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The Road to Little Dribbling
- Adventures of an American in Britain
- Narrated by: Nathan Osgood
- Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins
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Editorial reviews
Publisher's summary
A loving and hilarious—if occasionally spiky—valentine to Bill Bryson’s adopted country, Great Britain. Prepare for total joy and multiple episodes of unseemly laughter.
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.
Following (but not too closely) a route he dubs the Bryson Line, from Bognor Regis in the south to Cape Wrath in the north, by way of places few travelers ever get to at all, Bryson rediscovers the wondrously beautiful, magnificently eccentric, endearingly singular country that he both celebrates and, when called for, twits. With his matchless instinct for the funniest and quirkiest and his unerring eye for the idiotic, the bewildering, the appealing, and the ridiculous, he offers acute and perceptive insights into all that is best and worst about Britain today.
Nothing is more entertaining than Bill Bryson on the road—and on a tear. The Road to Little Dribbling reaffirms his stature as a master of the travel narrative—and a really, really funny guy.
Critic reviews
"Although he's now entering what he fondly calls his 'dotage,' the 64-year-old Bryson seems merely to have sharpened both his charms and his crotchets. As the title of The Road to Little Dribbling suggests, he remains devoted to Britain's eccentric place names as well as its eccentric pastimes." —Alida Becker, The New York Times Book Review
"[Y]ou could hardly ask for a better guide to Great Britain than Bill Bryson. Bryson’s new book is in most ways a worthy successor and sequel to his classic Notes From A Small Island. Like its predecessor, The Road to Little Dribbling is a travel memoir, combining adventures and observations from his travels around the island nation with recounting of his life there, off and mostly on, over the last four decades. Bryson is such a good writer that even if you don’t especially go in for travel books, he makes reading this book worthwhile."—Nancy Klingener, Miami Herald
"...Bryson’s capacity for wonder at the beauty of his adopted homeland seems to have only grown with time.... Britain is still his home four decades later, a period in which he went from lowly scribe at small-town British papers to best-selling travel writer. But he retains an outsider’s appreciation for a country that first struck him as 'wholly strange ... and yet somehow marvelous.”—Griff Witte, Washington Post
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In One Year Off, you can join the family on a trek up a Costa Rican volcano, cruise the canals of Burgundy by houseboat, and ride ferries through the Greek Islands. Later, as the Cohens wander further off the tourist trail, you can drive through the villages of Rajasthan, traverse the vast Australian Nullarbor, and discover the charms of Cambodia's Angkor Wat and the hidden shangri-las of northern Laos.
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fun filled travellog
- By tarun on 07-22-19
By: David Cohen
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Train
- Riding the Rails That Created the Modern World - from the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief
- By: Tom Zoellner
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Tom Zoellner loves trains with a ferocious passion. In his new audiobook he chronicles the innovation and sociological impact of the railway technology that changed the world, and could very well change it again. From the frigid Trans-Siberian Railroad to the antiquated Indian Railways to the futuristic maglev trains, Zoellner offers a stirring story of man's relationship with trains. Zoellner examines both the mechanics of the rails and their engines and how they helped societies evolve. Not only do trains transport people and goods in an efficient manner, but they also reduce pollution and dependency upon oil.
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The world history of trains up to the present
- By matthew on 03-06-14
By: Tom Zoellner
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Roadshow
- Landscape with Drums: A Concert Tour by Motorcycle
- By: Neil Peart
- Narrated by: Brian Sutherland
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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For 30 years, drummer, author, and songwriter Neil Peart had wanted to write a book about "the biggest journey of all in my restless existence: the life of a touring musician." Finally, the right time, and the right tour. In the summer of 2004, after three decades, 20 gold albums, and thousands of performances, the band Rush embarked on a 30th Anniversary World Tour. The "R30" tour traveled to nine countries, where the band performed 57 shows for more than half a million fans. Uniquely, Peart chose to do his between-show traveling by motorcycle, riding 21,000 miles of back roads.
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Enjoyable, even for a non-fan of Rush
- By Jim In Texas! on 10-04-14
By: Neil Peart
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Turn Right at Machu Picchu
- Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time
- By: Mark Adams
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Writer for the New York Times and GQ, Mark Adams is also the acclaimed author of Mr. America. In this fascinating travelogue, Adams follows in the controversial footsteps of Hiram Bingham III, who’s been both lionized and vilified for his discovery of the famed Lost City in 1911—but which reputation is justified?
