Bill Bryson Audiobooks

Bill Bryson, born William McGuire Bryson in 1951, is an American journalist and author who moved to Britain in his twenties, stayed for most of his adult life and was naturalised as a British citizen in 2014 – a biography that explains why nobody writes about Anglo-American bafflement quite so well. He has written nonfiction on travel, the English language and science, selling more than 16 million books worldwide, and served as chancellor of Durham University from 2005 to 2011.

His 1995 exploration of Britain, Notes from a Small Island, cemented his reputation, and A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003) proved he could make science every bit as companionable as travel writing. He announced his retirement from writing books in October 2020, though he returned to the microphone for an Audible recording, The Secret History of Christmas, in 2022.

Bryson in audio is the closest thing nonfiction has to a fireside companion: digressive, droll and quietly encyclopaedic. The transatlantic double vision runs right through our ten-strong shelf – The Lost Continent and Made in America turn his eye on the country of his birth, while Notes From a Big Country plays the counterpart to his celebrated British wanderings. At Home: A Short History of Private Life is the one to start with for the full Bryson effect: domestic detail opening onto centuries of history, ideally absorbed a chapter at a time on a long walk. And Down Under proves the charm travels to the other side of the planet intact.