Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson

The beginning of this book starts with an except of a poem

by Dorothea Mackeller:

I love a Sunburnt Country, 

A land of sweeping plains, 

Of ragged mountain ranges, 

Of droughts and flooding plains.

Bill Bryson is an entertaining, witty author of nonfiction books.  In my longing for travel I read about other countries.  Armchair traveling.  That works right now.  I have a few of his other books on the to-read shelf.

Stories I liked: There was a landowner, Thomas Austin  who released 24 wild rabbits to hunt. Those rabbits bred, naturally, causing a devastating  effect on the country, eating their way through everything. The history of how two dozen rabbits became 3 million and what carnage they caused was incredible.


Reading about the Aboriginal artwork was interesting to me as well. "Imagine if there were some people in France who could take you to the caves in Lascaux and explain in detail the significance of the paintings.  Why the bison was bolting from the the herd, what the three wavy lines mean - because it was as fresh and sensible to them as if it were done yesterday. Well, Aboriginals can do that.  It is an unparallelled achievement, scarely appreciated.  That is worth a mention here."

I liked reading about the Aboriginal art but was saddened to read about their treatment hundreds of years ago as well as this century.

Creatures! The many toxic poisonous creatures that live in Australia gobsmacked me.  All in one place on earth, how did they develop such dangerous levels of venom?! Also, the saltwater crocodile stories were very interesting.

Stories that could have been cut short:  At the one third mark in this narrative I found his comedic writing amusing but could tell I wasn't going to get the history lesson I desired. The side stories of his escapades such as running from dogs he never saw and a long winded explanation of how all dogs universally  despise him went on a bit long.

The explanation of cricket was meant to be funny but it wore thin fast.  It would have been interesting to read how they actually played the game.

Overall it was a good book and kept my interest for most of the 305 pages.  I had previously enjoyed his book about England, Notes from a Small Island, tempered with reservations about his behavior there. 

Would I read more by Bryson?  Maybe. I have a few books planned for camping trips and will leave them for others at the campground library.