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One Summer
- America, 1927
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
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One Summer
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Bill Bryson once again proves himself to be an incomparable companion as he guides us through the human body - how it functions, its remarkable ability to heal itself, and (unfortunately) the ways it can fail. Full of extraordinary facts (your body made a million red blood cells since you started reading this) and irresistible Bryson-esque anecdotes, The Body will lead you to a deeper understanding of the miracle that is life in general and you in particular. As Bill Bryson writes, "We pass our existence within this wobble of flesh and yet take it almost entirely for granted."
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Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to “write a history of the world without leaving home.”
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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 entertaing 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).
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3 out of 5 stars
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Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century, 1951, in the middle of the United States, Des Moines, Iowa, in the middle of the largest generation in American history, the baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, his is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero.
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William Shakespeare, the most celebrated poet in the English language, left behind nearly a million words of text, but his biography has long been a thicket of wild supposition arranged around scant facts. With a steady hand and his trademark wit, Bill Bryson sorts through this colorful muddle to reveal the man himself.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door, memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion on the Appalachian Trail resulted in the best seller A Walk in the Woods. Now, we follow him "Down Under" to Australia with this delectably funny, fact-filled, and adventurous performance that combines humor, wonder, and unflagging curiosity. More from Bill Bryson.
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Bill Bryson has been an enormously popular author both for his travel books and for his books on the English language. Now, this beloved comic genius turns his attention to science. Although he doesn't know anything about the subject (at first), he is eager to learn, and takes information that he gets from the world's leading experts and explains it to us in a way that makes it exciting and relevant.
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In the first of three essays included in this audiobook, Bill Bryson decides to move his wife and kids back to his homeland, the United States, after nearly two decades in Britain. But not before taking one last trip around Britain, a sort of valedictory tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home. The result is a hilarious social commentary.
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More satire than history
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After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children. They were greeted by a new and improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, 24-hour dental-floss hotlines, and the staunch conviction that ice is not a luxury item. Delivering the brilliant comic musings that are a Bryson hallmark, I'm a Stranger Here Myself recounts his sometimes disconcerting reunion with the land of his birth.
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Bill Bryson is the world's funniest travel writer, and a master of comic observation. His hugely popular books, spanning topics from linguistics to Shakespeare to the human body, have sold over 16 million copies and been translated into 30 languages, and his 2003 science book A Short History of Nearly Everything won the prestigious Aventis and Descartes prizes.
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Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America’s rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair’s brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country’s most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his “World’s Fair Hotel” just west of the fairgrounds.
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In the winter of 1918, at the height of World War I, history's most lethal influenza virus erupted in an army camp in Kansas, moved east with American troops, then exploded, killing as many as 100 million people worldwide. It killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS has killed in 24 years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. But this was not the Middle Ages, and 1918 marked the first collision between modern science and epidemic disease.
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You likely haven't heard it this way...
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On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King - who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer - takes listeners on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.
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Editorial reviews
Publisher's summary
Audie Award Finalist, History, 2014
One of the most admired nonfiction writers of our time retells the story of one truly fabulous year in the life of his native country - a fascinating and gripping narrative featuring such outsized American heroes as Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth, and yes Herbert Hoover, and a gallery of criminals (Al Capone), eccentrics (Shipwreck Kelly), and close-mouthed politicians (Calvin Coolidge). It was the year Americans attempted and accomplished outsized things and came of age in a big, brawling manner. What a country. What a summer. And what a writer to bring it all so vividly alive for us in this certain best-seller.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting stories but oversold
- By Theron Schultz on 09-15-18
By: Tom Stanton
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The Flight of the Century: Charles Lindbergh and the Rise of American Aviation
- Oxford University Press: Pivotal Moments in US History
- By: Thomas Kessner
- Narrated by: Bob McGraw
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 70
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 58
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 58
In late May 1927 an inexperienced and unassuming 25-year-old Air Mail pilot from rural Minnesota stunned the world by making the first non-stop transatlantic flight. A spectacular feat of individual daring and collective technological accomplishment, Charles Lindbergh's flight from New York to Paris ushered in America's age of commercial aviation.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Flawed but Worthwhile
- By Ray Daniels on 11-11-22
By: Thomas Kessner
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Fly Girls
- How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History
- By: Keith O'Brien
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,297
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,150
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,147
Between the world wars, no sport was more popular, or more dangerous, than airplane racing. Thousands of fans flocked to multi-day events, and cities vied with one another to host them. The pilots themselves were hailed as dashing heroes who cheerfully stared death in the face. Fly Girls recounts how a cadre of women banded together to break the original glass ceiling: the entrenched prejudice that conspired to keep them out of the sky.
