Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson and Auke Leistra

William Shakespeare, the most celebrated poet in the English language, left behind nearly a million words of text, but his biography has long been a thicket of wild supposition arranged around scant facts. With a steady hand and his trademark wit, Bill Bryson sorts through this colorful muddle to reveal the man himself.Bryson documents the efforts of earlier scholars, from today's most respected academics to eccentrics like Delia Bacon, an American who developed a firm but unsubstantiated conviction that her namesake, Francis Bacon, was the true author of Shakespeare's plays. Emulating the style of his famous travelogues, Bryson records episodes in his research, including a visit to a bunkerlike room in Washington, D.C., where the world's largest collection of First Folios is housed.Bryson celebrates Shakespeare as a writer of unimaginable talent and enormous inventiveness, a coiner of phrases ("vanish into thin air," "foregone conclusion," "one fell swoop") that even today have common currency. His Shakespeare is like no one else's—the beneficiary of Bryson's genial nature, his engaging skepticism, and a gift for storytelling unrivaled in our time.

I appreciate that this was informative and concise, but I found it to be a bit too dry and not particularly revelatory or anything. It's not bad, just not worth recommending.

I listened to this as an audiobook from the library and it had an interview with the author at the end, which is always a nice touch.

2.5 but im feeling generous.....im not a big fan of bill bryson but this was enjoyable and informative for the most part if lacking in affection/spirit/je ne sais quoi. sorry, bill. my favourite part was the section on conspiracies about the real(fake) ‘shakespeares' (fakespeares/wakespeares). just ok but some slack must be cut as he made the lack of information on the subject VERY EVIDENT.....

Shakespeare: The World as Stage is a biography of William Shakespeare by author Bill Bryson. Does the world need another Shakespeare biography? Even Bryson himself says no, but I'm glad he wrote this anyway. This 199-page book is part of Harper Collins' series of biographies, “Eminent Lives”. In it he strives to explain how much of Shakespeare we can know from the record. The answer is not a great deal.

Bryson takes a detached view point and investigates the facts in an orderly fashion. He discusses disproved theories, myths, and common myths believed by the public but in reality have no basis at all.

You can read it in a couple of hours and for such a small book, Bryson packs a lot in. He explores Shakespeare's times and places, the Chandos portrait and the existence of Anne Whateley, and the ‘lost years'. He also cites a lot of scholars too. For example, Stephen Greenblatt, Frank Kermode, Edmond Malone, Samuel Schoenbaum, Caroline Spurgeon and Charles William Wallace.

This is all interesting but extraneous stuff. Its necessary because as I said about we know practically zip about the Bard. So Bryson also examines the political, social, cultural and economic background to Shakespeare's work. The palaces in London, what its hygiene was like, the life expectancy and death-rates, how schools were set-up and what they taught. Conspiracy theories about Shakespeare authorship. The list goes on and on.

In summary, Bryson's brief biography is readable, educational and well researched. It's also enjoyable and witty too. Highly recommended but don't expect any amazing revelations.

I listened to the unabridged audio-book, published by Harper Audio and read by the author.