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Shakespeare: The World as a Stage (Eminent Lives) | 
 enlarge | Author: Bill Bryson
Publisher: HarperPerennial
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy New: £2.50
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Rating:  44 reviews
Sales Rank: 118
Media: Paperback
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 0.8
ISBN: 000719790X
EAN: 9780007197903
ASIN: 000719790X
Publication Date: April 1, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 39 more reviews...
Informative, entertaining and readable August 6, 2008
P. Matthews (UK)
Any biographer of Shakespeare is faced with a problem: the known facts about Shakespeare's life would only fill one rather short chapter. Some biographers discuss at length various speculations about possible events in his life, but Bill Bryson wisely avoids most of this, briefly dismissing, for example, the story that he was caught poaching.
Instead, Bryson fills the book with a colourful depiction of life in Elizabethan England, describing for example food and drink, religion, the theatre, and the city of London. My only criticism of the book is that some of the historical stories, such as the Spanish Armada, the Essex rebellion and the gunpowder plot, will already be known to many readers.
Bryson has clearly taken his research seriously, and interviewed leading Shakespeare scholars as well as visiting the Folger library where many of the First Folios are kept.
Particularly entertaining is the final chapter where Bryson debunks the various theories (one of them proposed by a Thomas Looney) that the plays were written by someone else.
This is an informative and enjoyable book, and much easier to read than the more substantial Shakespeare biographies.
Enjoyable and informative August 4, 2008
Mr. R. Lewin (London, England)
This is an easy to enjoy book offering the latest thinking on the world's greatest playwright, written in Bryson's typical witty and brisk style. It can be read over a short period of time - in fact, you find yourself wishing it was longer.
One of the most common phrases in the book is 'nothing is known about...' or 'very little is known about...' Bryson does not include information that is not fully backed up, or if he does, he discounts it. So there are times when you become a little exasperated at the lack of information. But the book is never less than highly entertaining, and full of piquant anecdotes and nuggets of information.
Combining facts and humour August 2, 2008
Linda Oskam (Amsterdam Netherlands)
When Bill Bryson is going to tackle a subject like William Shakespeare, you know that it is going to informative and very funny, an excellent combination. In his usual wry style Bill Bryson tries to unravel fact and fiction about Shakespeare's life, time and works. Because of the scarcity of facts, people have over the ages made up whole stories based on no evidence whatsoever. Also, there was (and is) a strong movement that Shakespeare's plays were not written be Shakespeare, because they consider him too much of a country yokel to write about the sophisticated topics covered in his plays. Bill bryson describes the times in which Shakespeare was alive, including the way in which theaters and plays were run, and makes a convincing case for not over-fantasizing, but also a realistic believe that Shakespeare has actually existed. A very readible book that combines fact and humor in a very pleasant way.
Excellent ...but... July 26, 2008
An uncommon reader
I am a great Bill Bryson fan ...and I did enjoy this book.
When you see the Bryson name on the front, you know it is a mark of quality. What is contained within will inform and carry with it the trademark Bryson wit. This book will not disappoint. There is much to inform here but there is also rather a lot of assumptions. I don't actually believe that William Shakespeare was the actual author of the plays that bear his name, but all that is academic - Bryson offers us a lively debate.
This is a good book - worthy of 4 stars, but I can't help wishing that Mr Bryson would go back to what he excels at.
In his absence, a new book called 'Shakespeare My Butt!' by a new author on the block, debunks the Shakespeare argument in just one chapter and the rest of the book takes us back into the a Brysonesque world as it tours around the bizarre named places in Britain, amongst other things.
Quick Mr Bryson - excellent book and all that, but get back to your travel writing before someone steals your throne.
 A good text for GCSE History? July 17, 2008
Martin Tallett (Birmingham UK)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a history book about the life and times of William Shakespeare. Packed with fascinating anecdotal evidence and facts in the same style as Bryson's normal travel books this is engaging without being a laugh on every page. It is just the sort of book that would be ideal for a text for GCSE History as it illustrates how historians go about their business and what a job they have in mining information from a paucity of sources. Thoroughly recommended!
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