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5 out of 5 stars
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For women, and dads
- By Cecilia Avanelle on 08-08-18
By: Keith O'Brien
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Only Yesterday
- An Informal History of the 1920s
- By: Frederick Lewis Allen
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 364
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 296
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 292
In this span between armistice and depression, Americans were kicking up their heels, but they were also bringing about major changes in the social and political structure of their country. Only Yesterday is a fond, witty, penetrating biography of this restless decade, a delightful reminiscence for those who can remember and a fascinating firsthand look for those who've only heard.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Loved this book
- By Matthew M. Kayes on 06-11-07
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The Wright Brothers
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: David McCullough
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 13,881
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 12,388
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 12,350
Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize David McCullough tells the dramatic story behind the story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly: Wilbur and Orville Wright.
On December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Wilbur and Orville Wright's Wright Flyer became the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard. The Age of Flight had begun. How did they do it? And why?
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1 out of 5 stars
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Disappointing
- By Sara on 07-10-16
By: David McCullough
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A Flame of Pure Fire
- Jack Dempsey and the Roaring '20s
- By: Roger Kahn
- Narrated by: Kevin Yon
- Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 64
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 54
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
Through most of the Roaring '20s, Jack Dempsey was the heavyweight champion of the world. With his fierce good looks and matchless dedication to the kill, he was a fighter perfectly suited to his time. In A Flame of Pure Fire, renowned sports writer Roger Kahn not only chronicles the thrilling, brutal bouts of the Manassa Mauler, but also illustrates how the tumultuous 1920s shaped Dempsey - and how the champ, in turn, left an indelible mark on sports and American history.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Ambitious but poorly executed
- By Keith on 10-02-19
By: Roger Kahn
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New World Coming
- The 1920s and the Making of Modern America
- By: Nathan Miller
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 18 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 124
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 85
Jazz. Bootleggers. Flappers. Talkies. Model T Fords. Lindbergh's history-making flight over the Atlantic. The 1920s was also the decade of the hard-won vote for women, racial injustice, censorship, social conflict, and the birth of organized crime.
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5 out of 5 stars
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My High School History Class Never Told
- By Charles Stembridge on 06-29-04
By: Nathan Miller
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Good Day!
- The Paul Harvey Story
- By: Paul J. Batura
- Narrated by: Paul J. Batura
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 221
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 178
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 177
In Good Day!: The Paul Harvey Story, author Paul J. Batura follows the remarkable life of one of the founding fathers of the news media. Paul Harvey started his career during the Great Depression and narrated America's story day by day, through wars and peace, the threat of communism and the crumbling of old colonial powers, consumer booms and eventual busts.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Should have been better
- By Royce Brown on 12-21-09
By: Paul J. Batura
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The Devil in the White City
- Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
- By: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30,127
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 24,869
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 24,859
Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America’s rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair’s brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country’s most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his “World’s Fair Hotel” just west of the fairgrounds.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Rich Read!
