Shakespeare: The World as Stage

Bill Bryson's voice (both actual and literary) shine through in this short work, detailing what is known and knowable about William Shakespeare. Because little is known about Shakespeare, this book has less of the amusing anecdotes that make books like "In a Sunburned Country" such a delight. It's quite frustrating to realize that we know so little about a figure so important to English literature. Still it is an interesting exposition on an interesting man, or rather, what we expect is an interesting man. The audiobook it self is only a little over 5 hours long, but (as of November 2007) there is an interview with Bryson appended on end for another bit. I liked it, but then I expect that I would enjoy Bryson writing about asparagus. The chapter where he discusses the various theories about Shakespeare not actually writing the plays of Shakespeare is the best part; but there the book ends. In the end it is a barely satifying book because of the paucity of the material, but it is a book that is well written and narrated.

Bryson admits up front that we know practically nothing about Shakespeare, but proceeds to tell what we do know, and how we know it, about the Bard himself, London, and the theatre world at the time. And he does it in classic Bryson style, finding the humor in everything.

And clearly, he's having fun reading it. He should... it's a fun book.

The world, or at least my world, needs more high quality concise books. Bryson's new Shakespeare, from the Eminent Lives Series, is one of the genres better examples.

The Modern Library Chronicles is another imprint with some excellent texts. To quote from their page:

"Modern Library Chronicles feature the world's great historians on the world's great subjects. Lively, accessible, and brief (most under 150 pages), these authoritative short histories are designed to appeal to general readers as well as to students in the classroom".

Bill Bryson talks as much about what we don't know about Shakespeare (or Shacksper or Shakspere, etc.) as what we do know. It is informative in a negative sort of way, with digressions on Shakespeare scholars, life and theater in the Elizabethan and Jacobian ages, and a bit about who else might have written the plays. I recommend it.

My first exposure to Bill Bryson was A Walk in the Woods and I enjoy it still. Shakespeare is a different book -- more journalism than recollection, but it is extremely enjoyable and a good "listen" -- the chapters lend themselves to logical breaks, etc. And it is very amusing!

All of the historical detail is fascinating, and makes one wonder how we ever got the folio version of the plays at all. Probably the most interesting part for me was the debunking of all the "He didn't write the plays" theories.

Very enjoyable.

I downloaded this book to kill time while driving but found that I really wanted to pay more attention to it than I could while on the road. Bill Bryson's lyric humor and research of the subject makes this most enjoyable.

Being a die hard Bryson fan, it's hard to imagine this book came from him. The pitcher has lost his arm but stayed on the mound! A fantastically dull book. This is the buy of the year if one is interested in reading all he could never want to know about what can never be known about Shakespeare. A true shame it has Bryson's name on it.

A concise yet satisfying trip through the life of the Bard, excellently written and structured.

It is challenging to write a historical book that evokes feelings in you, that makes you care about the characters. I feel he does that in this book. Bill is a great storyteller, I think he does a great job of assuming that no one is really interested in his subjects and finds a way to engage a reader to his book. Bill Bryson is the answer to anyone who comments that learning about, specifically reading about history or science is uninteresting or has no bearing on peoples lives. I have listened to this book twice since I purchased it. To start Bill Bryson reads his own book, which is something I enjoy for a history or science book, although I admit It can go bad quickly in a fiction story.
Bryson has put together a great book here. I tend to like when journalists write history books, or non-fiction books as the writing can be much more colorful than the historian, again I admit much can be lost on a journalist whereas the historian is dryer but you know it comes from authority-years of scholarship in the specific subject.
Anyway, I think the reason I read this twice was that it really put me in the world surrounding life in that era. Instead of a dry reading of facts, Bryson has put together a rich historical story. He really loves the subject and it shows. He shows us why this should be important and why it is important. Why we care about Shakespeare, everybody knows who the man was and everyone is told they should like him, but I am not sure that we really know why.
I have enjoyed almost everything I have read from Bryson and this book is no different. I will confess an ignorance about Shakespeare, and didn't think I really would be interested but I was fascinated by this book and the story of W.S. The book talks about why we know so little about him, and why we know the things we know about him. It talks about the process of book making during those times, and does its best to give you an insight on what he was really like apart from his written works.
I highly recommend this book, it is short and to the point, the writing is beautiful. And it is fun to listen to Brysons pronunciation, which has taken on a bit of an English accent.

There's not much that can shock me about Shakespeare theories. I have a BA in English Literature. I've read all the plays, sonnets, even the ones suspected to be by Shakespeare.

It seemed an odd topic for beloved Bryson to tackle and I was curious about his angle on it. I was pleasantly surprised, "What do we really know about the bard?" he asks in the first chapter.

This was a refreshing and lively investigation into what's real and what's dreamed about one man's life. Solid topics, using all types of research from court records to paintings, Bryson gives a new eye on an ages old mystery. In the process, we learn about how many things have simply been made up by well meaning researchers for the past four hundred years!

I found myself wishing there was more. I loved it.