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Spellbounding, exceptional vocals
- By KLewis on 09-19-15
By: Mark Adams
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Missing Susan
- By: Sharyn McCrumb
- Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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When Rowan Rover is offered $50,000 to murder a woman on his September Mystery Tour, he is surprised to find himself accepting the offer. The thought of committing murder chills him, until he meets the beautiful Susan Cohen. After days of listening to her nonstop chatter, with insults tossed in every direction, Rowan reaches a startling conclusion: she is someone he would like to kill.
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Anyone who has taken a package tour can relate.
- By Barbara Kindle Customer on 12-30-17
By: Sharyn McCrumb
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Strange Stones
- By: Peter Hessler
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Full of unforgettable figures and an unrelenting spirit of adventure, Strange Stones is a far-ranging, thought-provoking collection of Peter Hessler’s best reportage - a dazzling display of the powerful storytelling, shrewd cultural insight, and warm sense of humor that are the trademarks of his work. Over the last decade, as a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of three books, Peter Hessler has lived in Asia and the United States, writing as both native and knowledgeable outsider in these two very different regions.
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funny, entertaining
- By Katherine on 08-02-13
By: Peter Hessler
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The Dark Flood Rises
- A Novel
- By: Dame Margaret Drabble
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Francesca Stubbs has a very full life. A highly regarded expert on housing for the elderly who is herself getting on in age, she drives restlessly round England. Amid the professional conferences she attends, she fits in visits to old friends, brings home-cooked dinners to her ex-husband, texts her son, who is grieving over the sudden death of his girlfriend, and drops in on her daughter, a quirky young woman who lives in a floodplain in the West Country.
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Life Observed By An Exceptional Writer
- By Sara on 03-22-17
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The Fracture Zone
- A Return to the Balkans
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Award-winning journalist and author Simon Winchester takes readers on a personal tour of the Balkans. Combining history and interviews with the people who live there, Winchester offers a fascinating glimpse into the complex issues at work in this chaotic region. Unrest in the Balkans has gone on for centuries. A seasoned reporter, Winchester visited the region twenty years ago. When Kosovo reached crisis level in 1997, Winchester thought a return visit to the beleaguered area would help to make sense out of the awful violence.
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Loved this-Great combo:Story and History Explained
- By Jeremy on 07-10-14
By: Simon Winchester
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Country Driving
- A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory
- By: Peter Hessler
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 2001, Peter Hessler, the longtime Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, acquired his Chinese driver's license. For the next seven years, he traveled the country, tracking how the automobile and improved roads were transforming China.
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Pass the white rice please
- By Nick on 02-18-10
By: Peter Hessler
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A Russian Journal
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Steinbeck and Capa's account of their journey through Cold War Russia is a classic piece of reportage and travel writing.Just after the Iron Curtain fell on Eastern Europe, Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Steinbeck and acclaimed war photographer Robert Capa ventured into the Soviet Union to report for the New York Herald Tribune.
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Extremely Interesting
- By Jean on 12-04-14
By: John Steinbeck
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Iberia
- By: James A. Michener
- Narrated by: Larry McKeever
- Length: 37 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Spain is an immemorial land like no other, one that James A. Michener, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author and celebrated citizen of the world, came to love as his own. Iberia is Michener’s enduring nonfiction tribute to his cherished second home. In the fresh and vivid prose that is his trademark, he not only reveals the celebrated history of bullfighters and warrior kings, painters and processions, cathedrals and olive orchards, he also shares the intimate, often hidden country he came to know, where the congeniality of living souls is thrust against the dark weight of history.
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Outdated and no storyline.
- By john lundberg on 08-05-17
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The Not-Quite States of America
- Dispatches from the Territories and Other Far-Flung Outposts of the USA
- By: Doug Mack
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Everyone knows that the United States of America is made up of 50 states and, uh...some other stuff. The territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands are often neglected, but they are filled with American flags and national parks and US post offices and some four million people, many of whom are as proudly red-white-and-blue as any Daughter of the American Revolution.
