“We forget just how painfully dim the world was before electricity. A candle, a good candle, provides barely a hundredth of the illumination of a single 100 watt light bulb.”

American journalist and author, naturalized British citizen in 2014

Bill Bryson is an American journalist and author, born in the United States and naturalized as a British citizen in 2014. He is known for nonfiction writing on travel, the English language, and science. He moved to Britain in his twenties and spent most of his adult life there, though he also returned to the United States for periods, including 1995 to 2003. From 2005 to 2011, he served as chancellor of Durham University. His books often explore everyday life, language, and the natural world with clarity and wit.