Down Under (2)

I have mixed feelings about Bill Bryson. On one hand, he is a superb story teller. He captures the history and the culture of Australia so vividly and so effortlessly in Down Under that I wish he wrote a book about every country in the world. On the other hand, he is boring when he actually writes about his travels (which is kind of ironic for a travel writer). He is prone to cheap humor and exaggeration whenever he tries to transform his rather mundane trips into standup routines.

But I truly appreciate how much he loves nature. There probably is a naturalist in Bill Bryson. You simply don’t expect reading about the following things in a travelogue:

* The Giant Gippsland Earthworm. This earthworm can grow to 3 meters in length! I’ve been to Gippsland a few times but I never heard about this monster.

* Nothomyrmecia macrops, a very primitive ant. The story of how this species was discovered is remarkable.

* The Edicara biota discovered by Australian geologist Reg Sprigg. This is a collection of fossils more ancient than the Cambrian explosion. How come people don’t talk about the Edicara biota in evolution/creation debates?