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Worthwhile Learning
- By Bessie Mae on 05-02-23
By: Doug Mack
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The Broken Road
- By: Richard Paul Evans
- Narrated by: Richard Paul Evans
- Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Celebrity Charles James can't shake the nightmare that wakes him each night. He sees himself walking down a long, broken highway, the sides of which are lit in flames. Where is he going? Why is he walking? What is the wailing he hears around him? By day he wonders why he's so haunted and unhappy when he has all he ever wanted - fame, fans, and fortune and the lavish lifestyle it affords him. Coming from a childhood of poverty and pain, this is what he's dreamed of. But now, at the pinnacle of his career, he's started to wonder if he's wanted the wrong things.
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Unresolved.
- By Ann Owen on 05-14-17
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Bryson's best with Google
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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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reader beware
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In a Sunburned Country
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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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Laugh out loud funny
- By Larry on 06-09-03
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Crackin' yarn, lad!
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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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Authentic Bryson, but that might be the problem
- By M. Craft on 08-12-14
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Bill Bryson Collector's Edition
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This celebration of the English countryside does not only focus on the rolling green landscapes and magnificent monuments that set England apart from the rest of the world. Many of the contributors bring their own special touch, presenting a refreshingly eclectic variety of personal icons, from pub signs to seaside piers, from cattle grids to canal boats, and from village cricket to nimbies.
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reader beware
- By Marina on 11-19-03
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In a Sunburned Country
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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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Laugh out loud funny
- By Larry on 06-09-03
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I'm a Stranger Here Myself
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How strange! Not as recently written as described.
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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.
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Why 1927?
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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.
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Written by Bryson's evil twin
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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.
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More satire than history
- By Barbara Kindle Customer on 12-18-15
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At Home
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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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Bryson does it again
- By Robert on 10-15-10
By: Bill Bryson
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The Bill Bryson BBC Radio Collection
- Divided by a Common Language, Journeys in English and More
- By: Bill Bryson
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- Original Recording
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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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Another great Bryson
- By Dirk P. on 05-08-23
By: Bill Bryson
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I'm a Stranger Here Myself
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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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Enjoyable
- By Cather on 12-22-06
By: Bill Bryson
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The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
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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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Fun, but not for squeamish
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By: Bill Bryson
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Made in America
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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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Bryson Not Reading Makes For a Rare Fail
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Shakespeare
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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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Too Little, Too Short
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By: Bill Bryson
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A Walk in the Woods
- Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
- By: Bill Bryson
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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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Informational
- By Amber C on 03-29-17
By: Bill Bryson
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A Short History of Nearly Everything
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Richard Matthews
- Length: 18 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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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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The Only Book I reread imediatley after reading
- By Andrew on 11-09-09
By: Bill Bryson
What listeners say about The Road to Little Dribbling
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Rick
- 01-25-16
No Bryson?? Alas, another disappointed fan
Bryson without Bryson's voice doesn't work for me. As others have already detailed, his unique voice is essential in conveying the tone of his work. As a long-time fan, I just clicked on "Buy" as soon at this book was released without listening to a sample or paying attention to the narrator. That's my fault for "assuming". This one is being returned for credit. If reissued with Bill Bryson narrating I'll most likely purchase anew. Sorry Bill. I really tried but it just doesn't play properly without your narration.
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109 people found this helpful
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- Rio Delta Wild
- 01-25-16
Bryson should narrate! No question about it!
I've just started listening, and this reader is okay. But Bill is great at narrating his own work, and I was fully expecting that I'd hear his voice. I never expected for a moment to hear someone else. We need another version with a Bryson narration.
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64 people found this helpful
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- David Alan Larkins
- 01-26-16
Too much snark, not enough heart
Would you listen to The Road to Little Dribbling again? Why?
I had to tap out with two hours remaining. Bryson's travel narratives have always included a level of snark, but he overspiced the soup this time, I'm afraid. I get enough of the "grumpy old Boomer" act from my parents, thanks.
How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?
A bit more of the heart and humor found in A Walk in the Woods and In a Sunburned Country. Also, the completely unnecessary and transphobic swipe at Caitlyn Jenner should never have made it through editing. Say what you will about her as a person (and I don't hold her in any esteem in that regard), but there's no call for labeling her "Bruce Jenner in drag."
What does Nathan Osgood bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Osgood's reading was excellent, and really helped elevate the material. He has a masterful command of the various regional British accents, and that was put to excellent use as the narrative moved about the island.
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39 people found this helpful
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- yoderfamily01
- 01-28-16
Oh Bill, why?
