Bill Bryson, página 2 de 6

Australia es mucho más que un enorme país. Y mucho más que la isla la más grande del mundo. Es un universo aparte. Árida, con una climatología extrema y una fauna atípica (y en muchos casos muy peligrosa), Australia tambien tiene gentes hospitalarias, ciudades muy modernas y otros muchos secretos por descubrir. ¿Como no enamorarse de un lugar fascinante que no se parece a ningun otro?

Edited and introduced by Bill Bryson, and with contributions from Richard Dawkins, Margaret Atwood, David Attenborough, Martin Rees and Richard Fortey amongst others, this is a remarkable volume celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society. Since its inception in 1660, the Royal Society has pioneered scientific discovery and exploration. The oldest scientific academy in existence, its backbone is its Fellowship of the most eminent scientists in history including Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. Today, its Fellows are the most influential men and women in science, many of whom have contributed to this ground-breaking volume alongside some of the world's most celebrated novelists, essayists and historians. Published to mark its 350th anniversary, this highly illustrated book celebrates the Royal Society's vast achievements in its illustrious past as well as its huge contribution to the development of modern science. With unrestricted access to the Society's archives and photographs, 'Seeing Further' shows that the history of scientific endeavour and discovery is a continuous thread running through the history of the world and of society -- and is one that continues to shape the world we live in today.

In At Home, Bill Bryson applies the same irrepressible curiosity, irresistible wit, stylish prose and masterful storytelling that made "A Short History of Nearly Everything" one of the most lauded books of the last decade, and delivers one of the most entertaining and illuminating books ever written about the history of the way we live. Bill Bryson was struck one day by the thought that we devote a lot more time to studying the battles and wars of history than to considering what history really consists of: centuries of people quietly going about their daily business - eating, sleeping and merely endeavouring to get more comfortable. And that most of the key discoveries for humankind can be found in the very fabric of the houses in which we live. This inspired him to start a journey around his own house, an old rectory in Norfolk, wandering from room to room considering how the ordinary things in life came to be. Along the way he did a prodigious amount of research on the history of anything and everything, from architecture to electricity, from food preservation to epidemics, from the spice trade to the Eiffel Tower, from crinolines to toilets; and on the brilliant, creative and often eccentric minds behind them. And he discovered that, although there may seem to be nothing as unremarkable as our domestic lives, there is a huge amount of history, interest and excitement - and even a little danger - lurking in the corners of every home.

In One Summer Bill Bryson, one of our greatest and most beloved nonfiction writers, transports readers on a journey back to one amazing season in American life.The summer of 1927 began with one of the signature events of the twentieth century: on May 21, 1927, Charles Lindbergh became the first man to cross the Atlantic by plane nonstop, and when he landed in Le Bourget airfield near Paris, he ignited an explosion of worldwide rapture and instantly became the most famous person on the planet. Meanwhile, the titanically talented Babe Ruth was beginning his assault on the home run record, which would culminate on September 30 with his sixtieth blast, one of the most resonant and durable records in sports history. In between those dates a Queens housewife named Ruth Snyder and her corset-salesman lover garroted her husband, leading to a murder trial that became a huge tabloid sensation. Alvin Shipwreck Kelly sat atop a flagpole in Newark, New Jersey, for twelve daysa new record. The American South was clobbered by unprecedented rain and by flooding of the Mississippi basin, a great human disaster, the relief efforts for which were guided by the uncannily able and insufferably pompous Herbert Hoover. Calvin Coolidge interrupted an already leisurely presidency for an even more relaxing three-month vacation in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The gangster Al Capone tightened his grip on the illegal booze business through a gaudy and murderous reign of terror and municipal corruption. The first true talking picture, Al Jolsons The Jazz Singer, was filmed and forever changed the motion picture industry. The four most powerful central bankers on earth met in secret session on a Long Island estate and made a fateful decision that virtually guaranteed a future crash and depression.All this and much, much more transpired in that epochal summer of 1927, and Bill Bryson captures its outsized personalities, exciting events, and occasional just plain weirdness with his trademark vividness, eye for telling detail, and delicious humor. In that year America stepped out onto the world stage as the main event, and One Summer transforms it all into narrative nonfiction of the highest order.

In summer 1927, America had a booming stock market, a president who worked just four hours a day (and slept much of the rest), a devastating flood of the Mississippi, a sensational murder trial, and an unknown aviator named Charles Lindbergh who became the most famous man on earth.It was the summer that saw the birth of talking pictures, the invention of television, the peak of Al Capones reign of terror, the horrifying bombing of a school in Michigan, the thrillingly improbable return to greatness of over-the-hill baseball player Babe Ruth, and an almost impossible amount more.In this hugely entertaining book, Bill Bryson spins a tale of brawling adventure, reckless optimism and delirious energy. With the trademark brio, wit and authority that make him Britains favourite writer of narrative non-fiction, he brings to life a forgotten summer when America came of age, took centre stage, and changed the world.