- By D on 09-18-03
By: Erik Larson
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The Big Rich
- The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes
- By: Bryan Burrough
- Narrated by: James Jenner
- Length: 22 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 683
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 517
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 516
Best-selling author Bryan Burrough reveals how four Texas oil tycoons transformed America. Rising from humble beginnings through hard work and shrewd dealings, they shifted the balance of power in American politics. While hobnobbing with movie stars and presidents, the Big Rich also created the legend of the swaggering Texas oilman with island hideaways and sprawling ranches.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Big, Sordid, Fascinating, PoliticallyCorrect
- By Darkcoffee on 11-09-09
By: Bryan Burrough
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The Big Bam
- The Life and Times of Babe Ruth
- By: Leigh Montville
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 220
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 171
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 171
Babe Ruth was more than baseball's original superstar. For 85 years, he has remained the sport's reigning titan. He has been named Athlete of the Century...more than once. But who was this large, loud, enigmatic man? In The Big Bam, Leigh Montville brings his trademark touch to this groundbreaking, revelatory portrait of the Babe.
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2 out of 5 stars
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The Big Bam
- By Alan on 06-13-06
By: Leigh Montville
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The Masters
- Golf, Money, and Power in Augusta, Georgia
- By: Curt Sampson
- Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 234
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 171
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 167
The Masters golf tournament weaves a hypnotic spell. It is the toughest ticket in sports, with black-market tickets selling for $10,000 and more. Success at Augusta National breeds legends, while failure can overshadow even the most brilliant of careers. But as Curt Sampson reveals in The Masters, a cold heart beats behind the warm antebellum facade of this famous Augusta course.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Okay Listen, but
- By Scott D. Loeffler on 05-02-08
By: Curt Sampson
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The Lost Pilots
- The Spectacular Rise and Scandalous Fall of Aviation's Golden Couple
- By: Corey Mead
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
During the height of the roaring '20s, Jessie Miller longs for adventure. Fleeing a passionless marriage in the backwaters of Australia, 23-year-old Jessie arrives in London and promptly falls in with the Bright Young Things, those gin-soaked boho-chic intellectuals draped in suits, flapper dresses, and pearls. At a party Jessie meets Captain William Lancaster, married himself and fresh from the Royal Air Force, with a scheme in his head to become as famous as Charles Lindbergh, who has just crossed the Atlantic. Lancaster will do Lindy one better: fly from London to Melbourne, and in Jessie Miller he’s found the perfect co-pilot.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Boring narrative
- By M. Hoyt on 07-31-18
By: Corey Mead
-
Wilbur and Orville
- A Biography of the Wright Brothers
- By: Fred Howard
- Narrated by: Larry McKeever
- Length: 21 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 106
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 67
The Wrights' longest flight in 1903 covered 852 feet and lasted 59 seconds. In 1905, Wilbur flew 24 miles in 38 minutes and the issue was no longer how to fly but how to cash in. Their effort to exploit their invention is a suspense story of the best kind; their voyage into flight and into American history is a gripping tale from takeoff to landing.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting but not hard to put down...
- By James on 03-17-12
By: Fred Howard
-
The Three-Year Swim Club
- The Untold Story of Maui's Sugar Ditch Kids and Their Quest for Olympic Glory
- By: Julie Checkoway
- Narrated by: Alex Chadwick
- Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 192
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 176
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 174
In 1937, a schoolteacher on the island of Maui challenged a group of poverty-stricken sugar plantation kids to swim upstream against the current of their circumstance. The goal? To become Olympians. They faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The children were Japanese-American, were malnourished and barefoot, and had no pool; they trained in the filthy irrigation ditches that snaked down from the mountains into the sugarcane fields.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great story but the Hawaiian words get slaughtered
- By Arabella on 01-26-16
By: Julie Checkoway
-
Dreamers and Deceivers
- True and Untold Stories of the Heroes and Villains Who Made America
- By: Glenn Beck
- Narrated by: Jeremy Lowell
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 894
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 795
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 798
The new nonfiction from number-one best-selling author and popular radio and television host Glenn Beck.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Astounding History stories gather life
- By Gil on 11-13-14
By: Glenn Beck
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At Home
- A Short History of Private Life
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,440
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,693
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,677
Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to “write a history of the world without leaving home.”
