England was full of words I'd never heard before - streaky bacon, short back and sides, Belisha beacon, serviettes, high tea, ice-cream cornet.
Bill BrysonTaking a scenic route in Southeast Iowa is like talking about a good Barry Manilow album. You have to make certain allowances.
Bill BrysonOut of the thirty thousand types of edible plants thought to exist on Earth, just elevenโcorn, rice, wheat, potatoes, cassava, sorghum, millet, beans, barley, rye, and oatsโaccount for 93 percent of all that humans eat, and every one of them was first cultivated by our Neolithic ancestors.
Bill BrysonDisassemble the cells of a sponge (by passing them through a sieve, for instance), then dump them into a solution, and they will find their way back together and build themselves into a sponge again. You can do this to them over and over, and they will doggedly reassemble because, like you and me and every other living thing, they have one overwhelming impulse: to continue to be.
Bill Bryson