Bill Bryson strana 3 z 5

Bill Bryson évszázados koholmányokat, féligazságokat és arcátlan hazugságokat vizsgál meg, és megpróbálja kideríteni, milyen ember rejtőzik a remekművek mögött. Végigjárja Shakespeare korának utcáit, és bemutatja az olvasónak az Erzsébet-kori Anglia nyüzsgését és Shakespeare életének jó néhány mellékszereplőjét. Bryson magasztalja az író nyelvezetét, aki szüntelen találékonyságával több száz, manapság nélkülözhetetlen kifejezéssel, képpel és szóval gazdagította az angol nyelvet, és élvezettel mesél Shakespeare furcsaságairól és fólióiról, költeményeiről és királyairól. A számtalan forrásból származó adatokat remekül összeszőve méltón emlékezik meg a történelem egyik legjelentősebb és legkevésbé megértett alakjáról, nem beszélve arról az élvezetről, hogy ismét egy klasszikus Bryson-művet olvashatunk.

Britain's favourite writer of narrative non-fiction Bill Bryson travels back in time to a forgotten summer when America came of age, took centre stage, and, in five eventful months, changed the world for ever. In the summer of 1927, America had a booming stock market, a president who worked just four hours a day (and slept much of the rest of the time), a semi-crazed sculptor with a mad plan to carve four giant heads into an inaccessible mountain called Rushmore, a devastating flood of the Mississippi, a sensational murder trial, and a youthful aviator named Charles Lindbergh who started the summer wholly unknown and finished it as the most famous man on earth. (So famous that Minnesota considered renaming itself after him.) It was the summer that saw the birth of talking pictures, the invention of television, the peak of Al Capone's reign of terror, the horrifying bombing of a school in Michigan by a madman, the ill-conceived decision that led to the Great Depression, the thrillingly improbable return to greatness of a wheezing, over-the-hill baseball player named Babe Ruth, and an almost impossible amount more. In this hugely entertaining book, Bill Bryson spins a story of brawling adventure, reckless optimism and delirious energy, with a cast of unforgettable and eccentric characters, with trademark brio, wit and authority.

A vagy an history? Hová tegyünk vesszőt? Na és pontosvesszőt? Ön tudja? Biztos benne? Olvasmányos, tömör és szórakoztató kézikönyv az angol nyelvhasználat és helyesírás leggyakoribb buktatóinak elkerüléshez kezdőknek és haladóknak. A kötet angol nyelvű kiadása több mint húsz éve nélkülözhetetlen társa azoknak akik az írott szóval dolgoznak.

Jednoho dne Billa Brysona zaujala myšlenka, že mnohem více času věnujeme studiu válek a všelijakých historických bitev a nezabýváme se tím, z čeho se běžné dějiny doopravdy skládají: ze staletí, během kterých lidé tiše vykonávali své každodenní činnosti – jedli, spali a pokoušeli se zjednodušit si život. A také jej překvapila myšlenka, že klíčové vynálezy lidských dějin lze nalézt přímo v našich domovech. To jej inspirovalo k procházce po vlastním domě. Během cesty se v každé místnosti zastavuje a uvažuje o tom, jak vlastně všechny ty běžné věci vznikly. Tato okružní cesta domácností jej přiměla shromáždit mnoho informací o dějinách všeho možného i nemožného, od elektřiny po architekturu, od metod uchovávání jídla po vlny epidemií, od obchodu s kořením po stavbu Eiffelovy věže, od krinolín k toaletám; a také o důvtipných lidech, kteří za tím vším stáli. Přišel na to, že ač se nám náš domácký život zdá jako naprosto obyčejný, ve skutečnosti na nás v každém rohu našich domovů číhá skrytá historie, zajímavá, zábavná – a i trochu strašidelná. To vše spolu s mistrovským stylem vyprávění a jemným humorem činí knihu Dům, domov, domácnost jednou z nejzábavnějších a nejnázornějších knih, které byly o dějinách našeho života kdy napsané.

What does history really consist of? Centuries of people quietly going about their daily business - sleeping, eating, having sex, endeavouring to get comfortable. And where did all these normal activities take place? At home. This was the thought that inspired Bill Bryson to start a journey around the rooms of his own house, an 1851 Norfolk rectory, to consider how the ordinary things in life came to be. And what he discovered are surprising connections to anything from the Crystal Palace to the Eiffel Tower, from scurvy to body-snatching, from bedbugs to the Industrial Revolution, and just about everything else that has ever happened, resulting in one of the most entertaining and illuminating books ever written about the history of the way we live, enhanced in this new edition by hundreds of stunning photographs and illustrations.