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Bryson does it again
- By Robert on 10-15-10
By: Bill Bryson
-
I'm a Stranger Here Myself
- Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 736
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 251
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 253
After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children. They were greeted by a new and improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, 24-hour dental-floss hotlines, and the staunch conviction that ice is not a luxury item. Delivering the brilliant comic musings that are a Bryson hallmark, I'm a Stranger Here Myself recounts his sometimes disconcerting reunion with the land of his birth.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Enjoyable
- By Cather on 12-22-06
By: Bill Bryson
-
The Lost Continent
- Travels In Small Town America
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: William Roberts
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 918
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 764
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 760
Hardly anyone ever leaves Des Moines, Iowa. But Bill Bryson did, and after 10 years in England he decided to go home, to a foreign country. In an ageing Chevrolet Chevette, he drove nearly 14,000 miles through 38 states to compile this hilarious and perceptive state-of-the-nation report on small-town America.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Written by Bryson's evil twin
- By M. S. Cohen on 08-11-14
By: Bill Bryson
-
In a Sunburned Country
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,293
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,424
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,416
Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door, memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion on the Appalachian Trail resulted in the best seller A Walk in the Woods. Now, we follow him "Down Under" to Australia with this delectably funny, fact-filled, and adventurous performance that combines humor, wonder, and unflagging curiosity. More from Bill Bryson.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Laugh out loud funny
- By Larry on 06-09-03
By: Bill Bryson
-
Made in America
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: William Roberts
- Length: 18 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,491
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,232
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,231
In Made in America, Bryson de-mythologizes his native land, explaining how a dusty hamlet with neither woods nor holly became Hollywood, how the Wild West wasn't won, why Americans say 'lootenant' and 'Toosday', how Americans were eating junk food long before the word itself was cooked up, as well as exposing the true origins of the G-string, the original $64,000 question, and Dr Kellogg of cornflakes fame.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Bryson Not Reading Makes For a Rare Fail
- By John on 02-28-14
By: Bill Bryson
-
The Mother Tongue
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,262
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,095
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,089
With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson - the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent - brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience, and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't) to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world's largest growth industries.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
More satire than history
- By Barbara Kindle Customer on 12-18-15
By: Bill Bryson
-
At Home
- A Short History of Private Life
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,440
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,693
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,677
Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to “write a history of the world without leaving home.”
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Bryson does it again
- By Robert on 10-15-10
By: Bill Bryson
-
I'm a Stranger Here Myself
- Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 736
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 251
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 253
After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children. They were greeted by a new and improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, 24-hour dental-floss hotlines, and the staunch conviction that ice is not a luxury item. Delivering the brilliant comic musings that are a Bryson hallmark, I'm a Stranger Here Myself recounts his sometimes disconcerting reunion with the land of his birth.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Enjoyable
- By Cather on 12-22-06
By: Bill Bryson
-
The Lost Continent
- Travels In Small Town America
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: William Roberts
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 918
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 764
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 760
Hardly anyone ever leaves Des Moines, Iowa. But Bill Bryson did, and after 10 years in England he decided to go home, to a foreign country. In an ageing Chevrolet Chevette, he drove nearly 14,000 miles through 38 states to compile this hilarious and perceptive state-of-the-nation report on small-town America.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Written by Bryson's evil twin
- By M. S. Cohen on 08-11-14
By: Bill Bryson
-
In a Sunburned Country
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,293
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,424
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,416
Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door, memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion on the Appalachian Trail resulted in the best seller A Walk in the Woods. Now, we follow him "Down Under" to Australia with this delectably funny, fact-filled, and adventurous performance that combines humor, wonder, and unflagging curiosity. More from Bill Bryson.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Laugh out loud funny
- By Larry on 06-09-03
By: Bill Bryson
-
Made in America
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: William Roberts
- Length: 18 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,491
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,232
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,231
In Made in America, Bryson de-mythologizes his native land, explaining how a dusty hamlet with neither woods nor holly became Hollywood, how the Wild West wasn't won, why Americans say 'lootenant' and 'Toosday', how Americans were eating junk food long before the word itself was cooked up, as well as exposing the true origins of the G-string, the original $64,000 question, and Dr Kellogg of cornflakes fame.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Bryson Not Reading Makes For a Rare Fail
