I wonder how many people enjoy reading Bill Bryson’s books? I enjoy his style. He likes travelling by train but has had one or two bad experiences with over keen railfans.
As a Brit I find it interesting to see an outsiders point of view; he has interesting views on a number of subjects.
His book on the trail hiking “A Walk in the Woods” is probably the funniest book ever written. He DOES like trains, but openly says he is no Paul Theroux.
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I liked “A Walk in the Woods” too - a lot of interesting historical bits as well as the hiking.
In addition to “Walk…,” I’ve read “Notes from a Small Island” and “Made in America”. All were very funny.
Try his book “I’m a Stranger Here Myself.”
Its about growing up in Iowa, moving to the UK for 20 yrs following college, then moving back. Things had changed and he could sort of see the U.S. from an outsider’s vantage point. Us Yanks need a thick skin to handle some of the feedback on how we operate. Good book.
I’ve read “Notes From a small Island”, “The Lost Continent” and “Down Under”.
Personally, I can’t get enough of them. I’e re-read several times every one we have at home.
Here’s a good quote, from Notes from a small island
So there is a certain neat irony that as I was sitting there minding my own business some guy an a rusling anorak came by spied the book, and cried ‘Ahah, that thoreau chap!’ I looked up to find him taking a perch on a seat opposite me. He looked to be in his early sixties, with a shock of white hair and fstive, lushly overgrown eyebrows that rose in pinnacles, like the tips of whipped meringue. They looked as if somebody had been lifting him up by grabbing hold of them. ‘Doesn’t know his trains’ he said.
‘Sorry?’ I answered warily.
Thoreau’ He nodded at my book ‘Doesn’t know his trains at all. Or if he does he keeps it to himself.’ He laughed heartily at this and enjoyed it so much he said it it again and then sat with his hands on his knees and smiling as if trying to remember the last time he and I had so much fun together.
I gave an economical nod of acknowledgement for his quip and returned my attention to my book in a gesture that I hoped he would correctly interpret as an invitation to f*** off. Instead he reached across and pulled the book down with a deeply crooked finger - an action I find deeply annoying at the best of times. ‘Do you know that book of his - Great railway whatsit All across asia. You know that one?’
I nodded.
‘Do you know that in that book he goes from Lahore to Islamabad on the Deli Express and never once mentiones the make of the engine?’
I could see that I was ecpected to comment, so I said ‘Oh?’
‘Never mantioned it. Can you imagine that? What use is a railway book if you don’t talk about the engines.’
‘You like trains then?’ I said and immediately wished I hadn’t.
The next thing I knew the book was on my lap and I was listening to the world’s most boring man. I didn’t actually much listen to what he said. I found myself riveted by his soaring eyebrows and by the discovery that he had an equally rich crop of nose hairs. He seemed to have b
I think that rather suggests that the British Psychological Society needs to find a larger sample for their testing - that guy is very definitely the exception rather than the norm as railfans go. Most of us have spent years trying to get as far away as possible from the “anorak” tag…
I was in Britain in September 1991 when the report claiming “Train Spotters May Suffer From Autism” came out and received quite wide popular press. Mind you, with all such media reports, the headline doesn’t properly describe the whole story. It did not claim that all rail enthusiasts, or even all train spotters, were autistic. Rather, it only really manifests itself in the folks that end up truly socially withdrawn, focusing their attention on more and more specialized details (such as the real-life example cited in the articles I read of the chap who became effectively the world authority on London & North Western Railway carriage door handles and luggage racks).
Unfortunately, many aspects of rail enthusiasm can be compared directly to Asperger’s. Heaven help the poor chaps that are studious enough to tell you that the prototype of your PRR locomotive model never carried that particular design of marker light until the numbering was changed to a different font (that is, locomotive 8337–now 8338 had that detail…), or the slide show of a 3/4 view of every last UP SD40-2 in numerical order. Some of the stuff I’ve seen myself, even out of serious historians, is beyond parody.
I wouldn’t mind seeing a slideshow about all of UP’s SD40-2s! As long as there was an occasional breather with scenic shots and train shaped cookies…
Matthew
I like his “short history of nearly everything” (izzatit?) which is Stephen Hawking told for the rest of us or the interesting bits that the science teacher left out. Really liked the tales of all the blokes going out to view the transit of Venus; once every 80 years, then again 8 years later – takes less than a morning – and after travelling years the one morning there was fog, or a storm and they missed it.
And we railfans are a quiet calm lot (unless we’re chasing steam), unlike the bullies and animal abusers in the sporting world.
Add “In a Sunburned Country” and “Neither Here Nor There” for more funny and interesting reading.
“A Short History of Nearly Everything” is an amazing compendium of scientific information put in easily understood terms. It should be required reading for all teen-agers. Who knows, it might inspire another Stephen Hawking!
[:)]