After reading and enjoying "Notes From a Small Island," I was looking forward to Bryson's witticisms in regards to every day life in America. Although an American, having spent twenty odd years in England gives Bryson a unique perspective on what makes America, and Americans, tick. "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" is a collection of essays Bryson wrote for an English audience; but they lack none of their charm when read by an Anglophile American.

"I'm a Stranger Here Myself" is and odd conglomeration of essays that deal with a range of topics: small-town America, shopping, the inconvenience of our numerous "conveniences", and several entries on his own ineptness when it comes to technology. In each of his essays Bryson is a bit of a wanderer, starting in one direction, only to go off on a tangent. Usually he's able to bring himself back to the point, and can even poke fun at himself for doing so. His wanderings are what sets his style and what generates the largest laughs or head shakes of disbelief.

While Bryson is at times critical of what happens in America, "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" is a loving portrait of a revered country. However, Bryson's perspective is one of a man living a blessed life. He now resides in a virtually crime-free small New Hampshire town and grew up in small-town Iowa. His essays sometimes lack the experiences that growing up or residing in other areas might offer. However, due to his extensive travels, Bryson's perspective is truly unique and a joy to read.

Bryson's best book is "Notes From a Small Island," about traveling in Great Britain. It's one of the funniest books I've read. The British are funny, and Bryson knows them well after living in Britain for 20+ years.

His book about Australia, "In a Sunburned Country," is also entertaining. He studied Australian history, met many interesting locals, etc. After reading it, I feel like an expert on Australia and its people.

His book about Europe, "Neither Here Nor There," isn't so good. The problem is that he speaks no languages other than English. He didn't talk to anyone on this trip. Wwithout any characters (other than Bryson) the book isn't engaging. The book has only one joke, which he repeats: "The waiter/hotel clerk/taxi driver didn't speak English so I tried to make him understand that I needed..." Some of these moments are quite funny, but they don't constitute a book. Bryson didn't study the places he visits. Unlike the Australian book, you learn almost nothing about the countries he visited.

Bryson's book about America, "I'm a Stranger Here Myself," failed to make me laugh. It reads like a series of Erma Bombeck columns. Bryson comments about various aspects of his life in a small town in New England. Not other people's lives, which might have been interesting, but only about his domestic life.

I got only a few chapters into his book about the Appalachian Trail, "A Walk in the Woods." I wasn't amused that two people with no backpacking experience would attempt a six-month hike. After several chapters of Bryson repeating one joke -- "I know nothing about any of this!" -- I stopped reading.

This suggests that the old advice "write about what you know" is worth following. It also made me realize that traveling is only enjoyable if you do two things: meet interesting people, preferably by speaking their language; and studying the area you're visiting.

Review by Thomas David Kehoe, author of "Hearts and Minds: How Our Brains Are Hardwired for Relationships"

"The intricacies of modern American life" leave Bill Bryson wondering, "what on earth am I doing here?" in this collection of short, anecdotal essays (pp. 231; 286). Born in Des Moines, Iowa, Bryson (best known for NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND, A WALK IN THE WOODS, and A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING) lived in the Yorkshire Dales of England for twenty years before returning to the States in 1995 with his English wife and his four children (p. 1). The Brysons lived in Hanover, New Hampshire, before recently returning to Britain (where Bryson is finishing a new book on Shakespeare).

This book offers a compilation of Bryson's whimsical contributions from 1996 to 1998 to London's Night & Day magazine, offering his humorous observations upon life in the United States and in New England in particular. While Bryson recognizes that there is a great deal about American culture that is appealing--"the ease and convenience of life, the friendliness of the people, the astoundingly abundant portions, the intoxicating sense of space, the cheerfulness of nearly everyone who serves you, the notion that almost any desire or whim can be simply and instantly gratified (p. 286)--with his characteristic wit, he chooses instead to skewer American culture in all of its idiosyncrasies--diners, drive ins, dental floss hotlines, diets, processed foods, cable TV, lawsuits, drug laws, running shoes, and garbage disposals.

