Talk:Bill Bryson

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US/UK Editions[edit]

I'm not sure, but I believe I'm a Stranger Here Myself and Notes From a Big Country are corresponding US/UK editions. I also found reference to a book by Bryson called Bizarre World but could find no further detail. Cheers.

No - I'm a Stranger Here Myself is a US edition of "The Lost Continent".

I've briefly researched "Bizarre World," and it seems the book was written not by the Bill Bryson of "Mother Tongue" fame, but by another author altogether. As such, I've removed the reference. Martschink

No - I'm a Stranger Here Myself is a US edition of "Notes from a Big Country". Courseiam 14:38, 17 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Mother Tongue[edit]

Bryson's book Mother Tongue has been heavily criticised due to factual errors on nearly every page, tonnes of urban myths (such as the Eskimo vocabulary myth, and the "If English is good enough for Jesus..." line), and misunderstandings of IE language development. Check out the reviews page at Amazon for examples. As a result, I have removed the adjective "learned" for Bryson's language books, as Bryson is not a professional linguist and "Mother Tongue" is essentially distilled from older popular works on language by writers such as Mario Pei, who were themselves deplored by linguists. If there's interest, I can create a section on errors in Bryson's works.

I hope I don't sound like a Bryson-basher. I love his travelogues and enjoy his writing style, but his language books have a lot of problems and that has to be faced. Kricxjo 22:54 5 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Nevertheless, I've moved mention of criticism out of the first paragraph, where it seemed out of context (the first paragraph merely mentions what sort of books he writes; no claims are made here about either popularity or authority). To balance it, I've slightly strengthened the mention of criticism later on (which previously seemed somewhat dismissive of the criticisms). TSP 10:30, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Factual errors[edit]

TSP, you are too kind to Bryson. He is a gifted writer, but more prominence should be given to the unreliability of his writing. Bryson often appears more concerned with entertaining than informing, and his books contain many inaccuracies. I believe he has said quite frankly that the stories of his travels are not exactly what happened, but are a more humorous version of what happened. Does someone know where he said that? (It might have been an interview.)
The most recent error that I noticed is his description in The Lost Continent of Melungeons as having blonde hair and dark, negro-like skin. Sounds fascinating, but it's not true. In a Sunburned Country gives an impartial and misleading story about the arm that was regurgitated by a shark - he fails to mention that the arm belonged to a murder victim and the shark didn't kill the person. The true story is more interesting: the regurgitated arm was evidence that the missing person had been murdered (The Shark Arm Case). But Bryson appeared more interested in building up his exaggerated description of how dangerous Australia is.
I was very impressed with Mother Tongue until I checked out a few facts and found them not only not to be true but in fact to have no basis in reality at all. A shame as I enjoyed the book. --Sachabrunel 21:23, 19 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
A Short History of Nearly Everything seems better, and appears to only contain minor errors such as confusing monotremes with marsupials.
A couple of observations on his writing - they probably don't fit in the article, but for the record, here they are. The main writing techniques in his travel books appear to be:
1. Talking about how dangerous a place is - The Appalachian Trail, or Australia, or, in A Short History of Nearly Everything, it's the Earth itself which sounds like a terrifying place to live.
2. Making jokes about a place based on a common stereotype, e.g. Australian animals are dangerous, Iowa is boring.
Singkong2005 05:25, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Describing those as his "main writing techniques" is a ridiculous slur. Honbicot 11:11, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Slur, yes, but I think it's accurate. I'd be curious to see a defence of his writing, but I'm also happy to let those points rest.
I am still interested to see if someone has documented his high rate of factual errors. --Singkong2005 09:02, 19 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

i dont understand i am doing a school project,and it takes hours to find info can you put a more detailed profile at the top of the page

