Down Under - Bill Bryson

Bryson is justifiably well known for his interesting, humorous and comprehensive take on the world. In Down Under he turns his attention to Australia, a country he says he fell in love with on his first visit. Though he's been out several times since then, he'd only seen a small fraction of the country before he embarked on a research journey, where he covered the length, breadth, and some of the in-between bits of the world's driest continent.
Bryson's genuine affection shines through, an element guaranteed to endear him to Aussies, who generally pity those not fortunate enough to be one of us (unlike Americans, we tend to believe the rest of the world is ignorant of the greatnbess of Oz, rather than envious of our good fortune).
As is his wont, Bryson combines his own keen observation with meticulous research and detail, and his enthusiasm and skill allow this to come across as a love of sharing fascinating information rather than unpleasant info dumps of "I researched it so I'll tell you." On page 6 he tries to describe the size of the red centre by describing what may have been a terrorist nuclear test, only discovered some four years later - not everyone could make that sound complimentary rather than indictable! He goes on to list all the ways Australia is unique, from "it is the only island that is also a continent, and the only continent that is also a country," to a brief overview (revisited in detail on several occasions) of the many ways wildlife here can kill the unwary, to a more accurate summation of Indigenous culture than most manage in far more room.
But what sets Bryson apart from other commentators and travel writers is his wry observation - like his description of (now former) Prime Minister John Howard as "by far the dullest man in Australia. Imagine a very commited funeral home director - someone who's buringin ambition from the age of eleven was to be a funeral home director, whose proudest achievement was to be elected president of the Queanbeyan and District Funeral Home Directors' Asssociation - then halve his personality and halve it again, and you have pretty well got John Howard." All of which is to illustrate the lack of excitement that is the nation's capital.
Australia is at present captured by the Olympics - at the time of writing we're fifth in the medal tally. Bryson writes about this, pointing out that in 1996 (the book was published before the Sydney Olympics), we came fifth, which translates as "3.78 medals per million of population, a rate more than two and a half times better than the next highest performer, Germany, and almost five times the rate of the United States." A nice reminder when the popular press is full of horror stories about our obesity rate and lacklustre performance.
There are jewels of humour liberally studded through Down Under, from Bryson's variation on the classic Waltzing Matilda, to retellings of local jokes, and his amusing asides (about the florid style of famed local historian Manning Clark, Bryson remarks "personally - and this is just a stab in the dark - I think [he] was taking way too much codeine.")
It's certainly not all chocolates and roses - the overt racism present in a lot of white Australians is mentioned, and the stunning disregard for our first citizens and for the integrity of the country is embarassing - the list of deliberately introduced animals to a fragile ecosystem is distressing to reflect on, and white Australia has a lot to be ashamed of. But I came away from Down Under proud to be an Australian (in a non-jingoistic way), amused, and considerably better informed. - Alex