«Les Américains ont produit plus de prix Nobel que le reste du monde réuni. Et pourtant, selon un sondage, 13% des Américaines sont incapables de dire si elles portent leur slip «sous» ou «sur» leurs

Eagerly awaited, must-read new science book from the UK's bestselling non-fiction writer. Bryson is the prize-winning author of A Short History of Nearly Everything and The Road to Little Dribbling.In the bestselling, prize-winning A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson achieved the seemingly impossible by making the science of our world both understandable and entertaining to millions of people around the globe.Now he turns his attention inwards to explore the human body, how it functions and its remarkable ability to heal itself. Full of extraordinary facts and astonishing stories The Body: A Guide for Occupants is a brilliant, often very funny attempt to understand the miracle of our physical and neurological make up.A wonderful successor to A Short History of Nearly Everything, this book will have you marvelling at the form you occupy, and celebrating the genius of your existence, time and time again.

El sendero de los Apalaches es una de las rutas a pie más largas del mundo, que serpentea por casi toda la Costa Este estadounidense. Sin apenas experiencia como excursionista, Bill Bryson decidió recorrer ese camino. Tenia muchas razones para emprender aquel reto: ponerse en forma, conocer mejor su pais, adentrarse en un entorno natural unico Por otro lado, la aventura podia presentar no pocas trabas, adversidades y hasta peligros. A pesar de ello, siguio adelante con el proyecto y, cargado con una mochila de cosas inutiles y acompañado de su tosco amigo Katz, inicio su particular odisea sin saber como acabaria.

LA INFANCIA DE UN CHICO ESTADOUNIDENSE QUE CRECIÓ EN LA DÉCADA DE 1950.Después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Estados Unidos entró en una época de bonanza como no se había visto antes. El estilo de vida americano se desplego envuelto en un aura de felicidad e ingenuidad: se podian comprar hasta cien marcas de helados, la mayoria de los hogares disponian de televisores para ver a Roy Rogers, el vaquero cantarin, y la gente creia que tomarse dos o tres cocteles antes de cenar era saludable. En una de esas prosperas ciudades estadounidenses nacio Bill Bryson, que narra en estas fantasticas memorias sus primeros años llenos de entrañables e hilarantes estampas costumbristas, al mismo tiempo que disecciona la sociedad de todo un pais.

What is the difference between cant and jargon, or assume and presume? What is a fandango? What''s the new name for Calcutta? How do you spell supersede? Boutros Boutros-Ghali? Is it hippy or hippie? These questions really matter to Bill Bryson, ever since his days as a rookie subeditor on "The Times" back in the 1970s: as they do to anyone who cares about the English language.Originally published as "The Penguin Dictionary for Writers and Editors", Bryson''s "Dictionary for Writers and Editors" has now been completely revised and updatedfor the twenty-first century by Bill Bryson himself. Here is a very personal selection of spellings and usages, covering such head-scratchers as capitalization, plurals, abbreviations and foreign names and phrases. Bryson also gives us the difference between British and American usages, and miscellaneous pieces of essential information you never knew you needed, like the names of all the Oxford colleges, or the new name for the Department of Trade and Industry - or the correct spelling of Brobdingnag.An indispensable companion to all those who write, work with the written word, or who just enjoy getting things right, it gives rulings that are both authoritative and commonsense, all in Bryson''s own inimitably good humoured way.

Bill Bryson on his most personal journey yet: into his own childhood in America''s Mid-West. Bill Bryson''s first travel book opened with the immortal line, ''I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.'' In his very funny new memoir, he travels back in time to explore the ordinary kid he once was, and the curious world of 1950s America. It was a happy time, when almost everything was good for you, including cigarettes and nuclear fallout. This is a book about growing up in a specific time and place. But in Bryson''s hands, it becomes everyone''s story, one that will speak volumes - especially to anyone who has ever been young.

After nearly two decades in Britain, Bill Bryson took the decision to move back to the States for a while, to let his kids experience life in another country, to give his wife the chance to shop until 10 p.m. seven nights a week, and, most of all, because he had read that 3.7 million Americans believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another, and it was thus clear to him that his people needed him. But before leaving his much-loved home in North Yorkshire, Bryson insisted on taking one last trip around Britain, a sort of valedictory tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home. His aim was to take stock of the nation's public face and private parts (as it were), and to analyse what precisely it was he loved so much about a country that produced Marmite, a military hero whose dying wish was to be kissed by a fellow named Hardy, place names like Farleigh Wallop, Titsey and Shellow Bowells, people who said 'Mustn't grumble', and Gardeners' Question Time.