From bestselling author Bill Bryson comes this compelling short biography of William Shakespeare, our greatest dramatist and poet.

Packed with fascinating facts on the English language, 'Mother Tongue' is an entertaining and didactic investigation of the influence and distribution of the language worldwide and its origins as a second-rate tongue spoken by peasants.

Should you ever split an infinitive? What's the difference between aiding and abetting? The English language is a minefield of difficulty. In this new edition of his book, Bill Bryson discusses the problems and offers advice on usage.

This title is Bill Bryson's quest to find out everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization. On his travels through time and space, Bill Bryson takes us with him on the ultimate eye-opening journey, and reveals the world in a way most of us have never seen it before.

After nearly two decades in Britain, Bill Bryson took the decision to move back to the States for a while but before leaving his much-loved home in North Yorkshire, Bryson insisted on taking one last trip around Britain. His aim was to take stock of the nation's public face and private parts (as it were), and to analyse what precisely it was he loved so much about a country that had produced Marmite, a military hero whose dying wish was to be kissed by a fellow named Hardy, place names like Farleigh Wallop and Shellow Bowells, people who said 'Mustn't grumble', and Gardeners' Question Time.

Here is a very personal selection of spellings and usages, covering such head-scratchers as capitalization, plurals, abbreviations and foreign names and phrases. Bill Bryson also gives us the difference between British and American usages, and miscellaneous pieces of essential information you never knew you needed.

The author was struck one day by the thought that we devote a lot more time to studying the battles and wars of history than to considering what history really consists of. This inspired him to start a journey around his own house, considering how the ordinary things in life came to be. This book is about the history of the way we live.

The author's first travel book, The Lost Continent, was unanimously acclaimed as one of the funniest books in years. In this book, he deals with Europe as he shoulders his backpack, keeps a tight hold on his wallet, and journeys from Hammerfest, the northernmost town on the continent, to Istanbul on the cusp of Asia.

Bryson's acclaimed first success, The Lost Continent is a classic of travel literature - hilariously, stomach-achingly, funny, yet tinged with heartache - and the book that first staked Bill Bryson's claim as the most beloved writer of his generation.

In the summer of 1927, America had a booming stock market, a president who worked just four hours a day (and slept much of the rest), a devastating flood of the Mississippi, a sensational murder trial, and an unknown aviator named Charles Lindbergh who became the most famous man on earth. It was the summer that saw the birth of talking pictures, the invention of television, the peak of Al Capone's reign of terror, the horrifying bombing of a school in Michigan, the thrillingly improbable return to greatness of an over-the-hill baseball player named Babe Ruth, and an almost impossible amount...