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Posted February 1, 2007
William "Bill" McGuire Bryson is one of Des Moines most famous native sons, a prolific author whose books about travel and language have won him legions of fans. Bryson was born in Des Moines on December 8, 1951. His parents were reporters at the Des Moines Register & Tribune company.
Bryson attended college at Drake University but dropped out in 1972 in order to backpack around Europe for four months. A second trip to Europe with high school friend Matt Angerer led to one of his most popular books, “Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe,” which retells the story of the first trip while
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Best-selling author Bill Bryson
documenting a similar vacation Bryson took 20 years later.
Although Des Moines residents call him their own, Bryson has spent most of his adult life in England. In 1974, he took a job at a psychiatric hospital in Virginia Water, Surrey, England, where he met and married his English wife, Cynthia, a nurse. They returned to the United States so Bryson could finish school. In 1977, they returned to England and lived there for the next 18 years. While in England he held editing positions at two of the nations pre-eminent newspapers: The Times and The Independent.
In 1995, Bryson returned to live in Hanover, New Hampshire for some years, the stories of which feature in his novel I'm A Stranger Here Myself, a collection of newspaper columns. In 2003, however, the Brysons and their four children returned to England, and now live near Wymondham, Norfolk.
Although Iowa born, Bryson has had little trouble taking on the airs of his countrymen. He is one of England’s most popular author (in 2003, his book, “Notes from a Small Island” was selected by readers in that counry as that which best summarizes British
Humorist and author Bill Bryson grew up in Des Moines.
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identity and the state of the nation.
On December 13, 2006, Bryson was awarded an honorary membership in the Order of the British Empire for his contribution to literature.
In 2004, Bryson won the prestigious Aventis Prize for best general-science book with A Short History of Nearly Everything, which explores not only the histories and current statuses of the sciences, but also reveals their humble and often humorous beginnings. One "top scientist" is alleged to have jokingly described the book as "annoyingly free of mistakes.”
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). These books were popularly acclaimed and well-reviewed, though they received criticism from academics in the field, who claimed they contained factual errors, urban myths, and folk etymologies. Though Bryson has no formal linguistics qualifications, he is generally a well-regarded writer on the subject of languages.
In 2005, Bryson was appointed Chancellor of Durham University, succeeding the late Sir Peter Ustinov. He had praised Durham as "a perfect little city" in Notes from a Small Island. He has also been awarded honorary degrees by numerous universities.
* The Palace Under the Alps and Over 200 Other Unusual, Unspoiled, and Infrequently Visited Spots in 16 European Countries (1985)
* The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America (1989)
* Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe (1991)
* Notes from a Small Island (1995) (travels in the United Kingdom, his farewell to the country he was temporarily leaving; adapted for television by Carlton Television in 1998)
* A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (1998) (co-stars Stephen Katz)
* I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away (US) / Notes From a Big Country (UK) (1998) (columns about moving back to the USA)
* In a Sunburned Country (US) / Down Under (UK) (2000) (travels in Australia)
* Bill Bryson's African Diary (2002) (travels in Africa for CARE International, to whom all royalties and profits were donated)
* Walk About (2002) (Combined in one volume are Down Under and A Walk in the Woods)
Books on language
* The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way (1990)
* Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States (1994)
* Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words (2002)
Books on science
* A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003)
Memoir
* The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir (2006)
BILL BRYSON BIBLIOGRAPHY