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국내에서 출간된 빌 브라이슨의 다섯 번째 책. 20년 만에 돌아온 미국에서 겪는 일상적이고 때론 너무나 사소한 미국생활에 대한 칼럼 모음집으로, 미국에 적응하기 위해 애쓰는 빌 브라이슨의 고군분투기를 담았다. 미국인이면서도 미국이 낯선 어느 이방인의 유쾌하고 황당한 체험들이 책 속에 가득하다.

20년 만에 돌아온 고향에 돌아온 빌 브라이슨에게 미국은 마치 오랜 혼수상태에서 막 깨어난 것처럼 당황스러운 경험들로 가득 차 있다. 그는 20년간 영국에 살면서 미국인이라는 '특권'을 톡톡히 누렸고, '미국은 자신이 진정으로 이해하는 곳'이라 생각했지만, 막상 미국에 도착하자 신기하고 낯선 일들뿐이다.

빌 브라이슨의 타고난 조급증과 지성이 제대로 발휘된 책으로, 미국인들도 잘 몰랐던 미국 문화의 단면을 꿰뚫어 보여준다. 삶에 대한 깊은 통찰을 보여주는 고등학교 졸업반 학생들에게 보내는 충고와 '세상을 보다 나은 곳으로 만드는 28가지 삶의 규칙들' 등 사소하면서도 공감할 수 있는 내용들이 담겨 있다.


After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children (he had read somewhere that nearly 3 million Americans believed they had been abducted by aliens--as he later put it, "it was clear my people needed me"). They were greeted by a new and improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, twenty-four-hour dental-floss hotlines, and the staunch conviction that ice is not a luxury item.

Delivering the brilliant comic musings that are a Bryson hallmark, I'm a Stranger Here Myself recounts his sometimes disconcerting reunion with the land of his birth. The result is a book filled with hysterical scenes of one man's attempt to reacquaint himself with his own country, but it is also an extended if at times bemused love letter to the homeland he has returned to after twenty years away.

Introduction xi
Coming Home 1 (4)
Mail Call 5 (4)
Drug Culture 9 (4)
What's Cooking? 13 (4)
Well, Doctor, I Was Just Trying to Lie Down... 17 (3)
Rule Number I: Follow All Rules 20 (4)
Take Me Out to the Ballpark 24 (4)
Help! 28 (3)
A Visit to the Barbershop 31 (4)
On the Hotline 35 (4)
Design Flaws 39 (4)
Room Service 43 (4)
Consuming Pleasures 47 (4)
The Numbers Game 51 (4)
Junk-Food Heaven 55 (4)
How to Have Fun at Home 59 (4)
Tales of the North Woods 63 (6)
The Cupholder Revolution 69 (4)
Number, Please 73 (4)
Friendly People 77 (4)
Why Everyone Is Worried 81 (4)
The Risk Factor 85 (4)
The War on Drugs 89 (4)
Dying Accents 93 (4)
Inefficiency Report 97 (4)
Why No One Walks 101(4)
Wide-Open Spaces 105(4)
Snoopers at Work 109(4)
Lost at the Movies 113(4)
Gardening with My Wife 117(4)
Ah, Summer! 121(4)
A Day at the Seaside 125(4)
On Losing a Son 129(4)
Highway Diversions 133(5)
Fall in New England 138(4)
The Best American Holiday 142(4)
Deck the Halls 146(5)
Fun in the Snow 151(4)
The Mysteries of Christmas 155(4)
Life in a Cold Climate 159(4)
Hail to the Chief 163(4)
Lost in Cyberland 167(4)
Your Tax Form Explained 171(4)
Book Tours 175(4)
The Waste Generation 179(6)
A Slight Inconvenience 185(4)
At the Drive-In 189(5)
Drowning in Red Tape 194(4)
Life's Mysteries 198(4)
So Sue Me 202(4)
The Great Indoors 206(4)
Death Watch 210(4)
In Praise of Diners 214(4)
Shopping Madness 218(4)
The Fat of the Land 222(4)
Your New Computer 226(5)
How to Rent a Car 231(4)
The Wasteland 235(4)
The Flying Nightmare 239(4)
Enough Already 243(5)
At a Loss 248(4)
Old News 252(4)
Rules for Living 256(5)
Our Town 261(4)
Word Play 265(4)
Last Night on the Titanic 269(4)
Property News 273(4)
Life's Technicalities 277(4)
An Address to the Graduating Class of Kimball 281(4)
Union Academy, Meriden, New Hampshire
Coming Home: Part II 285

After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children (he had read somewhere that nearly 3 million Americans believed they had been abducted by aliens--as he later put it, "it was clear my people needed me"). They were greeted by a new and improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, twenty-four-hour dental-floss hotlines, and the staunch conviction that ice is not a luxury item.

Delivering the brilliant comic musings that are a Bryson hallmark, I'm a Stranger Here Myself recounts his sometimes disconcerting reunion with the land of his birth. The result is a book filled with hysterical scenes of one man's attempt to reacquaint himself with his own country, but it is also an extended if at times bemused love letter to the homeland he has returned to after twenty years away.