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Shakespeare: The World as a Stage
 
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Shakespeare: The World as a Stage [Audiobook] [CD] [Unabridged] (Audio CD)

by Bill Bryson (Author, Reader)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
RRP: £15.99
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Product details

  • Audio CD
  • Publisher: HarperPress; Unabridged edition (10 Sep 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0007262183
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007262182
  • Product Dimensions: 14.2 x 12.6 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 196,571 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #9 in  Books > Audio CDs > Comedy > Bill Bryson
    #9 in  Books > Audio CDs > Authors A-Z > B > Bryson, Bill
    #11 in  Books > Poetry, Drama & Criticism > Shakespeare, William > Biographies

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Product Description

Review
Praise for 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' (HB): 'A modern classic.' The New York Times 'It represents a wonderful education, and all schools would be better places if it were the core science reader on the curriculum.' Times Literary Supplement Praise for 'The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid': 'Outlandishly and improbably entertaining!inevitably [I] would be reduced to body-racking, tear-inducing, de-couching laughter.' New York Times 'Always witty and sometimes hilarious!wonderfully funny and touching.' Literary Review

Financial Times
'Bryson...is a warm and funny guide through the whole complicated morass of Shakespearean scholarship.'

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Shakespeare: The World as a Stage
80% buy the item featured on this page:
Shakespeare: The World as a Stage 4.0 out of 5 stars (60)
£11.19
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£5.94
An Utterly Impartial History of Britain: (or 2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge)
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An Utterly Impartial History of Britain: (or 2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge) 3.8 out of 5 stars (64)
£4.91
Mother Tongue: The English Language
4% buy
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Customer Reviews

60 Reviews
5 star:
 (21)
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 (25)
3 star:
 (9)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (60 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
117 of 122 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Shakespeare explained, 14 Sep 2007
By L O'connor (richmond, surrey United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Shakespeare: The World as a Stage (Eminent Lives) (Hardcover)
This is a very entertaining and informative account of the life and works of William Shakespere. Although the book is short, there is much fascinating information packed into it. I found it particularly fascinating to read about the huge contribution Shakespeare made to the development of the English language, and the large number of words now in common usage that were originally coined by him. Many myths about Shakespeare are cheeerfuly debunked by Mr Bryson, like the one about his work as an author never being mentioned in his lifetime, and the one about less being known about him than other contemporary dramatists (apparently more is known about Shakespeare than any of the others). The final chapter, in which Mr Bryson cheerfuly disposes of the fantasies of those who claim that Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare, is particularly entertaining.

The only complaint I have about this book is that I wish it had been longer, since Bill Bryson writes about his subject so entertainingly. However, Mr Bryson has evidentl taken to heart Shakespeare's own aphorism "brevity is the soul of wit."

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91 of 96 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars De-bunking the Bard's de-bunkers, 27 Sep 2007
By R. Creer (Cumbria, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Shakespeare: The World as a Stage (Eminent Lives) (Hardcover)
This is an easily readable and short life of Shakespeare written for a series called "Eminent Lives" and strangely coming after books on George Balanchine and George Crick!! In it Bill Bryson, in his inimitable witty style, tells us how little is known of WS's life but then goes on to examine what others have conjectured about it, pouring scorn on so many of the theories. I have read several attempts at Shakespeare biographies but still learned something from this [especially on the Bard's neologisms] but my favourite was the final debunking of the attempts to say the plays were written by someone else. Bryson does this so amusingly [can it be true that of the 5000 books written to prove Shakespeare's plays were written by someone other than Shakespeare, three were by Messers Looney, Silliman and Battey?!] that I was actually laughing as I read it. For example, on the claims for Marlowe to have been the real Shakespeare, Bryson writes "He was the right age ..., had the requisite talent and would certainly have had ample leisure after 1593, assuming he wasn't too dead to work."

So, Bryson has produced just what his publishers wanted, a brief biography that anyone can read and learn from, which appears both learned and well researched on the one hand, but also enjoyable and amusing on the other.
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47 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A good read which does what it says on the tin, 3 Nov 2007
By P. G. Harris (Dudley, W Midlands, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Shakespeare: The World as a Stage (Eminent Lives) (Hardcover)
This book is well worth buying and is an interesting and enjoyable read. Bill Bryson is always worth reading, his common sense and down to earth style are always entertaining. What better subject could he have than our greatest writer ? So the book is onto a winner and delivers. I found it an easy and diverting read on holiday. I learned things I didn't know, about Shakespeare's "missing periods", about his relationship with Anne, about the extent to which he was a Jacobean as much as an Elizabethan writer. I particularly liked the debunking of those who claim that Shakespeare didn't write "Shakespeare".

So why only three stars? Well, the book comes across exactly as what it is, a commission. "Bill, could you write us a brief book about Shakespeare?" As such it firstly it feels a bit cobbled together, a bit rushed off. Secondly it is rather lacking in depth. Thirdly it rather lacks structure jumping erractically between the specifics of Shakespeare's life and the generalities of the world around him.

I am probably being over critical, in that the book does exactly what it says on the tin and is well worth a read. I just feel that if the drive to write the book had come from Bill Bryson rather than being a commission, the end result would have been a deeper more satisfying work.

So in summary, recommended as a good light read, just don't expect too much.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice work ...if you can get it.
It's amazing what you can get people to pay for. By being merely amiable Bill Bryson has built a career out of re-stating other peoples ideas in the belief that his... Read more
Published 19 days ago by Fraser Hale

4.0 out of 5 stars Concise and to the Point
As readers of my Amazon reviews are aware, I have read several Shakespeare biographies. This one is short, concise and, thankfully, sticks to known facts. Read more
Published 1 month ago by James Gallen

3.0 out of 5 stars good points about Will
An entertaining read, a lot of well-known information skillfully potted, but also some good points, for example, for those who have doubts about the Stratford man's ability to... Read more
Published 1 month ago by L. Babut

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as well written as his other books
While funny, it goes longer between the funny parts in this book, and the laughs are the main reason I read Brysons stuff. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mats Helge Holm

3.0 out of 5 stars what a piece of work..

A very easy to read entertaining book that i bought at the airport. It kept me happily reading on and off for a couple of days. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Gargantua Pantaloon

5.0 out of 5 stars Short and sweet!
A great book because it removes nearly all the speculation about what Shakespeare was like and sticks to what information is actually available about him; rather a lot for someone... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Adrenalin Streams

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth a listen
This is not bill brysons most entertaining book, there are less jokes and even listning to it, it somehow feel like more effort. Read more
Published 4 months ago by K. Everest

4.0 out of 5 stars Bryson's usual high standard
This is not a funny book in the same way as his travel/autobiography books, but it does show once again the amazing research Bill is prepared to do in order to provide a very... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Michael O'Connor

4.0 out of 5 stars Brief Candle
Bryson on top form in this brief "bio" of the Bard. The book illustrates for the uninitiated (like me) what a dearth of knowledge there actually IS about Shakespeare but still... Read more
Published 6 months ago by AK 1957-05

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Bryson the humourist
This is the only Bryson I have read which I thought lacking in his characteristic wit. He tells us that little is known about The Bard. Read more
Published 6 months ago by G. J. Weeks

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