Britain's favourite writer of narrative non-fiction Bill Bryson travels back in time to a forgotten summer when America came of age, took centre stage, and, in five eventful months, changed the world for ever. In the summer of 1927, America had a booming stock market, a president who worked just four hours a day (and slept much of the rest of the time), a semi-crazed sculptor with a mad plan to carve four giant heads into an inaccessible mountain called Rushmore, a devastating flood of the Mississippi, a sensational murder trial, and a youthful aviator named Charles Lindbergh who started the summer wholly unknown and finished it as the most famous man on earth. (So famous that Minnesota considered renaming itself after him.) It was the summer that saw the birth of talking pictures, the invention of television, the peak of Al Capone's reign of terror, the horrifying bombing of a school in Michigan by a madman, the ill-conceived decision that led to the Great Depression, the thrillingly improbable return to greatness of a wheezing, over-the-hill baseball player named Babe Ruth, and an almost impossible amount more. In this hugely entertaining book, Bill Bryson spins a story of brawling adventure, reckless optimism and delirious energy, with a cast of unforgettable and eccentric characters, with trademark brio, wit and authority.

Bill Bryson nagy fába vágta a fejszéjét. Olyan dolgokról ír, amelyek a legtöbb embert általában halálra untatják, geológiáról, kémiáról és részecskefizikáról. Megtalálja a módját, hogy felkeltse még az olyan olvasó érdeklődését is, akit soha nem érdekeltek a természettudományok. A könyv elsősorban nem is arról szól, hogy mi az, amit tudunk, hanem hogy honnan szereztük tudásunkat. Honnan tudjuk, hogy mi van a Föld közepében, mi az a fekete lyuk, hogy hol voltak a földrészek 600 millió éve. Hogyan jöhetett rá valaki ezekre a dolgokra?

Amerika v létě roku 1927 zažila mnoho neuvěřitelných věcí. Měla prezidenta, který pracoval jen čtyři hodiny denně, legendárního baseballistu, první televizi, ale hlavně Charlese Lindbergha. Tento stydlivý mladý muž jako první přeletěl Atlantik a stal se hrdinou. Bill Bryson i tentokrát dostál své pověsti a stvořil dílo, jež vás vtáhne do atmosféry tehdejší americké společnosti.

Twenty years ago, Bill Bryson went on a trip around Britain to celebrate the green and kindly island that had become his adopted country. The hilarious book that resulted, Notes from a Small Island, was taken to the nation's heart and became the bestselling travel book ever, and was also voted in a BBC poll the book that best represents Britain. Now, to mark the twentieth anniversary of that modern classic, Bryson makes a brand-new journey round Britain to see what has changed. Following (but not too closely) a route he dubs the Bryson Line, from Bognor Regis to Cape Wrath, by way of places that many people never get to at all, Bryson sets out to rediscover the wondrously beautiful, magnificently eccentric, endearingly unique country that he thought he knew but doesn't altogether recognize any more. Yet, despite Britain's occasional failings and more or less eternal bewilderments, Bill Bryson is still pleased to call our rainy island home. And not just because of the cream teas, a noble history, and an extra day off at Christmas. Once again, with his matchless homing instinct for the funniest and quirkiest, his unerring eye for the idiotic, the endearing, the ridiculous and the scandalous, Bryson gives us an acute and perceptive insight into all that is best and worst about Britain today.

A világ leghosszabb összefüggő gyalogösvénye, az Appalache-ösvény az Egyesült Államok keleti partvidékén fut Georgiától Maine-ig, érintve Amerika számos híres és lenyűgöző vidékét. Bill Bryson negyvennégy évesen, barátja, Stephen Katz társaságában nekivág annak a hatalmas erdőségnek, amely háromszáz éve hozza a frászt a józan gondolkodású emberekre. Előttük áll majdnem 3400 kilométernyi kies hegyvidék, medvékkel, jávorszarvasokkal, hiúzokkal, csörgőkígyókkal, mérgező növényekkel, fertőző kullancsokkal, itt-ott egy kuncogó gyilkossal és - ami talán a legijesztőbb - olyan emberekkel, akiknek kedvenc időtöltése, hogy a külső keretes hátizsákok előnyeit taglalják. Dacolva ádáz időjárással, könyörtelen rovarokkal, megbízhatatlan térképekkel és a szeszélyes útitárssal, aki a legszívesebben megállna egy motelben, és az X-aktákat nézné, Bryson vitézül átküzdötte magát a vadonon, hogy megvalósítsa élete vágyát: ne haljon meg a szabadban.