Hopefully you write better at school. Maybe do your own research and update his article accordingly. Outlandish idea, I know. - Dudesleeper · Talk 09:46, 16 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I've restored the link to WP's list of reported errors in A Short History of Nearly Everything, without saying "Wikipedia" in the text. (BillC had removed the link because of Wikipedia:ASR, which says to avoid naming Wikipedia in references, but that should not preclude the link itself.) Some of the errors in the book can be detected by applying basic math, while others require more advanced scientific knowledge. The book has potential but should have a revised edition, or at least a companion website for corrections. Meanwhile, WP's list of errors seems the best available, and is necessary to any balanced presentation of the book (as opposed to merely listing praise and prizes).TVC 15 (talk) 21:29, 9 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Return to England[edit]

According to the introduction in Notes From a Small Island, published by Black Swan in the UK, ISBN 0-552-97600-9 Parameter error in {{ISBN}}: checksum, Bill Bryson has moved back from the States to the UK. But I can't find this information anywhere else on the internet so I'm hesitant to edit the main page. Does anyone know if this is true? Hwebers 3 Jan 2004

I know Bill's son, we are at university together, they have moved back to Lincolnshire. --Rje 02:16, Feb 9, 2005 (UTC)


dead links[edit]

can somone get the links working for african diary and things like that?--fwed66 16:34, 5 June 2006 (GMT)

We don't have articles for those red links. {{sofixit}}! --ⁿɡ͡b Nick Boalch\talk 15:51, 5 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ref 20 link no longer active: 

"Author Bill Bryson Takes Agent to Court". Courthouse News Service. Pasadena, California. December 4, 2012. Retrieved March 27, 2016. TetsuoTheRob (talk) 00:19, 9 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Noticed that link to billbryson.co.uk in top righ info panel goes to a dead link. Suggest this is changed to go to: https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/176878/bill-bryson?tab=penguin-biography ... BUT I cannot redirect billbryson.co.uk Any suggestion - can someone just do it - perhaps Bill? :-) (Editing newbie here) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dbcallaghan (talk • contribs) 08:41, 8 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]


Draft Dodging[edit]

A professor told me that Bryson dodged the Vietnam draft, which is why he moved to England in thje first place. Anyone know if that can be verified?--Bedford 23:16, 13 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It's highly unlikely given the dates when he moved to the UK and the dates of the Vietnam draft. Possible, but unlikely.

In general I am surprised how many people seem to use an encyclopaedia to embed their own criticisms of people. Encyclopeadia articles should be factual, concise and without prejudice.

If someone leaves the country to get out of being drafted to Vietnam, that is a simple fact not a criticism. I would probably do the same thing in similar circumstances. I'm surprised how many people seem to read simple facts as someone's private criticism.--Praguestepcihld

According to The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, Bryson avoided the draft by avoiding expulsion from Roosevelt High School and enrolling in Drake University. Considering that a great many young men at the time had student deferments, this doesn't seem like much of a bio item, compared to other facts about his life. Demi T/C 21:34, 7 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Picture[edit]

I think the image makes him a little too small - nice photo, but its more of a durham cathedral shot than that of bill. Could it be cropped perhaps?

Done. Ian Dunster (talk) 15:28, 16 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

British?[edit]

The article describes Bryson as "...a best-selling American-born British author..." I know he lives in Britain, but does he actually have UK citizenship? AdorableRuffian 23:25, 9 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

He references beginning the long road to attaining UK citizenship in the external link to The Guardian. That was in November 1995. The person who made the change to his being a UK citizen in the article likely read a more recent article but didn't reference it. - Dudesleeper 09:48, 10 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]
That article was written in November 2005 (not 1995), and only states that he has started (or intends to start) the process of becoming a citizen. I can't find any more recent articles that confirm whether he has attained citizenship yet. AdorableRuffian 14:50, 10 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I remember reading a few months ago, in the Sunday Times I believe, in an article written by himself, that he has now obtained British citizenship. GoatBoy1985 11:46, 28 September 2006 (BST)
If that is the case, why has he just become an honorary OBE (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6176363.stm)? If he were a British citizen surely he would be entitled to an unqualified OBE? (From Order of the British Empire: 'Most members are citizens of the United Kingdom or other Commonwealth realms of which the Queen is Head of State. Citizens of other countries, however, may be admitted as "honorary members". They do not count towards the numerical limits aforementioned, nor are holders of the GBE, KBE or DBE addressed as "Sir" or "Dame". They may be made full members if they subsequently become British citizens.')
--Holmoak 17:54, 13 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
If no-one has a reference that demonstrates that he actually is a British citizen, I would suggest changing "British" to "Anglophile" or taking it out altogether, as the honorary OBE would suggest that he isn't (yet).
--Holmoak 18:05, 13 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Alistair Cook, having given up British citizenship as an adult to become American is described as British-American, so for consistency's sake, I changed Bryson to the same. Praguestepcihld 15:25, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Er...in the case of Bryson it's the other way round isn't it? Bryson's an American who's become a British citizen. LDHan 16:33, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

