That's a great book, the Bill Bryson. I try to glance through it every couple of years because there's too much info for just one sitting.q
Been on my list for two years or so. There was a real asshole that used to come into my work on a daily basis, Bryson was like a god to this guy. It always put me off reading his stuff. One day the guy was such an asshole that he got 86'ed for life and I let myself read Brysons "At Home" it was terrific. I'm sure I'll like his history as well.
He also wrote a tiny little book that taught me more true things about Shakespeare than all of my English courses put together, and a wonderful memoir about walking the Appalachian Trail that made me want to walk the Appalachian Trail. EDIT: did you know we have six samples of Shakespeare's handwriting, all signatures, all spelled differently, none of which say "William Shakespeare"? Come on, factoids don't get much better than that.