Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe
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- ISBN13: 9780380713806
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Like many of his generation, Bill Bryson backpacked across Europe in the early seventies — in search of enlightenment, beer, and women. Twenty years later he chose to retrace the journey he undertook in the halcyon days of his youth. The result is Neither Here Nor There, an affectionate and riotously amusing pilgrimage from the frozen wastes of Scandinavia to the chaotic tumult of Istanbul, with stops along the way in Europe’s most diverting and historic locales. Like many of his generation, Bill Bryson backpacked across Europe in the early seventies–in search of enlightenment, beer, and women. Twenty years later he chose to retrace the journey he undertook in the halcyon days of his youth. The result is Neither Here Nor There, an affectionate and riotously amusing pilgrimage from the frozen wastes of Scandinavia to the chaotic tumult of Istanbul, with stops along the way in Europe’s most diverting and historic locales.
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A page and a half from the end of this worthless narrative is the key to Mr. Bryson’s travel philosophy: “…what an odd thing tourism is. You glide off to a weird land, keenly abandoning all the comforts of home, and then expend vast quantities of time and money in a largely futile effort to recapture the comforts that you wouldn’t have lost if you hadn’t left home in the first place.” This is a perfect attitude for the armchair traveler; these are exactly the people that should not travel. Buy Mr. Bryson’s books and stay home. I hope no one with this attitude would presume to make themselves an ambassador to any foreign land. The whole point of travel/tourism is to have new experiences and to realize that your miniscule world is not all there is. I sorry to say forced myself to end Neither Here Nor There at the end of a trip to New Hampshire. Had I realized Mr. Bryson’s residence was so close, I wanted to have coffee, simply to see if such a narrow-minded attitude is more than a writing persona.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Whenever I need something to read before I fall asleep, I reach for one of Mr. Bryson’s book. Since I travel a lot, people assume I like travel literature, and give me his ridiculous books as “going away gifts.” This particular book, “Neither here nor there” certainly doesn’t buck the trend of under-educated, under-informed, dull slop. Although I don’t doubt that Mr. Bryson has traveled in Europe, his use of standard cliches has the ring of a name worried to place his front door, in case he might have to eat something with which he is not familiar. He pretends to know the political and cultural history of every country he visits – therefore allowing him to make the rudest and ugliest jokes…but what can we expect from an American afterall?
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
Bryson has a bone idle and sometimes obnoxious style of writing, and the countries he visits in this book all blur together because of it. His perceptive commentaries on the natives can generally be summed up as “The Swiss, they’re so amusing!”, “The Austrians, they’re so amusing!”, “The _______, they’re so amusing!” He also uses a lot of expletives, rumor has it that thinking this will add humor to his writing. His attempts to tie his travels to an earlier journey as a student are thin at best, and may be nothing more than an attempt to add padding to this tiny and worthless volume.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Bill is a excellent writer, but genius should be modest for writers like Thomas Sowell, Marc Steyn, Shelby Steele, Dan Pipes, Champion Davis Hanson, etc. No, I don’t expect everyone, sadly, to have read works by these brilliant men, of course.
But anyway, a guy like Bryson, being paid to travel around Eurabia and mock people, offering his insight, should be able to produce excellent copy. I’d like to see more people write about the decadence, hedonism and secularism that is fueling Eurabia’s rapid demise though. I know it won’t be any Euros, as they cater to Islam, snub evil, and spew hatred at the Jews just like in 1939, so hopefully more Americans will.
Off tangent? Nope. Poking fun at Eurabia is different than being cruelly honest. Travel books about this barbaric country where six million Jews were exterminated in unappealing.
But yeah, while he’s not a genius, you can call him acerbic, or, like the “fantastic” John Stewart,” “witty.”
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
When a prejudiced guy goes abroad to nourish his prejudices, it begets a book full of clichés. Sure, BB is devious enough not to let us in on his defined judgements, but he certainly carries a bagful of them. The book even lost its (claimed) humor on me because, as an European, I’ve been familiar with all persons commonplaces for ages. “Neither Here Nor There” is so shallow that it has nearly nothing to do with what Europe is about. Indeed, BB should stick to his English teaching knack.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5