The attributes and actions humans take can sometimes only be properly understood and appreciated from a distance. For the present day, he’ll often just observe people as a masterful people watcher. Throughout Bryson’s travels, he manages to focus on humans both in the present and past. Humans bring personality and identity to a location, grounding it in history and offering tales of stories. An area otherwise is just the natural world. It is we human beings – eccentric, wacky, quirky – that make a location what it is. However, what Bryson manages to recognise is that a location means nothing if there are not people to write about there. This might sound counterintuitive and illogical, given what we know about travel writing exploring different locations. What makes Bryson’s travel writing work best is his understanding that the places are not the most important thing. Bryson is honest about the challenges this can create, but usually tries to portray these struggles in a convincing, revelatory and, ultimately, humorous manner. I have no intention of learning to drive and appreciated just how much of the country could be visited by train or bus.

I admired how he mainly used public transport. It is we human beings – eccentric, wacky, quirky – that make a location what it isĪnd what a pleasure it was to be in Bryson’s company as he travelled the breadth of the country. When writing, he had both the knowledge of British traits and characteristics alongside that sense of being someone entering into something new. Born in America, in the 1990s, he was moving back to the States after decades living in Britain and wanted to take a final trip around the country. Bryson travels across all corners of Britain, starting in Dover, the place where he first saw the British Isles, and ventures all the way up to John O’Groats.īryson is a fascinating person to write about the UK, for he conveys the impression of being both an insider and outsider to what the UK has to offer.

Detailing Bryson’s travels around the UK in the early 1990s, it was voted in 2003 by Radio 4 listeners as the book which best represented England. This is a spirit perfectly captured by Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Small Island. Travel writing is not simply a brochure or itinerary about the best parts of a location, but should capture a true sense of place that reaches an audience who might not otherwise have a chance to visit somewhere.

The ability to take readers to another world without needing to leave a room prompts pure delight, and is a skill that has never been more needed. Travel writing is a genre of crafting words that deserves a far greater appreciation.

Bill bryson island