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Editorial Review - Amazon.com
Bill Bryson follows his Appalachian amble, A Walk in the Woods, with the story of his exploits in Australia, where A-bombs go off unnoticed, prime ministers disappear into the surf, and cheery citizens coexist with the world's deadliest creatures: toxic caterpillars, aggressive seashells, crocodiles, sharks, snakes, and the deadliest of them all, the dreaded box jellyfish. And that's just the beginning, as Bryson treks through sunbaked deserts and up endless coastlines, crisscrossing the "under-discovered" Down Under in search of all things interesting.
Bryson, who could make a pile of dirt compelling--and yes, Australia is mostly dirt--finds no shortage of curiosities. When he isn't dodging Portuguese man-of-wars or considering the virtues of the remarkable platypus, he visits southwest Gippsland, home of the world's largest earthworms (up to 12 feet in length). He discovers that Australia, which began nationhood as a prison, contains the longest straight stretch of railroad track in the world (297 miles), as well as the world's largest monolith (the majestic Uluru) and largest living thing (the Great Barrier Reef). He finds ridiculous place names: "Mullumbimby Ewylamartup, Jiggalong, and the supremely satisfying Tittybong," and manages to catch a cricket game on the radio, which is like

listening to two men sitting in a rowboat on a large, placid lake on a day when the fish aren't biting; it's like having a nap without losing consciousness. It actually helps not to know quite what's going on. In such a rarefied world of contentment and inactivity, comprehension would become a distraction.

"You see," Bryson observes, "Australia is an interesting place. It truly is. And that really is all I'm saying." Of course, Bryson--who is as much a travel writer here as a humorist, naturalist, and historian--says much more, and does so with generous amounts of wit and hilarity. Australia may be "mostly empty and a long way away," but it's a little closer now. --Rob McDonald --

Deutsch: Frühstück mit Kängurus
Was ist das für ein Land, in dem sich fliegende Füchse tummeln und Schweinefußnasenbeutler einst ihr Unwesen trieben? In seinem ebenso amüsanten wie informativen Streifzug durch ein unbekanntes Australien erzählt Bill Bryson von den historischen Hintergründen der Entdeckung dieses faszinierenden Kontinents - und hält den Leser mit seinem scharfen Blick für alles Skurrile und Ungewöhnliche in Atem.

I got this book today (01/23/2006) from the Denver Library - Due: 02/13/2006

Amazon.com LLC Shipped via USPS (estimated arrival date: 24-January-2008).

photo #1 by Hans Alfred Loeffler, click for full format

I got from the Library EVLD-Eagle:
A Walk in the Woods : Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
narrated by the author himself.
But, nowadays almost almost no one is using Audio Tapes (must be CD or iPod or something like this). My friend Lady Cheryl brought a BoomBox with her to Eagle, one WITH A CASSETTE player ..... not working - bummer.
So I opened the BoomBox in the hope something minor would be the case for this "out of service" case.
It was, "only" the small to drive the entire mechanics of the tape player was broken; therefore no movement of the mechanics except that the player pulled the tabe out of the cassette w/o winding the played part on the wheel.
After ~ 6 hours of work (trial and error) i was able to play Bill Bryson's voice ....
.... but only for 6 or minutes when the re-play got slower and slower, and Bryson's voice deeper and deeper.

photo #2 by Hans Alfred Loeffler, click for full format

I got from the Library EVLD-Eagle:
A Walk in the Woods : Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
narrated by the author himself.
But, nowadays almost almost no one is using Audio Tapes (must be CD or iPod or something like this). My friend Lady Cheryl brought a BoomBox with her to Eagle, one WITH A CASSETTE player ..... not working - bummer.
So I opened the BoomBox in the hope something minor would be the case for this "out of service" case.
It was, "only" the small to drive the entire mechanics of the tape player was broken; therefore no movement of the mechanics except that the player pulled the tabe out of the cassette w/o winding the played part on the wheel.
After ~ 6 hours of work (trial and error) i was able to play Bill Bryson's voice ....
.... but only for 6 or minutes when the re-play got slower and slower, and Bryson's voice deeper and deeper.

photo #3 by Hans Alfred Loeffler, click for full format

I got from the Library EVLD-Eagle:
A Walk in the Woods : Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
narrated by the author himself.
But, nowadays almost almost no one is using Audio Tapes (must be CD or iPod or something like this). My friend Lady Cheryl brought a BoomBox with her to Eagle, one WITH A CASSETTE player ..... not working - bummer.
So I opened the BoomBox in the hope something minor would be the case for this "out of service" case.
It was, "only" the small to drive the entire mechanics of the tape player was broken; therefore no movement of the mechanics except that the player pulled the tabe out of the cassette w/o winding the played part on the wheel.
After ~ 6 hours of work (trial and error) i was able to play Bill Bryson's voice ....
.... but only for 6 or minutes when the re-play got slower and slower, and Bryson's voice deeper and deeper.