London[edit]

Didn't he live in London at some point during his first stint in the UK? He mentions it in Small Island. And it can't be an easy commute from North Yorkshire to the offices of The Times. Lfh 22:34, 5 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Well, yes. If you read the book you can see he lived in Surrey, Bournemouth and London.

Exile (talk) 20:33, 7 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Katz[edit]

Does no-one else feel uncomfortable with providing Katz' real name? Bryson is pretty scathing about him in "Neither here nor there". I suggest dropping this. It serves no purpose. I haven't looked at "Thunderbolt kid" for more info. Will do soon. 129.67.140.39 17:04, 24 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed, and there must be doubts about the reliability of the source - when i link it doesn't seem to do anything but go to the ITV homepage. This should come off until its relevance is demonstrated and it is properly sourced (82.12.211.8 21:13, 28 August 2007 (UTC))[reply]

It was me who added Katz' real name. At the time, the link directed to an interview with Bryson, but clearly it has since been removed. Way to archive, ITV! I don't have any qualms about removing the information. - Dudesleeper · Talk 13:38, 31 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Living in Yorkshire ????[edit]

I don't see how he can have lived full time in Yorkshire when he was a staff journalist on London papers. Dominictimms 00:12, 14 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Official Web Site[edit]

Latest book (Thunderbolt Kid) gives his web site as billbrysonofficial.co.uk which seems to end up at http://www.booksattransworld.co.uk/billbryson The official web site given in Wiki is the old one from another publisher. Bill bryson used to live in London during the working week and travel back to north yorkshire on the weekends. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.204.153.20 (talk) 10:24, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Revert[edit]

I reverted the Bournemouth Echo edit because the anonymous person's edit two minutes later was this. - Dudesleeper Talk 16:24, 31 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

2008 Interview with Bryson[edit]

I found an exclusive interview with Bill where he talks about how to become a travel writer, his past career and work. I thought it may be worthy as an external link. I know the interviewer and thought I would leave this to a neutral editor to decide whether to add it or not. It's a great interview nonetheless.

Father[edit]

More than once, but particularly in Lost continent, Bill has spoken of the quality of his father's baseball writings. I know nothing about baseball or it's written history, but I am surprised not to find reference to these commentaries elsewhere in Wikipedia. Is there some archive of great sports writing somewhere? The american versions of Neville Cardus ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Brunnian (talk • contribs) 19:48, 14 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

In the 'Thunderbolt Kid', Bryson speaks of his father writing about the 1960 World Series. He then quotes the first few paragraphs of his father's article based around Bill Mazeroski's winning home-run. It's a fantastic article and does show how talented Bryson Sr was. I found a link here that has a section - http://37signals.com/svn/posts/606-on-writing-zappos-chocolove-and-bill-bryson —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.98.222.58 (talk) 01:32, 14 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ancestry[edit]

I put in that he is of maternal Irish descent and added him to the Americans of Irish descent category for a second time. I hope that someone doesn't delete it again. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.139.66.8 (talk) 14:12, 18 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Do you have a source for it? TimidGuy (talk) 14:39, 18 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