- By John on 02-28-14
By: Bill Bryson
-
The Mother Tongue
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,262
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,095
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,089
With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson - the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent - brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience, and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't) to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world's largest growth industries.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
More satire than history
- By Barbara Kindle Customer on 12-18-15
By: Bill Bryson
-
Bill Bryson Collector's Edition
- Notes from a Small Island, Neither Here Nor There, and I'm a Stranger Here Myself
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 17 hrs and 11 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,316
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,810
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,791
In the first of three essays included in this audiobook, Bill Bryson decides to move his wife and kids back to his homeland, the United States, after nearly two decades in Britain. But not before taking one last trip around Britain, a sort of valedictory tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home. The result is a hilarious social commentary.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Bryson's best with Google
- By Shawn on 03-31-08
By: Bill Bryson
-
Shakespeare
- The World as Stage
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,837
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,269
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,257
William Shakespeare, the most celebrated poet in the English language, left behind nearly a million words of text, but his biography has long been a thicket of wild supposition arranged around scant facts. With a steady hand and his trademark wit, Bill Bryson sorts through this colorful muddle to reveal the man himself.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Too Little, Too Short
- By Charles L. Burkins on 11-30-07
By: Bill Bryson
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The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
- A Memoir
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,542
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,610
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,619
Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century, 1951, in the middle of the United States, Des Moines, Iowa, in the middle of the largest generation in American history, the baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, his is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero.
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4 out of 5 stars
-
Fun, but not for squeamish
- By David on 11-30-06
By: Bill Bryson
-
The Bill Bryson BBC Radio Collection
- Divided by a Common Language, Journeys in English and More
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 20
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 16
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 16
Bill Bryson is the world's funniest travel writer, and a master of comic observation. His hugely popular books, spanning topics from linguistics to Shakespeare to the human body, have sold over 16 million copies and been translated into 30 languages, and his 2003 science book A Short History of Nearly Everything won the prestigious Aventis and Descartes prizes.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Another great Bryson
- By Dirk P. on 05-08-23
By: Bill Bryson
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The Body
- A Guide for Occupants
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,574
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,532
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,486
Bill Bryson once again proves himself to be an incomparable companion as he guides us through the human body - how it functions, its remarkable ability to heal itself, and (unfortunately) the ways it can fail. Full of extraordinary facts (your body made a million red blood cells since you started reading this) and irresistible Bryson-esque anecdotes, The Body will lead you to a deeper understanding of the miracle that is life in general and you in particular. As Bill Bryson writes, "We pass our existence within this wobble of flesh and yet take it almost entirely for granted."
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Must Read for the Sheer Fun of It
- By J.B. on 10-16-19
By: Bill Bryson
-
The Road to Little Dribbling
- Adventures of an American in Britain
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Nathan Osgood
- Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,579
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 1,416
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,407
Twenty years ago, Bill Bryson went on a trip around Britain to discover and celebrate that green and pleasant land. The result was Notes from a Small Island, a true classic and one of the bestselling travel books ever written. Now he has traveled about Britain again, by bus and train and rental car and on foot, to see what has changed—and what hasn’t.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
No Bryson?? Alas, another disappointed fan
- By Rick on 01-25-16
By: Bill Bryson
-
A Short History of Nearly Everything
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Richard Matthews
- Length: 18 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 27,645
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 20,975
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 20,871
Bill Bryson has been an enormously popular author both for his travel books and for his books on the English language. Now, this beloved comic genius turns his attention to science. Although he doesn't know anything about the subject (at first), he is eager to learn, and takes information that he gets from the world's leading experts and explains it to us in a way that makes it exciting and relevant.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
The Only Book I reread imediatley after reading
- By Andrew on 11-09-09
By: Bill Bryson
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Neither Here Nor There
- Travels in Europe
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 843
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 462
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 456
You'll stop at Europe's most diverting and historic locales and view the Old World through Bryson's tourist eye view in this affectionate, blisteringly insightful, and riotously funny pilgrimage from the frozen wastes of Scandinavia to the chaotic tumult of Istanbul.
