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epellicci's review against another edition
1.0
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Fatphobia
aliengirlreads's review against another edition
3.75
Moderate: Cursing, Ableism, and Fatphobia
Minor: Animal cruelty
beckyyreadss's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Ableism, Fatphobia, and Sexism
Moderate: Misogyny, Body shaming, and Bullying
Minor: Racial slurs and Racism
busybeezle's review against another edition
3.0
He may very well be a lovely person in real life, but here he comes across as a smug, condescending, sexist, fatphobic bully with a serious anger management problem. He screams at a couple out walking their dogs. He screams at manager of a hotel he's staying at. He melts down when some poor teenager working at McDonald's asks him if he wants to add an apple turnover to his order. And he seems to think we should be cheering him on: 'Yeah, Bill! You sure told that McDonald's employee! How dare he follow his manager's instructions and try to upsell you? No, of course you shouldn't have said "no thanks" like any normal person. You needed to put him in his place!'
At one point, he gleefully recounts hitting a ten-year-old child with his bag, just because the kid happened to be sitting across from him on a train and I guess Bryson couldn't cope with another human daring to exist in the same space for the length of a single train ride. It's no wonder his own wife and children didn't accompany him on this trip--he sounds like a terrible person to have to travel with. It's a shame, because I enjoyed one of his other books (America: One Summer, 1927) and had heard such great things about this that I went into it with high hopes. I left with such a strong dislike for the author, I don't know that I'll ever want to read anything by him again.
Graphic: Fatphobia and Sexism
ghp73's review against another edition
2.5
Moderate: Sexism and Misogyny
Minor: Fatphobia and Ableism
just2clarafy's review against another edition
3.25
Minor: Fatphobia and Body shaming
lineyrose's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Sexism and Fatphobia
rhosynmd's review against another edition
4.5
Moderate: Ableism and Fatphobia
witchhenrietta's review against another edition
Graphic: Ableism and Fatphobia
Minor: Racism and Racial slurs
samvansam's review against another edition
1.0
Graphic: Fatphobia
Moderate: Ableism, Xenophobia, Sexism, Racism, Bullying, and Body shaming
Would've enjoyed it if not for the fatphobia, ableism, and racism that Bryson repeatedly uses for "jokes." Did not finish the book, threw it out after making myself go through two-thirds of it. I really hope he's changed his mind about such things being funny now that he's also come out with a pop-sci book about the human body, but really, why did they leave these things in in a new (2015) edition? Extremely disappointed because I think I could've really enjoyed this book otherwise as it discusses more than just the big touristy destinations in Britain and Bryson has plenty of other ways to show the reader that it's not just the British that can be funny.