I am a big Bill Bryson fan. I have rated this book with three stars only when measured against some of his better books--A WALK IN THE WOODS, NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND, A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING, for example. This book didn't hold my attention as those books did, and Bryson's reunion with American culture didn't leave me with a sense of wonder and delight. Rather, his encounters with the American "have-a-nice-day" culture left me feeling like a disenchanted stranger in a strange land myself. Ah, well, who wants to be "normal" by the cultural standards described here anyway?

G. Merritt

Bill Bryson has woken up from a coma. Although he has never been on life support or had people anxiously wring their hands while standing over his bed, he has just woken up from a coma. Twenty years ago Bill Bryson made that international journey to Britain and started a new life, complete with wife and kids. Two decades later he packs them all up and journeys back to his motherland, America. He finds that in the twenty years away from his native land things have changed a lot, some for better, some for worst. This is his account on moving back to America after twenty years away.
Bryson was called upon by a British magazine to write weekly columns about returning to America and unleashes a whole new level of wit and flavor as he comically blunders through life for the first few months back. Although sometimes he complains a little too much, it is a book that you will want to refrain from reading in public. Bryson includes interesting and eye opening statistics on mainly pointless but highly entertaining topics. Did you know that 142,000 people per year are sent to the emergency room for injuries inflicted by their clothing, or that there are 256 people in Stockholm named Lars Larson?
Through all of these random statistics Bryson also brings up a good number of points such as why is there a twenty-four hour hotline on floss, or about even important things like red herrings in the political world and what they are trying to cover up. Bryson has written a beautiful love letter to his native country and although possibly irrelevant to life it is a great read and I highly recommend it for anyone who needs a good laugh.

"I'm a Stranger Here Myself" is a collection of columns by Bill Bryson printed in England for an English audience. Most of them are amusing anecdotes on life in America, and especially wistful recalling of life in America as he knew it twenty years ago contrasted with the present day. In his world, the present generally is inferior, though there is quite a bit of self doubting in his opinion pieces (notably especially when discussing motels and drive-in movies) and occasionally praise for modernity (look hard.)

When he sticks to wry commentary on humorous topics (the IRS, computers, customer service, etc.) he is hilarious; kind of a more urbane Dave Barry. I was on a few occasions irritated with the book, and each time it was on one of two topics: air travel or immigration. He has nothing good to say about traveling by plane (and sometimes I would agree with him), and he goes to great lengths, for instance, to complain that he arrived at an airport with no photo ID, and had difficulty getting on the plane. (Who travels by plane without a photo ID?) In fact on several occasions he blames others for misfortunes caused patently by his own (frequently admitted) ineptness, ignorance, or forgetfulness. I find it perfectly reasonable that if you show up for a flight with no photo ID, that you don't get on the plane. He took the attitude that the security forces were inept, loser idiots who should have known who he was, and clearly should have made an exception for him, a celebrity. He goes as far as to contrast this to the UK where he relates a tale of a customs agent telling him to lie to get into the country and praising him for his efficiency. This truly rubbed me the wrong way, and I hope he would not have been so foolish to write that after 9/11. He is also goes off on a rant against people opposed to immigration in the US, saying that so little of the country is built up that we should, essentially, let anyone that wants to come in feel welcome. Mind you, this is the same guy who, just a few pages away who laments how built up the country is getting and how terrible it is. Nobody noticed this seeming contradictory position during editing, for some reason. He also thinks that it is unreasonable to deny benefits to illegal aliens, ignoring that in the state of Arizona alone, the cost of medical care for illegals is almost $1 Billion (of US taxpayer dollars) annually, and that in the Southwest an enormously disproportionate amount of crime is the work of illegals. I realize his wife is English, and I appreciate his toils to get her into the country legally, but to impugn that anyone opposed to illegal immigration is a cretin, is ignorant at best and insulting at worst. Hey, Bill, one more time: unlike your wife, the vast majority of immigration foes are talking about people here ILLEGALLY!

Having said that, overall I liked the book, and will almost certainly buy more Bryson books. Some of the gems are truly worth reading and re-reading, particularly the address he gave to a high school graduation. I think it's worth four stars, and it would have been worth five easily if it wasn't for some of the pompous self-righteousness in a couple of the chapters. Read it and decide for yourself.