In the company of his friend Stephen Katz (last seen in the bestselling Neither Here nor There), Bill Bryson set off to hike the Appalachian Trail, the longest continuous footpath in the world. Ahead lay almost 2,200 miles of remote mountain wilderness filled with bears, moose, bobcats, rattlesnakes, poisonous plants, disease-bearing tics, the occasional chuckling murderer and - perhaps most alarming of all - people whose favourite pastime is discussing the relative merits of the external-frame backpack. Facing savage weather, merciless insects, unreliable maps and a fickle companion whose profoundest wish was to go to a motel and watch The X-Files, Bryson gamely struggled through the wilderness to achieve a lifetime's ambition - not to die outdoors.

It is the driest, flattest, hottest, most desiccated, infertile and climatically aggressive of all the inhabited continents and still Australia teems with life - a large portion of it quite deadly. In fact, Australia has more things that can kill you in a very nasty way than anywhere else. Ignoring such dangers - and yet curiously obsessed by them - Bill Bryson journeyed to Australia and promptly fell in love with the country. And who can blame him? The people are cheerful, extrovert, quick-witted and unfailingly obliging: their cities are safe and clean and nearly always built on water; the food is excellent; the beer is cold and the sun nearly always shines. Life doesn't get much better than this...

Twenty years ago, Bill Bryson went on a trip around Britain to celebrate the green and kindly island that had become his adopted country. The hilarious book that resulted, Notes from a Small Island, was taken to the nation's heart and became the bestselling travel book ever, and was also voted in a BBC poll the book that best represents Britain. Now, to mark the twentieth anniversary of that modern classic, Bryson makes a brand-new journey round Britain to see what has changed. Following (but not too closely) a route he dubs the Bryson Line, from Bognor Regis to Cape Wrath, by way of places that many people never get to at all, Bryson sets out to rediscover the wondrously beautiful, magnificently eccentric, endearingly unique country that he thought he knew but doesn't altogether recognize any more. Yet, despite Britain's occasional failings and more or less eternal bewilderments, Bill Bryson is still pleased to call our rainy island home. And not just because of the cream teas, a noble history, and an extra day off at Christmas. Once again, with his matchless homing instinct for the funniest and quirkiest, his unerring eye for the idiotic, the endearing, the ridiculous and the scandalous, Bryson gives us an acute and perceptive insight into all that is best and worst about Britain today

In 1995, before leaving his much-loved home in North Yorkshire to move back to the States for a few years with his family, Bill Bryson insisted on taking one last trip around Britain, a sort of valedictory tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home. His aim was to take stock of the nation's public face and private parts (as it were), and to analyse what precisely it was he loved so much about a country that had produced Marmite; a military hero whose dying wish was to be kissed by a fellow named Hardy; place names like Farleigh Wallop, Titsey and Shellow Bowells; people who said 'Mustn't grumble', and 'Ooh lovely' at the sight of a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits; and Gardeners' Question Time. Notes from a Small Island was a huge number-one bestseller when it was first published, and has become the nation's most loved book about Britain, going on to sell over two million copies.

Před dvaceti lety se Bill Bryson vydal na putování po Británii, aby tak oslavil tento zelený a dobrosrdečný ostrov, jenž se stal jeho adoptivním domovem. Na základě toho sepsal zábavnou knihu, Zápisky z malého ostrova, kterou pak tato země přijala do svého srdce a stala se nejprodávanějším cestopisem v dějinách. Nyní se v rámci dvacátého výročí vydání této knihy vydává Bryson na cestu zbrusu novou, aby zjistil, co se v Británii změnilo. Na svém putování znovuobjevuje podivuhodně nádhernou, skvostně neobvyklou a roztomile jedinečnou zemi, která ho nepřestává překvapovat. Opět píše s nezaměnitelným instinktem pro nejlegračnější a nejpodivnější záležitosti a neomylně vybírá vše idiotské, milé, směšné a skandální, díky čemuž se čtenáři dostává bystrého a citlivého pohledu na to všechno, co dnešní Británii utváří.

Bill Bryson describes himself as a reluctant traveller, but even when he stays safely at home he can't contain his curiosity about the world around him. A Short History of Nearly Everything is his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization - how we got from there, being nothing at all, to here, being us. Bill Bryson's challenge is to take subjects that normally bore the pants off most of us, like geology, chemistry and particle physics, and see if there isn't some way to render them comprehensible to people who have never thought they could be interested in science. The ultimate eye-opening journey through time and space, A Short History of Nearly Everything is the biggest-selling popular science book of the 21st century, and reveals the world in a way most of us have never seen it before.