This week's article is about an American author, whom I recently discovered, called Bill Bryson. There are a number of books on USA that describe every facet of this huge country but I think the best books are by Bill Bryson. They examine USA with the greatest tool available to a writer - humor. If any of you want to understand the true America that lies beyond Silicon Valley and million dollar stock options, this is the writer for you. Bill Bryson used to be a newspaper journalist who lived in England for 20 years. While in England, he read that 3 million Americans believed that they had been abducted by aliens. It was clear to him that his people needed him and he moved back to USA for their good. While in England, he started writing books and is now a best selling author in USA and all over the world.

I had seen Bill Bryson's most popular book, A Walk in the Woods, many times in bookstores but never go around to read him. About a month ago, I had just finished my summer class at the University of Pennsylvania and was waiting for a train in Philadelphia's 30th Street Station. I suddenly heard this little old lady sitting opposite me giggling uncontrollably. I smiled at her and she showed me the book she was reading, I'm A Stranger Here Myself by Mr. Bryson. I am a sucker for books and decided to browse the reasonably large bookstore inside 30th Street Station. I found the book the old lady was reading and another one as well, Bill Bryson's latest called "In A Sunburned Country" about Australia. I thought I should treat myself for having worked very hard for my summer class and bought both the books.

On the 45-minute train ride home, I was soon in the same state as the old lady, laughing my head off. "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" is a set of short essays about America written by Mr. Bryson for an English newspaper audience. All the essays are full of humor but present an amazingly insightful look at USA and Americans. The essay I considered the best describes the long-winded procedure his (British) wife and other people of his acquaintance had to undergo to get an American green card. There are thousands of Indians who can also describe this terrible time consuming process but nothing brings out the sheer idiocy of the procedure as does Bill Bryson's account of his friend's five year old daughter being asked by an INS officer if she planned to practice polygamy in USA (a required question of all immigrants). Other essays deal with American life ("A 24 hour hotline for dental floss!") and consumerism, differences between England and USA (including a really funny account of cricket), Bill Bryson's inability to deal with all the complex electronic gadgets around the house, American festivals, and the delightful rules for living ("It is no longer permitted to be stupid and slow. You must choose one or the other). A total of 70 essays that will bring a smile to your face many more than 70 times.

The second book about USA, by the same author, is "A Walk in the Woods". It describes Bryson's attempt to hike the historic Appalachian Trail. The AT, as it is popularly known, is a trail whose exact length is still disputed but is definitely longer than 2000 miles. It stretches from Georgia in the south of USA to Maine in the extreme north. Bryson is accompanied on this adventure by his out of shape and simply impossible friend called Steven Katz. Their labors in carrying 40 pounds of hiking gear through the forests, snowfalls, over steep mountains, sleeping in bare shelters, eating only noodles for weeks together, meeting other hikers who are bossy, quarrelsome, and just plain strange, and dealing with possible threats from wild bears and snakes are so hilariously described that I read the book in 2 days. The book also explains a great deal about how many of American forests have been denuded and how plants and animals are becoming extinct every day in USA. It is interesting to note that even a rich country like USA has a really tough time protecting and supporting its biological heritage. I was particularly taken with the book's description of the AT as it passes through the state of Pennsylvania. I live in this state and know that the AT passes through an area called Chesterbrook only 4 miles from where I live. The really interesting stories are about the town of Centralia and the Delaware Water Gap.

Pennsylvania has one of the largest reserves of coal in USA and Centralia used to be the center of the coal mining industry in Pennsylvania and also USA. The story of Centralia is that when things go wrong they really very wrong. The unscientific methods used to dig underground mines near Centralia resulted in very unstable tunnels. One day, a tunnel collapsed and a fire started underground. It spread so fast that that the ground started heating up in the town (situated near the mines) and smoke started spewing out of the earth. Suddenly large chunks of the ground started collapsing inward (upto 80 feet) destroying houses. People were given an option to leave the town. Most people did but a few remain and still breathe the smokes and fumes of a fire that has been burning for several years underground. The experts say that there is enough coal for the fire to burn for a thousand years. Amazing story. The second place, the Delaware Water Gap, also near Philadelphia, is a remnant of the Ice Age. During the last Ice Age, the ice came all the way down to Philadelphia. When the ice melted and retreated, it left behind many scarred rocks, boulders and mountains. One of the mountains is the Delaware Water Gap. It is a curiosity because it actually has a crater lake. When Bill Bryson hiked through these areas his descriptions are so evocative that I felt that I should go and visit these places immediately.

The last book about USA is called "The Lost Continent - Travels in Small Town America". For all those of you who think that the USA is full of big huge cities with gleaming skyscrapers, this book will be an eye-opening look at the small towns and villages that make up a large part of this country. There are many incredibly boring places in USA where there is nothing much to do. There are also some extremely traditional places where the wrong color, wrong religion or just being from a different part of USA can be dangerous. The silver tipped pen of Bill Bryson brings these places to life and almost makes a person feel like visiting these places where Bingo games, giant balls of thread and statues of chickens liven up the scene.

If you are interested, here are a few web sites about Bill Bryson's books. The official RandomHouse website: http://www.randomhouse.com/features/billbryson/home.html, An interview from January Magazine: http://www.januarymagazine.com/profiles/bryson.html.

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