He states so in his memoir, Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.128.47.36 (talk) 13:05, 19 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Then please go ahead and add it, citing the source. TimidGuy (talk) 14:43, 19 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Look, why does my category addition get removed within minutes whereas his placing is the English agnostics category goes unchallenged? Where is the evidence for that? The selectiveness of the removal of mention of his Irish heritage seems akin to racism to me. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.129.5.137 (talk) 00:05, 26 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It would be helpful if you cited the source, that is, give the name of the book and the page number. Post that information on the Talk page of the person who reverted you. And explain that you'd like to add that category. I can't see that there'd be any problem with it. Adding the information to the article itself is a matter of judgment. To me, it would seem odd to mention ancestry on one side but not on the other. And unless one grows up in an ethnic community in the U.S., such information about ancestry would seem trivial. But I'm sure good arguments could be made for inclusion. In any case, editors are much less inclined to remove any information that is properly sourced. My guess is that if you had included a citation, this information wouldn't have been removed. TimidGuy (talk) 16:44, 26 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Bryson is of Irish and Swedish decent. He states in 'Thunderbolt Kid' that his mother's side is Irish and that his grandfather on his father's side was Swedish (Pitt Foss Bryson). If you can't find a reference then I'm sure my statement here will suffice. Submitted by S. Bryson —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.98.222.58 (talk) 00:57, 14 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Katz again[edit]

His real name is listed on this ITN page about the South Bank Show on which "Katz" was interviewed. I'll leave it to others to decide whether or not it should be included in the article, though I'd lean slightly against on the grounds that "Katz" is not really a public figure in himself. 86.132.138.159 (talk) 20:06, 15 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I do think it would be good to be cautious, especially since Bryson's accounts are unflattering, given the serious alcoholism, etc. Wikipedia is very prominent. Once we added this, if someone Googled his name, this would likely be the first search result. TimidGuy (talk) 21:21, 15 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Bryson left out the true name of Katz to stop people from pestering him. I think it would be in everyone's best interest to leave this information out. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.6.158.161 (talk) 13:53, 14 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I see no reason to feel uncomfortable about providing Katz' real name. It is no longer a secret, and has not been a secret for roughly four years now. Matt Angerer himself appears to have no problem with his newfound celebrity due to being identified as Katz, because he appeared prominently on camera with Bryson in 2005, driving around Des Moines, laughing, joking and reminiscing about their past history during the edition of the ITV arts documentary series The South Bank Show that dealt with Bryson's life. If you want to keep someone's identity a secret, you do not invite them to appear under their real name in a TV documentary which will be shown around the world and which will explain who they are.

In respect of Angerer's portrayal in "Neither Here Nor There", which is often cited as a reason not to reveal his real name, that book was published 17 years ago, and it is reasonable to assume that any bad feeling that might have existed between Angerer and Bryson has long since evaporated. 213.132.48.105 (talk) 13:10, 29 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Here's link to a 2015 interview with 'Katz'. Cassandra http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/entertainment/movies/2015/09/02/real-life-bill-brysons-stephen-katz/32423079/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.41.228.210 (talk) 12:40, 15 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

British/OBE again[edit]

Well nobody seems to know that he is British Citizen or not-- and if he started in 1995 he should be one by now. That being said he had "Lately moved" to New Hampshire in "late Summer of 1996" according to the intro of "I'm a Stranger Here Myself"(UK title "Notes from a Large Country)-- US ISBN 0-7679-0381-1- so that may have reset the process.

If so, the intro should NOT have OBE after his name. Honorary titles cannot be used in names. And anyway titles, I believe, cannot be used *as such* in the United States-- though people can call themselves what they want so there is nothing stopping him calling himself Bill Bryson OBE if he wants. (In the UK it is illegal to affect a title one does not have.)

So I think we should scrub the "OBE" in the intro. And also that he is British, if he is not.

