About Bill Bryson

 

William McGuire “Bill” Bryson, OBE, FRS (born December 8, 1951), is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and science. Born in America, he was a resident of Britain for most of his adult life before returning to the U.S. in 1995. In 2003 Bryson moved back to Britain, living in the old rectory of Wramplingham, Norfolk, and was appointed chancellor of Durham University.
Bryson shot to prominence in the United Kingdom with the publication of Notes from a Small Island (1995), an exploration of Britain, and its accompanying television series. He received widespread recognition again with the publication of A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003).

Early life

Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, the son of William and Agnes Mary (née McGuire). His mother was of Irish descent.^[1] He has an older brother, Michael and a sister, Mary Jane Elizabeth – in 2006 Bryson published The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, a humorous account of his childhood years in Des Moines.
Bryson attended Drake University for two years before dropping out in 1972, deciding to instead backpack around Europe for four months. He returned to Europe the following year with a high-school friend, the pseudonymous Stephen Katz. Some of his experiences from this trip were relived as flashbacks in Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe, which documents a similar journey Bryson made 20 years later.

Move to Britain

Bryson first visited Britain in 1973 during a tour of Europe and decided to stay after landing a job working in a psychiatric hospital—the now defunct Holloway Sanatorium in Virginia Water, Surrey. He met a nurse there named Cynthia Billen, whom he married and they moved to the United States in 1975 so that Bryson could complete his college degree. In 1977 they settled in Britain, where they remained until 1995. Eventually living in North Yorkshire and mainly working as a journalist, Bryson became chief copy editor of the business section of The Times and then deputy national news editor of the business section of The Independent. He left journalism in 1987, three years after the birth of his third child. Living in Kirkby Malham, North Yorkshire, Bryson started writing independently and in 1990 their fourth child, Samuel, was born.
Although able to apply for British citizenship, Bryson has declined a citizenship test, declaring himself “too cowardly” to take it.^[2]

Writings

In 1995 Bryson returned to the United States to live in Hanover, New Hampshire, for some years. While there he wrote a column for a British newspaper for several years, reflecting on humorous aspects of his repatriation in America. These columns were selected and adapted to become his book I’m a Stranger Here Myself, alternatively titled Notes from a Big Country in Britain, Canada, and Australia. During his time in the United States, Bryson decided to walk the Appalachian Trail with his friend Stephen Katz (a pseudonym), about which he wrote the book A Walk in the Woods. In 2003 the Brysons and their four children returned to Britain and now live in Norfolk.
Also in 2003, in conjunction with World Book Day, British voters chose Bryson’s book Notes from a Small Island as that which best sums up British identity and the state of the nation.^[3] In the same year, he was appointed a Commissioner for English Heritage.
In 2004 Bryson won the prestigious Aventis Prize for best general science book with A Short History of Nearly Everything.^[4] This 500-page popular literature piece explores not only the histories and current statuses of the sciences, but also reveals their humble and often humorous beginnings. Although one “top scientist” is alleged to have jokingly described the book as “annoyingly free of mistakes,” ^[5] Bryson himself makes no such claim and a list of some reported errors in the book is available online.^[6] In 2005, the book won the EU Descartes Prize for science communication.^[4]
Bryson has also written two popular works on the history of the English language—Mother Tongue and Made in America—and, more recently, an update of his guide to usage, Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words (published in its first edition as The Penguin Dictionary of Troublesome Words in 1983).
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