right off the edge of the turdometer, or whatever they measure these things with. This presented an obvious problem to Mrs. Thatcher's government, which was loath to spend money on British beaches when there were perfectly good beaches in Mustique and Barbados, so it drew up an official decree -- this is so bizarre I can hardly stand it, but I swear it is true -- that Brighton, Blackpool, Scarborough, and many other leading resorts did not have, strictly speaking, beaches. Christ knows what it then termed these expanses of sand -- intermediate sewage buffers, I suppose -- but in any case it disposed of the problem without either solving it or costing the treasury a penny, which is of course the main thing, or in the case of the present government, the only thing."

Then there's British Rail. On his way to Manchester, "we crept a mile or so out of the station, then sat for a long time for no evident reason. Eventually, a voice announced that because of faults further up the line this train would terminate in Stockport, which elicited a general groan. Finally, after about twenty minutes, the train falteringly started forward and limped across the green countryside. At each station the voice apologized for the delay and announced anew that the train would terminate in Stockport. When at last we reached Stockport, ninety minutes late, I expected everyone to get off, but no one moved, so neither did I. Only one passenger, a Japanese fellow, dutifully disembarked, then watched in dismay as the train proceeded on, without explanation and without him, to Manchester."

What I enjoyed most about this book was the writing style of it's author, Bill Bryson. He is witty, intelligent, knowlegdeable, and easily read, all at the same time.

The book (non-fiction and usually found in a travel section of a book store) centers around the existence of the appalachian trail in the eastern U.S.. After spending years away from America, in the boorish land of the Brits, Bill discovers the trail and decides to hike it from end to end. Initially he has trouble finding someone willing to go on this extended hike with him, but then an old school chum, Steven Katz, calls up and decides to join him. The two are a rumbling, bumbling, out of shape and disjointed pair that have you chuckling many times as you read on. Hiking the trail isn't an easy thing to do with your life on your back, or so they soon discover. But they plod along and along the way the reader gets some interesting history behind the trails establishment, the people they meet along it's course, the states that they amble through, and the general decay of their minds as they begin to see nothing but mile upon mile upon mile upon mile of trail ahead of them.

Did they hike the appalachian trail though? That is a question that each reader will have to answer for themselves. I think they did. I've hiked many miles in Alaska and I know what it's like to be on trails like that. They hiked it! Trust me!

This book is for anyone who likes to walk and enjoy nature. Mr. Bryson is a terrific writer, and I didn't realize till after I had bought the book that I had read another of his, The Mother Tongue, which I also loved. So I happily started in on this one, and he doesn't disappoint. I learned a lot about the Appalachian Trail (well, I hardly knew anything to begin with), but also learned about the National Park Service, along with some history of the eastern U.S., including the town of Centralia in Pennsylvania, which was vacated because of the coal seams under it burning out of control. He brings to his writing the perspective of having lived abroad for 20 years, along with a lively curiosity and sense of humor. There were places in this book that had me laughing till I cried. But when I read about the chestnut trees and birds that are now extinct, I just cried for the waste. This book is a pretty fast read, but that is partly because you just can't put it down.

"A Walk in the Woods" is an amusing, often witty, travelogue about hiking on the Appalacian Trail.

The story concerns the effort two middle aged men made recently to walk the 2,100 plus mile Trail from Georgia to Maine. This book is part travelogue, part mid-life crisis expose, and part treatise on aspects of the ever changing American woods and its flora and fauna.

Bill Bryson describes well the often spectacular aspects of America's foremost trail. It traverses across most of the eastern states, through mountain ranges and several different kinds of arboreal landscapes. The thought of two middle aged guys who are not exactly specimens of the trim and fit male embarking on a months long journey involving outdoor sleeping, portage of their supplies and comforts and a self-reliance most only encounter in history books is oddly appealing. It is not too difficult for me to envision myself in their place -- at least at the start of their hike when good intentions had yet to be tested against the dreary sameness of each mile. Thus it was easy to root for the two wanderers as surrogates making the great adventures many have taken only in our minds, those escapes that seem far removed from reality by the conditions and responsibilities of everyday existence. I think the book will appeal to many who want, if only occassionally, the chance to do something really different that lasts more than two weeks and does not involve Disneyland.

Bryson delivers on the story with a well written book. This book is not a day by day or mile by mile diary of their walk. He judiciously intersposes episodes from the trail with discussions of the history of the trail, the story of the national parks service, the effect of settlement and coexistence on animal and vegtible life and his relationship with "Katz," his travel companion, foil and the source for much of the wit that enlivens the tale.

There is much to amuse. Besides Katz, the hikers encounter interesting fellow travelers and Bryson turns his own missteps into humorous prose.

This is a well written book that will amuse the reader and hold his or her interest. Recommmended.

Perhaps so, but in a good natured "poke-in-the-ribs" sort of way.

Born and raised in Iowa ("I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to."), Bryson left the plains to live in England. He returns to write about the land of his childhood. What results is an engagingly humorous look of the world he left behind through his (now) foreign perspective.

In the great American tradition of the road trip, Bryson - sans screaming kids - decides to venture forth to document the America he knew and offer insight on what's changed.

The book is divided into two trips. One going east, through Ohio, the deep south ("Welcome to Mississippi, we shoot to kill"), through New England back to Des Moines. The other going west to Nebraska, New Mexico, California etc. Through his trips, Bryson details his elusive search for Amalgam, the imaginary utopian American town comprising of hte desirable characteristics of the various towns visited.

While offering some astute observations, he unashamedly resorts to harp on the stereotypical which while occasionally funny, gets tiresome after awhile. Admittedly, while Bryson is one of many who have attempted this sort of transcontinental travel writing (think "Travels with Charley" by Steinbeck), his brand of humor is immediately recognizable to an American audience.

American readers who might be a tad offended by his travelogue might want to read his take on England as well.

One of the better books in the humorous travel writing genre, if there's one.

This book was my introduction to the cynical, twisted but always hilarious mind and writing of Bill Bryson. The basic premise was to re-discover America after years of exile(?) in Great Britain by driving around the country and observing how life had changed in his absence.
A number of reviewers are put off by the fact that he does not hold everything that he encounters in mystical awe. He does on occasion, approach a mean-spirited tone, but more often than not his comments hit the mark. Others point out that he never stops and talks to the people of the country, but simply drives through. Well, isn't that pretty much what America is today, a driving society.
All in all, a funny book that will bring back memories of that great institution, the Family vacation. If you've enjoyed Bryson's other works, by all means check this one out, you won't be dissapointed. If you're looking for an earnest travel log or some gentle folksy humor, you'd best look elsewhere.

This book was mean-spirited, misanthropic, and cruel--I loved it. I think most of the negative reviewers of this book would benefit by lightening up a little and getting a sense of humor. If you're a blind, gung-ho, flag-waving, patriotic America-booster then this book will deflate your bubble. I think America is the greatest country the world has ever seen and I love it, but if you sincerely love your country then you will be able to criticize it and laugh at it sometimes. Bryson's hilariously sharp eye catches all of middle America's absurdities, but what saves the book's harshness is that he doesn't forget to target the biggest absurdity here--himself (yes, the [sad man] who whines about how boring everybody is around him but spends most of his time alone in a motel room drinking beer and eating candy). For me the main joke of the book is that Bryson spends most of his time trying to escape from somewhere rather than looking forward to his next stop. Yes, perhaps some of his targets are a little too easy, but still hilarious. As a travel book: 1 star. As a comedy: 5 stars