Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson
William McGuire "Bill" Bryson, OBE, FRSis a best-selling Anglo-American author of books on travel, the English language, science, and other non-fiction topics. Born in the United States, he has been a resident of Britain for most of his adult life, returning to America between 1995 and 2003. He served as the chancellor of Durham University from 2005 to 2011...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth8 December 1951
CityDes Moines, IA
CountryUnited States of America
I understand cricket - what's going on, the scoring - but I can't understand why.
America is a great disappointment to me. As I said in one of my books, other societies create civilisations; we build shopping malls.
There is no such thing, incidentally, as one kudo.
Hardly anyone ever leaves. This is because Des Moines is the most powerful hypnotic known to man. Outside town there is a big sign that says, WELCOME TO DES MOINES. THIS IS WHAT DEATH IS LIKE. There isn't really. I just made that up. But the place does get a grip on you.
I had to drive to Minneapolis once, and went on a back road just to see the country. But there was nothing to see. It's just flat and hot, and full of corn and soybeans and hogs. Every once in a while you come across a farm or some dead little town where the liveliest thing is the flies.
Cheapness is a great virtue.
Houses aren't refuges from history. They are where history ends up.
The remarkable position in which we find ourselves is that we don't actually know what we actually know.
I had always thought that once you grew up you could do anything you wanted - stay up all night or eat ice-cream straight out of the container.
Boston's freeway system is insane. It was clearly designed by a person who had spent his childhood crashing toy trains.
The great failure in education, much of the time, is the lack of excitement and stimulus
A world without newspapers or a world where the newspapers are purely electronic and you read them on a screen is not a very appealing world.
I often feel I'm a disappointment to people because they expect me to be the guy in the books. When I sit next to someone at a dinner party I can see they expect me to be quick and witty, and I'm not at all.
Anyone who has read my books will know that I don't tend to use guides when I am travelling. It's not a pride thing, but it is certainly a fact.