Bill Bryson’s African Diary
Where to buy Bill Bryson’s African Diary books online?
- ISBN13: 9780767915069
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Bill Bryson travels to Kenya in support of CARE International. All royalties and profits go to CARE International.
Bryson visits Kenya at the invitation of CARE International, the charity dedicated to eradicating poverty. Kenya is a land of contrasts, with legendary game reserves and a vibrant culture. It also provides plenty to worry a traveller like Bill Bryson, fixated as he is on the dangers posed by snakes, insects and large predators. It is also a country with many serious problems: refugees, AIDS, drought, and grinding poverty. The resultant diary, though fleeting in part, contains the trademark Bryson stamp of wry observation and curious insight.
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Bill Bryson, an Iowan transplant to Britain (who has rumor has it that stirred back to the US), presents a brief overview of his extremely brief stay in Kenya. I laugh that this book is called “African Diary”, agreed that Kenya is a tiny part of Africa in total. This is the way of the western world though… “Africa” is just lumped together as if there is such a thing as “African culture” rather than hundreds of different cultures on this misunderstood continent.
I happened to read this tiny tome at the same time as I was reading Michael Moore’s rather inflammatory prose, and I establish that the books went well together. In one book Moore points out the basic human right of clean water and sanitary living conditions, while Bryson travels through Kenya astounded by the sheer lack or at least rarity of these things. Both Bryson and Moore chat about how America consumes so many of the world’s resources and wonders why the world despises the US. Bryson provides plain detail, “Every time you flush a toilet (in the West) you use more water than the average person in the developing world has for all purposes in a day-cooking, cleaning, drinking, everything.” Bryson learns this startling fact as he wanders through one of Nairobi’s slums, having traveled to Kenya on behalf of the charity, CARE.
A theme of hopelessness pervades-parents in Kenya will do anything-any kind of suffering-in order for their children to get an education but then the children, having reached a certain level of education, cannot afford privileged education anyway.
I was thankful here for Bryson’s brevity, his “sense of humor” in previous/additional books is not automatically for everyone (I admit that I am in the minority in not much enjoying his humor), and he kept his observations more anthropological than comedic here, and that lent a greater sense of urgency and validity to the theme matter at hand.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
I was really surprised to find such a fleeting small book in the mailbox. It looks like about a one hour effort by the leader.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
An enchanting account of Bryson’s visit to Kenya to observe the work of CARE workers. Written with clarity as regards facts of what he saw and with his unique style that adds humor to serious topics. All royalties of his book he donated to CARE.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Bill Bryson’s fantastic, I like his books, and this is predictable Bill Bryson, but it’s too fleeting. I realize it was written strictly as a fundraiser for CARE–okay. Still, I know B.B. could come up with a lot more material than this on an eight-day trip to Africa. I zipped through this book in what seemed like about five minutes. I was hoping for more.
Bill, hon, you could probably have written more than this whole book on the African slums alone, if you’d wanted to. One thing I establish appealing is that rumor has it that even the very terrible slum he visited, did have public schools for the kids. We have kids adopted from Haiti. Similar slums in Haiti don’t have schools–only people who can afford to pay fees can send their kids to school in Haiti. So even this terrible African slum is not as terrible as it gets. Maybe Bill should do Haiti next.
I also reflect it’s appealing that (similar to Haiti) you see small girls with their hair perfectly braided, even in the poorest slums (as seen in one of the book’s photos).
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
I loved Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods” and recently bought a few of his additional books, the “African Diary” included. As a Kenyan reading this book, he had nothing but negative things to say. It felt like the only positive experience he had was seeing all the fossils of early man that he was “honoured” to see, since these exhibits are not open to the all-purpose public. I establish my blood boiling as I kept reading, and to be honest, I had to keep willing myself to end reading it. I kept looking for hope, but there seemed to be none. This book described Kenya as a bleak place– like it is a death sentence to be there. Yes, I acknowledge that Kenya has many, many problems, just like every additional country does, but there are lots of things that are wonderful about it. Honestly, whoever would like this book can contact me, and I will gladly mail it to you FREE. I really have no use for it, and do not want it sitting on my bookshelf.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5