Author: Tiffanie Wen Publisher: Hyperink Inc ISBN: 1484006348 Category : Study Aids Languages : en Pages : 22
Book Description
ABOUT THE BOOK There was a time in my life when I wanted to be Bill Bryson, when I thought, If this is what a writer does, I want to be a writer. He has an uncanny knack for unearthing the hilarity in the most mundane and shoving it in your face, for meeting the most insufferable, strange, and fascinating people, for doling out the perfect amount of bitter sarcasm, and for otherwise educating readers in an incredibly entertaining way. He’s the guy you want at your dinner party, who you’d trust as your precious phone-a-friend. I was in college the first time I stumbled upon the writer. I wandered into a small bookshop one sunny afternoon to kill some time. A Walk in the Woods was propped up in the travel writing section with a staff recommendation card that had “one of my ALL TIME faves” scrawled on it in thick black Sharpie ink. I half-wondered how a book with what I considered to be an unimpressive cover could be an ALL TIME fave, so I flipped to a random page and started reading. It’s safe to say that within seconds I was smiling one of those broad, dopey smiles, and within minutes, giggling stupidly to myself. I’m pretty sure that I actually started to work up a sweat, as I stood there in the now deafeningly silent shop, reading in my overly warm university hoody, suppressing my would-be shrieks. I’ve learned since then that Bryson should be read in the privacy of one’s own home. Where one can feel free to snort, chuckle, guffaw, and otherwise revel in a cathartic case of the giggles. I used to read passages of Bryson out loud to a roommate of mine and can recall one particular scene from Notes From a Small Island that left us both short of breath for minutes. But it was with Bryson’s 1998 bestseller that I had my first affair, and which has become, albeit very unoriginally, one of my all time faves. MEET THE AUTHOR Tiffanie Wen is a professional writer from the San Francisco Bay Area who's written for Newsweek, Flux Hawaii, Ode Magazine and more. When she's not working, she enjoys exploring new places around the world and spending time with her dogs, Rocky and Benny. EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK After living in the UK for over 20 years, famed travel writer Bill Bryson relocated his family to Hanover, New Hampshire and discovered that the Appalachian Trail ran through his small town. He decided to hike the 2,100-mile long trail and acquired the company of his old friend Stephen Katz. Without taking notes on the trail, Bryson still managed to write the wildly popular travel book, published in 1998, that held a seemingly permanent residence on New York Times Bestseller list. A Walk in the Woods is quintessential Bryson, hilarious at times and frightening at others, he takes the layman out into the woods, without ever asking him to ever leave his home. In 2008, Robert Redford confirmed rumors that there are plans to develop A Walk in the Woods into a feature film, starring Redford as Bryson. Today, the book is still one of the most popular pieces of work written about the Appalachian Trail. Buy a copy to keep reading!
Author: Bill Bryson Publisher: Anchor Canada ISBN: 0385674546 Category : Travel Languages : en Pages : 322
Book Description
God only knows what possessed Bill Bryson, a reluctant adventurer if ever there was one, to undertake a gruelling hike along the world's longest continuous footpath—The Appalachian Trail. The 2,000-plus-mile trail winds through 14 states, stretching along the east coast of the United States, from Georgia to Maine. It snakes through some of the wildest and most spectacular landscapes in North America, as well as through some of its most poverty-stricken and primitive backwoods areas. With his offbeat sensibility, his eye for the absurd, and his laugh-out-loud sense of humour, Bryson recounts his confrontations with nature at its most uncompromising over his five-month journey. An instant classic, riotously funny, A Walk in the Woods will add a whole new audience to the legions of Bill Bryson fans.
Author: Bill Bryson Publisher: ISBN: 9780385258579 Category : Appalachian Trail Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
God only knows what possessed Bill Bryson, a reluctant adventurer if ever there was one, to undertake a gruelling hike along the world's longest continuous footpath-The Appalachian Trail. The 2,000-plus-mile trail winds through 14 states, stretching along the east coast of the United States, from Georgia to Maine. It snakes through some of the wildest and most spectacular landscapes in North America, as well as through some of its most poverty-stricken and primitive backwoods areas. With his offbeat sensibility, his eye for the absurd, and his laugh-out-loud sense of humour, Bryson recounts his confrontations with nature at its most uncompromising over his five-month journey. An instant classic, riotously funny, A Walk in the Woods will add a whole new audience to the legions of Bill Bryson fans.
Author: Milkyway Media Publisher: Milkyway Media ISBN: Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 8
Book Description
Get the Summary of Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. In "A Walk in the Woods," Bill Bryson recounts his adventures and challenges while attempting to hike the Appalachian Trail (AT) after moving to New Hampshire. Captivated by the trail's promise of fitness, reconnection with nature, and survival skills, Bryson prepares for the hike, learning about the necessary gear and the trail's history. Despite the trail's completion in 1937, it has been subject to relocations and lacks the amenities originally envisioned. Bryson and his hiking companion, Katz, experience the stark contrast between the wilderness and civilization, indulging in the comforts of towns along the way...
Author: Bill Bryson Publisher: Seal Books ISBN: 9781400026715 Category : Languages : en Pages : 416
Book Description
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte. The Appalachian Trail trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in America-majestic mountains, silent forests, sparking lakes. If you're going to take a hike, it's probably the place to go. And Bill Bryson is surely the most entertaining guide you'll find. He introduces us to the history and ecology of the trail and to some of the other hardy (or just foolhardy) folks he meets along the way-and a couple of bears. Already a classic, "A Walk in the Woods " will make you long for the great outdoors (or at least a comfortable chair to sit and read in).