SimonTrew (talk) 01:55, 5 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Bryson received an honorary OBE as he does not have citizenship in a commonwealth nation. However, honorary recipients may still use their post-nomial letters thus giving him the title Bill Bryson, OBE. Honorary Knights of the British Empire may not use the title 'Sir' before their names but may use 'KBE' as post-nomial letters e.g. William Henry Gates III, KBE (Bill Gates). Bryson is allowed to have/use the letters OBE after his name. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.98.222.58 (talk) 01:51, 14 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wanderlust Paul Morrison Guide Awards[edit]

I notice the link I instated to the fact Bryson is a judge of this annual competition for travel guides has been removed. I'd suggest it's actually of interest to people interested in his work and demonstrates another facet of his personality. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wanderlust magazine (talk • contribs) 15:43, 16 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It was removed due to your blatant username policy and conflict of interest violation. No objection if another, uninvolved editor believes the external link added ([1]) enhances the reader's understanding of the subject. KuyaBriBriTalk 15:55, 16 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Articles[edit]

I recalled reading a National Geographic article written by Bryson, about hedgerows (forget the issue and date). Did he write other articles and is this worth mentioning in the entry? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.41.111.124 (talk) 22:13, 24 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The hedgerows entry was probably about ancient British hedges (I remember a few bits he said about them in various of his books). If you can source it, it is probably better mentioned under the article Bill Bryson, not the article about this book in particular. He may have mentioned Martha's Hedge (a hedge a couple of thousand years old) in this book, but I think it was in another and have a hard time placing it from memory. Si Trew (talk) 15:27, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm a bit puzzled as to why the articles "You gotta have friends. Which is damned unfortunate" and "Hiker's highway' made it into his publications list which is otherwise only books - the first is pretty much taken from 'Walk in the Woods', isn't it? Was the second article of particular note? If articles of prominence are being listed, perhaps his work on 'The Times' newspapers' science magazine 'Eureka' should be mentioned? In particular, his 'Notes on a Super Hadron Collider' was excellent: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/eureka/article6899505.ece freaky dragonlady 00:07, 06 Sept 2010

Hi freaky dragonlady, No, articles can't be mentioned because writers like Bryson have written thousands of them in their working life. Article, essays, single poems etc often sneak into works lists by accident, as here. Thanks for flagging it up. Best wishes Spanglej (talk) 23:49, 5 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Tv show[edit]

Wasn't "notes From A Small Island" televised, also presented by Bryson, six episodes on ITV about ten years ago?--TimothyJacobson (talk) 14:35, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I believe it was. I think that is why in section "Reception" it says "The book was adapted for Carlton Television in 1998 and appeared as a six-part 30-minute documentary broadcast on ITV from January to February 1999." Si Trew (talk) 15:22, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, it is mentioned on this page in the travel section, just found it; you are right, it is also mentioned in the section "Reception" on the page about the specific book--TimothyJacobson (talk) 15:41, 27 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Seeing Further[edit]

This book seems to be missing from the books section: ISBN-13: 978-0061999772 ISBN-10: 0061999776 Title: Seeing Further: The Story of Science, Discovery, and the Genius of the Royal Society — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.27.198.48 (talk) 19:00, 2 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The table in the article is prefixed by a statement saying "Bryson has written the following books". But as far as that book goes, he didn't actually write it, so the book doesn't seem to belong in that table. He was the book's editor, not its writer. It is a collection of things that other people wrote (accompanied by a few remarks by him). Perhaps it can be mentioned in the article, but we shouldn't just list it as one of the books he wrote. There are lots of review comments on Amazon from people who bought the book and were disappointed to discover its actual content. —BarrelProof (talk) 21:33, 2 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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The English Landscape: Its Character and Diversity[edit]

I don’t believe this should be listed under Bryson’s works. He didn’t write the book, just the introduction. I will remove unless there are any objections. A bright cold day in april (talk) 09:03, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

First Foreign FRS Questionable[edit]

Ramanujan was Indian, and while the government was British, it is not certain Indians were considered full British subjects. Hopefully this can be cleared up. 2601:1C0:6C03:3760:3453:35F5:6E54:1E05 (talk) 15:47, 22 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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