Bryson was educated at Drake University but dropped out in 1972 after deciding to backpack around Europe for four months. He returned to Europe the following year. Some of his experiences from this trip are re-lived as flashbacks in Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe, which documents a similar journey Bryson made twenty years later.

Bryson first visited England in 1973 during a tour of Europe, and decided to stay after landing a job working in a psychiatric hospital in Virginia Water, Surrey. It was there that he met a nurse by the name of Cynthia, a native of England who would eventually become his wife. The couple returned to the USA so Bryson could complete his college degree, after which, in 1977, they settled in England, where they remained until 1995. Living in North Yorkshire and mainly working as a journalist, Bryson eventually became chief copy editor of the business section of The Times, and then deputy national news editor of the business section of The Independent. He left journalism in 1987, three years after the birth of his third child. Still living in Yorkshire, Bryson started writing independently and in 1990 their 4th and final child, Sam, was born.

In 1995, Bryson returned to the United States to live in Hanover, New Hampshire for some years, the stories of which feature in his book I'm a Stranger Here Myself, alternatively titled Notes from a Big Country in Great Britain and Canada. In 2003, however, the Brysons and their four children returned to England, and now live near Wymondham, Norfolk.

Notes from a Big Country, or as it was released in the United States, I'm a Stranger Here Myself, is a collection of articles written by Bill Bryson for the Daily Mail's Night and Day supplement. He published this collection in 1999, creating a hysterical snapshot of all the idiosyncrasies in American culture. Popular topics include the American car and gun cultures. This book also discusses and highlights the faults with the death penalty in America. It also shows facts and figures of how ethnic background and race decide whether you are sentenced or not 'Of approximately 360 people executed in the united states since 1977, 83 percent were convicted of killing a white person, even though white people represent only about half of all murder victims. This makes a topical and controversial read.