Book info

• Title Shakespeare: The World as a Stage
• Author Bill Bryson
• Year 2007
• Genre Non-fiction

International bestseller Bill Bryson brings us this brilliantly readable biography of the world’s greatest playwright, William Shakespeare. Join Bill as he takes you on a journey through Elizabethan England, tackling the myths, half-truths and downright lies to make sense of the man behind the masterpieces. Revel in this glorious celebration of the life of Shakespeare from the much-loved author of ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ and ‘Notes from a Small Island’.

Thoughts

Considering the premise of this book is an autobiography of the great man himself, William Shakespeare, it’s refreshing for author Bill Bryson to admit that we just don’t know an awful lot about him. And it’s also refreshing to realise that finding out just how little we do know about a subject can be just as interesting as a book filled with facts and statistics.

I knew there was some mystery around Shakespeare’s life, but the true depth of how little we know was lost to me until I read this. I can’t profess myself to be a fan of the bard, but I do appreciate his gift for language. It’s incredible that much of the well known lore about him is conjecture.

This is definitely well worth a read, if only to make you realise that we only have a few legal records and published works to go on and very few other facts.

Rating: 3 / 5