I did feel that I learned a lot about British countryside from Bryson's drama over the U.S. wilderness. Certainly there was an element of maybe-it's-you, but also you could see where he'd grown up with an idea of outdoors that was not at all wild, and he was confused about it. (Also dumb, and when he got in a moose's face I was kind of hoping it would trample him. Oh well.)

Thanks for the tip on Bernd Heinrich, too.