Notes from a Small Island

Notes from a Small Island is a humorous travel book on Great Britain by American author Bill Bryson, first published in 1995. Bryson wrote Notes from a Small Island when he decided to move back to his native United States, but wanted to take one final trip around Great Britain, which had been his home for over twenty years. Bryson covers all corners of the island observing and talking to people from as far afield as Exeter in the West Country to John O'Groats at the north-eastern tip of Scotland's mainland. During this trip he insisted on using only public transport, but failed on two... occasions: in Oxfordshire and on the journey to John O' Groats he had to rent a car. On his way, Bryson provides historical information on the places he visits, and expresses amazement at the heritage in Britain, stating that there were 445,000 listed historical buildings, 12,000 medieval churches, 1,500,000 acres of common land, 120,000 miles of footpaths and public rights-of-way, 600,000 known sites of archaeological interest and that in his Yorkshire village at that time, there were more 17th-century buildings than in the whole of North America.
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