Author: Nicole Silvester Publisher: Hyperink Inc ISBN: 161464280X Category : Reference Languages : en Pages : 52
Book Description
The Royal Society was founded in 1660 from a basis of more informal meetings of physicians, natural philosophers, and other interested parties (there was no such thing as a "scientist" yet). It was influenced by Francis Bacon's thinking about science and knowledge and inspired by the many discoveries that were happening at the time. In a sense, the development of the Royal Society was a mirror of the development of science itself. 2010 was the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Society, and Seeing Further: The Story of Science, Discovery, and the Genius of the Royal Society was published to commemorate that fact. Rather than simply write a history of the institution, Bryson elected to edit a volume of essays displaying some of the variety of interests so evident in the Royal Society itself. He selected twenty one writers, and not just scientists, either. Though there are quite a few eminent scholars listed as authors, there are also novelists and journalists. What they all share, though, besides the ability to turn a phrase, is an enthusiasm for science and an appreciation for the achievements of the Society.
Author: Devon Smith Publisher: Hyperink Inc ISBN: 1614641218 Category : Study Aids Languages : en Pages : 34
Book Description
ABOUT THE BOOK In Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way, Bill Bryson guides us through the complicated history of the English language to figure out why it is the way it is. It’s an interesting journey, part thesis and part pop science, that explains the most significant events in the development of the English language with lots of useful tidbits along the way. English started gaining dominance as a global language during the 20th century with the rise of American supremacy. Mother Tongue was published in 1991, in the midst of the fall of Communism when America became the undisputed victor of the Cold War and, some would say, of the world. Since that time, English has surpassed all other languages as the global lingua franca, not only in the business and commerce sector, but in science, technology, diplomacy, and tourism as well. MEET THE AUTHOR Devon Smith was a software developer, university instructor, belly dancer, and researcher before turning to professional writing. She currently lives in Turkey. Someday she will put something interesting on this website: devonwashere.blogspot.com EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK Bryson then talks about the rapid evolution of English through the times of Chaucer, during which the language was greatly simplified, and Shakespeare, who was perhaps the single most innovative wordsmith in the history of the language. One particular maddening discussion is the one about English spelling and orthography, or writing (“Spelling”). One of the major ideas here is that when English adopts words from foreign languages (which it does frequently), it often preserves the original spelling, which may or may not obey the spelling rules of native English words. Buy a copy to keep reading!
Author: Bill Bryson Publisher: Random House ISBN: 1409095517 Category : Travel Languages : en Pages : 336
Book Description
'Short of doing it yourself, the best way of escaping into nature is to read a book like A Walk in the Woods.' New York Times In the company of his friend Stephen Katz (last seen in the bestselling Neither Here nor There), Bill Bryson set off to hike the Appalachian Trail, the longest continuous footpath in the world. Ahead lay almost 2,200 miles of remote mountain wilderness filled with bears, moose, bobcats, rattlesnakes, poisonous plants, disease-bearing tics, the occasional chuckling murderer and - perhaps most alarming of all - people whose favourite pastime is discussing the relative merits of the external-frame backpack. Facing savage weather, merciless insects, unreliable maps and a fickle companion whose profoundest wish was to go to a motel and watch The X-Files, Bryson gamely struggled through the wilderness to achieve a lifetime's ambition - not to die outdoors. A Walk in the Woods is now a major feature film starring Robert Redford, Emma Thompson and Nick Offerman.
Author: Becki Chiasson Publisher: Hyperink Inc ISBN: 161464957X Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 28
Book Description
ABOUT THE BOOK “Growing up was easy. It required no thought or effort on my part. It was going to happen anyway. So what follows isn’t terribly eventful, I’m afraid. And yet it was by a very large margin the most fearful, thrilling, interesting, instructive, eye-popping, lustful, eager, troubled, untroubled, confused, serene, and unnerving time of my life.” So begins “The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid,” which was published in 2006. It was a departure from Bill Bryson’s earlier books. His previous work, “A Short History of Nearly Everything,” a book about science written for the average Joe, had taken a lot out of him and he wanted to work on something easier. Bryson told the Guardian: “I promised my wife I would do a book I could stay at home to do ... and I promised my publisher that I would do something more amusing that would corral back the core of my readership, some of whom doubtless were slightly appalled and alienated by A Short History. And also, purely in a selfish way, I wanted to do a book that I wouldn't have to do a lot of hard thinking and research about. I did miss writing humorous things.” MEET THE AUTHOR Becki Chiasson is a Baltimore-based writer who received her BS in Mass Communications from Towson University. Although she spent some time in New York as a crossword puzzle editor, she returned to her hometown in Maryland in 2010 to focus on writing. Her favorite topics include video games and women's issues. When she's not busy writing up a storm, she crochets, plays video games, and bakes. EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK “The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid” centers on Bryson’s life as a young child in Des Moines, Iowa during the 1950s and follows Bryson through puberty. The plot is less of a structured narrative and more of a series of loosely related, humorous anecdotes about growing up during happier, simpler times. A central conceit to the book is the idea that Bryson was the Thunderbolt Kid, a superhero who could make his enemies (usually people Bryson deemed to be morons) disappear in a flash of light by casting a withering stare at them. This superpower is presented in all seriousness, although it is rather doubtful that it ever happened. The first time Bryson used his superpower, he was six years old. He was at a diner with his mother and discovered to his great chagrin that the ancient-looking man next to him had been drinking out of Bryson’s water glass. Worse still, the man had been eating poached eggs, which Bryson positively despised. Bryson freaked out, gagging, and the man only laughed, having no remorse at all. When he turned to leave, “as he reached out to open the door, bolts of electricity flew from my wildly dilated eyes and played over his body. He shimmered for an instant, contorted in a brief, silent rictus of agony, and was gone. It was the birth of ThunderVision. The world had just become a dangerous place for morons.” Buy a copy to keep reading!