Name: Notes from a small island
ISBN: 9780385685511

Notes from a small island

After nearly two decades in Britain, Bill Bryson took the decision to move Mrs Bryson, little Jimmy et al. back to the States for a while. But before leaving his much-loved Yorkshire, Bryson insisted on taking one last trip around old Blighty, a sort of valedictory tour of the green and kindly island that had for so long been his home. The resulting book was a eulogy to the country that produced Marmite, George Formby, by-elections, milky tea, place names like Farleigh Wallop, Titsey and Shellow Bowells, Gardeners' Question Time and people who say 'Mustn't grumble.' Britain would never seem the same again. Since it was first published in 1995, Notes from a Small Island has never been far from the top of the bestsellers lists, and has sold over one and a half million copies. Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951. He settled in England in 1977, and lived for many years with his English wife and four children in North Yorkshire. He and his family now live in the United States.

What Hacker News says

bwbApr 2023

Thanks, this is super helpful! I love Bill Bryson as well :)

Yep, I totally understand what you are saying, and that is what I am working toward. It is a challenge.

Right now, I ask authors to share 5 books they love around a topic/theme/mood. So I am collecting a human grouping of books similar in some way that humans decided along with why they love it.

For example, if you like "Notes from a Small Island" or "Down Under" (two of my fav Bill Bryson books), here are books that authors have grouped with it and also loved:

https://shepherd.com/books-like/notes-from-a-small-island https://shepherd.com/books-like/down-under

So I am using human groupings to help discover books that humans associate with his work somehow. And above each book, their list title helps you understand how their mind grouped it.

For example, "Into The Wild" is associated with it based around a human grouping books that capture the spirit of Jack Kerouac's On The Road.

What do you think?

What is next to improve this?

I'll add filters to help people hone in on why they loved the book to help pull that thread out and show books along those lines. For example, if I liked Catch 22 for its absurd humor, I want to make that the common denominator on the page. Or if I like "From a Small Island" for the humor and history, picking those to try to find books with a similar book DNA.

In about 4 to 5 weeks I'll ship the first version of this on the bookshelf pages. And in maybe 12 to 16 weeks on the books-like pages, as that needs a lot more work.

And, I am hoping next year to launch Book DNA, where I pull in reader data and help line up books that are your all time favorites with others to map this out a bit further. Slowly getting there and a lot will dependon collecting more data from readers in 2024.

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ArrayListFeb 2019

Bill Bryson. Enough said.

"A Walk in the Woods" or "Notes from a Small Island" had me in stiches.

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shawndumasDec 2010

74. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson

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TwirrimFeb 2024

Bill Bryson has a bit in "Notes from a Small Island" (I think it was?) about how depressing it is that the British keep taking these older beautiful buildings, and then plonking down uncharacteristic, dull modern style steel and glass buildings right beside them, or replacing lower levels with them etc.

It was always something that bugged me as a Brit to some degree, but, of course, as soon as I read that, I noticed just how much of it there was. It's ever where, on almost every high street. A bizarre mishmash of character and "meh".

> The building, recently sold on to the New River Company, is repaired and refitted for use as offices and a bank. The building looks rather less dazzling at ground floor level as a result.

The Angel, Islington is a supreme example. The same goes for the buildings along the road from it. The building above the ground floor has character. The ground floor looks exactly like what you'd see in almost any high street in the country.

Near where I worked in London, plans went up for renovation that I think ended up working out reasonably well, https://maps.app.goo.gl/XSpdfzdyQE4DpTXr8. Where that Metro Bank is, they ripped out everything behind that brick facade, and rebuilt (it badly needed it), then worked to do up the brick, maintaining the original style.

This kept the building in the characteristic style of the neighbourhood, (see https://maps.app.goo.gl/US1GvYA1fCQ9VCZi6 for examples of other buildings in the area that are of similar age), but didn't leave it stuck with the maintenance issues. Of course you can see just beside it where they didn't do that, and shoved something decidedly more modern in place, and completely at odds with the styles of the buildings on either side of it, or across the street from it.

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flotherMar 2020

“Coming from a country where mapmakers tend to exclude any landscape feature smaller than, say, Pike’s Peak, I am constantly impressed by the richness of detail on the OS 1:25,000 series. They include every wrinkle and divot of the landscape, every barn, milestone, wind pump and tumulus. They distinguish between sand pits and gravel pits and between power lines strung from pylons and power lines strung from poles. This one even included the stone seat on which I sat now. It astounds me to be able to look at a map and know to the square metre where my buttocks are deployed.”

— Bill Bryson, Notes from a Small Island (1997)

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troymcDec 2010

What if I'm writing a paper on the books of Bill Bryson, I want to have In a Sunburned Country open on my MacBook, and I want to have Notes from a Small Island open on my iPhone (at the same time)?

There are legitimate reasons to have two devices logged into Google ebooks with the same account at the same time.

Video games are different. Few people play two video games at the same time.

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