<p> The other day, I found myself describing Neal Stephenson&#39;s <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Cryptonomicon</span> to some friends, and admitted that as much as I enjoyed his work, he was an author who never met a digression he didn&#39;t like.</p> <p> Bill Bryson occupies a niche that allows him to produce books that are often the accumulation of their digressions. I don&#39;t say that negatively—I enjoy the style and the content, and he does it well, diligently making the connections that thread the digressions into a narrative.</p>