I love Bill Bryson and have listened to all of his books. Most, unlike this one, are narrated by Bryson himself in his mild, sleepy tones. Maybe it's the different narrator (who does a fine job) or maybe it's the decades that have passed since his earlier tours through Britain, but I found this book to be more "grumpy old fart" than bemused traveller. He wraps up the book with a loving tribute to his adopted home, but so much of what has gone before this chapter is whiny, condescending, and smug. He loves Britain but hates its shopkeepers and hourly wage workers, its politicians, publicans and hoteliers. In fact the only Britains he seems to like are well-educated immigrants like himself. I hope he will cheer the heck up in future and write more great reads like his earlier travelogues and At Home.
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- Shana
- 01-23-16
What a dissapointment!!
What disappointed you about The Road to Little Dribbling?
I love Bill Bryson and have bought all his audio books and listened to most of them many times. First of all this book isn't narrated by him, strike 1. Next he he spends half his time complaining about things and the other half talking about what he wrote in Notes from a small Island, or talking about previous works, thanking people or endorsing products. He even admits at the beginning he practically wrote this book just for the money. He said he wouldn't visit previous places from Notes from a Small Island, but he did or else talked about it endlessly.
What do you think your next listen will be?
I don't know yet.
What didn’t you like about Nathan Osgood’s performance?
He's okay, but I was expecting Bill Bryson.
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
There were moments with some of his old charm but overall I found myself thrinking about other things for most of the book and I can't really remember any place he talked about, mostly because he didn't talk about the places.
Any additional comments?
I really wanted to like this book, even after reading some negative reviews. I just couldn't. So glad I got it through Audible and can return it and didn't spend a lot of money on a physical book that was far far less than I expected.
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- Hellocat
- 01-22-16
Utterly delightful
For the good of mankind, Bill Bryson needs to be permanently chained to his desk and forced to write non-stop for the rest of his life. While this might sound cruel, the benefit to mankind would far outweigh any such concerns. The only exception would be when he is travelling for his writing, and even then I think the desk should go with him just to remind him what's up.
The Road to Little Dribbling is the latest book from a man who has yet to write a bad one, and is bristling with the sort of excellence that I, and his many fans, have come to expect. Hilarious, insightful and interesting, The Road To Little Dribbling is highly recommended.
There have been some negative reviews for the book, but these can be quickly and thoroughly discounted. Yes, this is not Notes From A Small Island, and 20 years on who could expect it to be? Bryson now travels mostly in short bursts, not the long stretches of solitary sojourns of his youth. This does change the tone of the book, but once you accept that it is as delightful as anything he's written.
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- Anne
- 05-21-16
Classic Bill Bryson, but would be better if author narrated
This narrator has a much edgier/sarcastic tone than the author, which makes the funny bits not as funny . His voice is somewhat unpleasantly gravelly. I was able to listen, but wish the author did the narration.
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- David Holroyd
- 01-21-16
Another disappointed fan
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
I've always loved Notes from a Small Island, Neither Here nor There and A Walk in the Woods. Bill Bryson has a unique voice. This book isn't his best work. It's poorly structured, repetitive but also occasionally laugh out loud funny and entertaining.
If you’ve listened to books by Bill Bryson before, how does this one compare?
Better than In a Sunburned Country but otherwise not his best travel writing.
What three words best describe Nathan Osgood’s voice?
I wish Bill Bryson had narrated the book.
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
No
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- Frank
- 03-10-16
When did Bryson become a cranky old man?
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
I've read and thoroughly enjoyed several of his books including "A Walk in the Woods" and "In a Sunburned Country". For some reason ole Bill has turned into a nasty, short on patience old man, he just gripes constantly, especially about young folks he deals with. For god's sake do some soul searching Bill!
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- Old Judge
- 01-31-16
Very Disappointing
What would have made The Road to Little Dribbling better?
The narrator was dreadful. Bill Bryson makes a point of the importance of language and grammar but the narrator repeatedly mispronounced words. Moreover, the narrator's stab at American regional accents was clumsy. I had the feeling that the author was 'mailing it in.' It seemed that many of the rants were over-long and forced -- and probably padded.
Would you ever listen to anything by Bill Bryson again?
Yes. I have read (not listened to) many of Bill Bryson's works and generally enjoyed them.
Would you be willing to try another one of Nathan Osgood’s performances?
No.
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
There were parts that were pleasant and insightful but they were overwhelmed by the rest.
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