Bill Bryson: Ever since I was a little boy, I have pretended to be able to vaporise people I don't like'

"Get out and walk! I mean, maybe not through the outback, but if you're in any of the cities, walk. I do that wherever I go. And I love to just go off and explore without knowing where I'm going, without a map or any preconceived ideas. I think it's the best way to discover a place, and it has the great virtue that if you turn a corner say in Sydney and there's suddenly the Harbour Bridge, you feel as if you've discovered it."

"I think the one that most staggered me was that the number of moons in our solar system is roughly double now what it was when I first wrote the book and I just thought, well, didn't they notice these other moons? I mean, 100 new moons have been discovered. And the answer, apparently, is a lot of them are really quite small they're essentially just big rocks. But if a rock faithfully orbits a planet, then it qualifies as a moon."

"It's a very strange question when you think about it. I mean, obviously I would choose Shakespeare, and probably Isaac Newton. But the thing is, you wouldn't be learning anything you'd be spending the whole dinner explaining to them why they're not dead any more! I mean, they would just be saying, What the fuck, what's going on? and it wouldn't be like a congenial dinner party with everybody drinking and relax"

Visitors to Australian cities should explore on foot to uncover landmarks, small cafés, hidden corners, and unexpected views. Aimless walking without maps or preconceived ideas can produce a strong feeling of discovery and exhilaration when a landmark suddenly appears. The known number of moons in the solar system has roughly doubled compared with earlier counts, with about 100 newly identified moons, many of which are small rocky bodies. Any object that faithfully orbits a planet qualifies as a moon, prompting substantial revisions to prior planetary inventories. Meeting figures such as Shakespeare and Isaac Newton today would likely generate bewilderment rather than a relaxed, congenial dinner.

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