No talk of travel is complete without a word from Bill Bryson, a much-traveled writer who never seems happier than when he comes across a fresh example of nature’s hideous perils. “In a Sunburned Country” is his account of his travels in the 1990s through Australia, home to the world’s 10 most lethal snakes. Also covered with celebratory horror are the box jellyfish (“deadliest creature on earth”), the blue-ringed octopus (near-instant death by electrocution), venomous red-back and funnel-web spiders, saltwater crocodiles, human-size razor-clawed cassowaries, and, of course, sharks. This, incidentally, is a country whose 17th prime minister disappeared, carried away by a riptide. Bryson reads the book himself, his voice reflecting his appreciation of mishap and confusion, but also of Australians and their expansive, optimistic ways. (Random House Audio)
