"Suddenly, in the space of a moment, I realized what it was that I loved about Britain--which is to say, all of it. Every last bit of it, good and bad--old churches, country lanes, people saying 'Mustn't grumble' and 'I'm terribly sorry but, ' people apologizing to "me when I conk them with a careless elbow, milk in bottles, beans on toast, haymaking in June, seaside piers, Ordinance Survey maps, tea and crumpets, summer showers and foggy winter evenings--every bit of it." <BR>After nearly two decades in Britain, Bill Bryson, the acclaimed author of such bestsellers as "The Mother Tongue and "Made in America, decided it was time to move back to the United States for a while. This was partly to let his wife and kids experience life in Bryson's homeland--and partly because he had read that 3.7 million Americans believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another. It was thus clear to him that his people needed him. <BR>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 modern-day Britain, and to analyze what he loved so much about a country that had produced Marmite, zebra crossings, and place names like Farleigh Wallop, Titsey, and Shellow Bowells. <BR>With characteristic wit and irreverence, Bill Bryson presents the ludicrous and the endearing in equal measure. The result is a hilarious social commentary that conveys the true glory of Britain.

The New York Times Book Review called "Notes From A Small Island" "Astute and funny...an amusing guide to the UK's foibles, as well as a tribute to its enchantments". Bill Bryson lived in England for almost twenty-five years, and before returning home to the US, he set out on a grand farewell tour. "Notes" is the delightful result: an uproarious social commentary that veers from the endearing to the ludicrous.

The New York Times book Review called "Notes From a Small Island", "Astute and funny...an amusing guide to the U.K.'s foibles, as well as a tribute to its enchantments". After over two decades spent on British soil, Bill Bryson decided to return to the United Stales. But before departing, he set out on a grand farewell tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home. Veering from the ludicrous to the endearing and back again, "Notes From a Small, Island" is a delightfully irreverent jaunt around the unparalleled floating nation that has produced Zebra crossings, Shakespeare, Twiggie Winkie's farm, and places with names like Farleigh Wallop and Titsey. The result is an uproarious social commentary that conveys the true glory of Britain, from the satiric pen of an unapologetic Anglophile.

When The Lost Continent was published in 1989, Bill Bryson’s savagely funny account of his journey back to his roots in small-town U.S.A. took the reading public by a storm of guffaws. It was followed by Neither Here Nor There, in which Bryson applied his unique brand of wry humour to the foibles of Continental Europe and the Europeans.

From the Trade Paperback edition.