书名：Shakespeare:The World as a Stage 莎士比亚：舞台人生
作者：Bill Bryson比尔·布莱森
出版社名称：William Collins
出版时间：2016
语种：英文 
ISBN：9780007197903
商品尺寸：12.9 x 1.7 x 19.8 cm
包装：平装
页数：272 （以实物为准）

Shakespeare:The World as a Stage《莎士比亚：舞台人生》是超级人气畅销书《万物简史》作者比尔·布莱森（Bill Bryson）的作品。这本威廉·莎士比亚的简短传记充满着作者比尔·布莱森独特的智慧。
研究莎士比亚的人很多，但他的生平仍然是一个神话。副标题The World as a Stage出自莎士比亚戏剧As You Like It《皆大欢喜》第二幕第七场，跟随老公爵被流放到Arden森林里的大臣Jaques说的话：“All the worlds a stage / And all men and women merely players / They have their exits and their entrances（全世界是个舞台/男男女女只是演员而已/他们都有其退场和登场）”。

比尔·布莱森描写了莎士比亚作为诗人的方方面面，探讨了困扰大家几个世纪的谜团、半真半假的谎言和彻头彻尾的谎言，弄清楚了这个写出大量杰作的人。他带领我们领略那些激发莎士比亚作品灵感的地点和人物，我们仿佛穿越回英国伊丽莎白时代的拥挤街道。莎翁创造了很多语言，很多词汇和短语我们今天仍在使用，这位游吟诗人给我们的文学、文化和历史留下了丰富的遗产。

From bestselling author Bill Bryson comes this compelling short biography of William Shakespeare, our greatest dramatist and poet. 
Examining centuries of myths, half-truths and downright lies, Bill Bryson makes sense of the man behind the masterpieces. As he leads us through the crowded streets of Elizabethan England, he brings to life the places and characters that inspired Shakespeares work. Along the way he delights in the inventiveness of Shakespeares language, which has given us so many of the indispensable words and phrases we use today, and celebrates the Bards legacy to our literature, culture and history. 
Drawing together information from a vast array of sources, this is a masterful account of the life and works of William Shakespeare, one of the most famous and most enigmatic people ever to have lived—not to mention a classic piece of Bill Bryson. 

Review
“A joy from first to last... An accessible, exhilarating biography thats shot through with Brysons trademark humour and irreverence... Tremendous.”  —Time Out

“Brysons short biography is about as enjoyable as history books get. Bryson brings his trademark wit to a complex subject.”  —Irish Times

“Less a biography than a delightful account of Shakespeares elusiveness...The pairing of Bryson with Shakespeare is a happy one.”  —TLS

“A warm and funny guide through the whole complicated morass of Shakespearean scholarship.”  —Financial Times

比尔·布莱森（Bill Bryson），当今英语世界非常多产且“超能逗乐”的游记作家之一，诙谐嘲谑的风格堪称一绝。作品包括旅游类随笔、科普著作等，其中《万物简史》《母语：英语的故事》《“小不列颠”札记》《一脚踩进小美国》销量逾百万册，一直雄踞《纽约时报》《泰晤士报》畅销书榜。
2004年，《万物简史》获得英国皇家学会安万特奖。
1951年出生于美国艾奥瓦州，21岁起，开始在世界各地旅行。1977年，定居伦敦，自此在英国生活了近二十年，曾任职于《泰晤士报》与《独立报》，同时也为《纽约时报》《国家地理》撰文。
2005-2011年，担任英国杜伦大学校长，且被众多大学授予荣誉学位。
2006年，获得英女王颁发的“不列颠帝国勋章”之殊荣。
2005年，设立布莱森奖，以鼓励科学创新的青少年。
Bill Bryson is the New York Times bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods, The Lost Continent, The Mother Tongue, Neither Here Nor There, Made in America, Notes from a Small Island, Notes from a Big Country, Down Under, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, Shakespeare: The World as Stage, At Home, and A Short History of Nearly Everything, which was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, won the Aventis Prize for Science Books, and was awarded the Descartes Science Communication Prize. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, Bryson now lives in Norfolk, England, with his wife and four children.