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1 out of 5 stars
-
reader beware
- By Marina on 11-19-03
By: Bill Bryson
-
A Walk in the Woods
- Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Rob McQuay
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 11,510
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 10,148
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 10,140
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 entertaing 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).
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3 out of 5 stars
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Informational
- By Amber C on 03-29-17
By: Bill Bryson
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I'm a Stranger Here Myself
- Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: William Roberts
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 229
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 205
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Story4 out of 5 stars 204
After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children (he had read somewhere that nearly 3 million Americans believed they had been abducted by aliens - as he later put it, "It was clear my people needed me." They were greeted by a new and improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, twenty-four-hour dental-floss hotlines, and the staunch conviction that ice is not a luxury item.
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4 out of 5 stars
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How strange! Not as recently written as described.
- By Lynn on 10-12-12
By: Bill Bryson
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Notes from a Small Island
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 794
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 446
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 446
Bill Bryson is an unabashed Anglophile who, through a mistake of history, happened to be born and bred in Iowa. Righting that error, he spent 20 years in England before deciding to repatriate. This was partly to let his wife and children 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. But before leaving his much-loved home in North Yorkshire, Bryson insisted on taking one last trip around Britain.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Crackin' yarn, lad!
- By Dave on 03-28-05
By: Bill Bryson
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Neither Here nor There
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: William Roberts
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 325
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 273
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Story4 out of 5 stars 272
In Neither Here nor There Bill Bryson brings his unique brand of humour to bear on Europe as he shoulders his backpack, keeps a tight hold on his wallet, and journeys from Hammerfest, the northernmost town on the continent, to Istanbul on the cusp of Asia.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Authentic Bryson, but that might be the problem
- By M. Craft on 08-12-14
By: Bill Bryson
What listeners say about One Summer
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- DONNA HARPER
- 06-03-19
interesting. very detailed i
Ineresting book, very detailed history. Lots of events that happened in 1927 are also occurring now it's made me had me saying."wow" many times
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Professormom
- 12-02-16
Usually like Bryson's narration, but not for this...
Bryson comes off detached and a little Peter Lorresque. That said, the content is thorough, well told and frighteningly relevant to the current cultural climate of America.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Maurice Yves
- 01-28-15
Bravo!
Mr. Bryson hits another home run in this historic retelling of an America of long ago. Classic style and pace.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- White Dog
- 11-02-20
fantastic book
fun to listen to and educational as will. an ideal combination in any book. recommend highly.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- celeste williams
- 12-23-20
Lots of interesting info
There is more than just highlights from the summer of 1927. Many historical facts in the years 1927 are recanted in this engaging tale.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- William Bolen
- 07-01-20
Fascinating history
another great book by Bill Bryson. interesting history of Summer of 1927 hard to put down.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mary M 1
- 04-26-21
Loved this book
i wish history had been taught this way when I was in school! I enjoyed every word of this book. will be looking for more by this author
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- William H. Moore Jr.
- 05-17-21
History told in 3 dimensions
The author brings 1927 alive by reminding us just how much was going on during that period in America. I learned so many details of famous people’s lives, and discovered how little I actually knew.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- M
- 04-14-22
If you like Bill Bryson, this is great Bill Bryson
I found this audiobook informative and entertaining and its one of Bill Bryson's best works. The conceit of picking a year didn't seem all that compelling, but it works really well -- he works this snapshot in time into the larger social, economic, political, and historical context. I really like Bryson as a narrator and am only listening to his books that he reads himself. I have enjoyed all of the ones I've listened to so far, but this is my favorite.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Peter Grunow
- 02-05-22
One Busy Year
From Lindbergh to Babe Ruth to the Depression, this was one busy year.
A great read.
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