Shakespeare: The World As Stage by Bill Bryson; 2007. Hardcover.

Biography of William Shakespeare. Bill Bryson examines centuries of myths, half-truths and lies. In a journey through the streets of Shakespeare's time, Bryson brings life to Elizabethan England.

At first glance, Bill Bryson seems an odd choice to write this addition to the Eminent Lives series.

The author of The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid isn't, after all, a Shakespeare scholar, a playwright, or even a biographer.

Reading Shakespeare The World As Stage, however, one gets the sense that this eclectic Iowan is exactly the type of person the Bard himself would have selected for the task.

The man who gave us The Mother Tongue' and A Walk in the Woods approaches Shakespeare with the same freedom of spirit and curiosity that made those books such reader favorites. A refreshing take on an elusive literary master.