Notes from a Big Country (published as I’m a Stranger Here Myself in the US) was published by Doubleday (UK) in 1998 and collects the weekly columns Bryson wrote for the Mail on Sunday’s Night & Day magazine after returning to the United States in 1995. Each column addresses some aspect of American life that strikes Bryson — after twenty years in England — as bizarre, wonderful, or both: the size of portion servings, the obsession with lawsuits, the beauty of autumn, the horror of motels, the inexplicability of the tax code.
The format — short, focused, comic — showcases Bryson’s skills at their most concentrated. Many of these columns became his most widely shared pieces of writing.
The Reverse Culture Shock
The columns are at their funniest when Bryson discovers that things he once took for granted — drive-through everything, prescription drug advertising, the electoral college — now seem as exotic to him as British customs once did. The reverse culture shock is genuine: Bryson had become, in many ways, more British than American, and the columns chart his re-Americanisation.
Collecting Notes from a Big Country
First edition (Doubleday, London, 1998): Boards with dust jacket.
Approximate market values:
- Fine in dust jacket: $40–$100
- Very good: $15–$40
Projected values (2026–2036): Modest appreciation. The column format makes this a less collected Bryson title, but signed copies appreciate steadily.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the same book as I’m a Stranger Here Myself? Yes. Notes from a Big Country is the UK title; I’m a Stranger Here Myself is the American title. The content is identical.