7 h 38 minAudiobook12 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 38 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when British charm meets a journey across Germany—and the journey turns into a string of comic misadventures?
In Three Men on the Bummel, Jerome K. Jerome brings humour to a journey across Germany. Misadventures take centre stage, with British charm as their companion. The appeal lies in a trip that offers more than places to see: it gives you reasons to laugh along the way.
This is a book for the pleasure of comic travel, where the journey matters as much as the destination. Jerome’s blend of humour and satire invites you to enjoy the mishaps rather than hurry past them. Open it for a change of scene, and stay for the comedy.
What you’ll discover
- Germany with a comic twist Follow a journey across Germany with misadventure at the heart of its appeal.
- British charm abroad Enjoy the British charm that gives these travel mishaps their distinctive flavour.
- Mishaps worth following Find the pleasure in a journey whose troubles become reasons to keep reading.
- Humour meets satire Explore a comic travel story that brings humour and satire together.
- A cheerful change of scene Step away from your day and into Jerome K. Jerome’s world of travel misadventures.
Who will love it
Readers who like gentle English humour, comic mishaps among old friends, and affectionate mockery of national habits. It suits anyone who enjoys a storyteller who wanders off the road and comes back with a better tale.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Three men plot their escape
- The wives have their own ideas
- Gadgets, overhauling and a foreign phrasebook
- Early rising and a bad morning in London
- A digression on information and scenery
- Germany seen as the tidy land
- Prague, a hair restorer and a plot against beer
- Trouble with the German law
- Cycling in practice, and the Black Forest
- Dogs, fruit and the manners of students
Who’s who
- J., the narratorThe storyteller of the trip, who claims a perfect sense of direction and cannot help wandering off into old anecdotes.
- HarrisA trusting, energetic friend who loves new gadgets and scientific shortcuts, and gets into trouble with hoses, officials and a watch used as a compass.
- GeorgeThe bachelor of the party, dry and practical, who dislikes hills and sees through the others' excuses.
- EthelberthaThe narrator's wife, sensible and sharper than he expects, who sees the trip as a break that will be good for both.
- Clara HarrisHarris's wife, who accepts the trip and uses it to win a new bathroom, a stove and a piano.
- Uncle PodgerThe narrator's late uncle, a methodical man who makes lists and then loses them, and who runs for the train every morning.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 7 h 38 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 12 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Three Men on the Bummel in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Three Men on the Bummel
by Jerome K. Jerome · 1900
Three friends escape their wives for a bicycle tour of Germany and find that every small plan goes wrong.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Three Men on the Bummel is a comic travel book by Jerome K. Jerome, published in the 1900s as a follow up to Three Men in a Boat.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Three men plot their escape
The book opens with Harris declaring that what the three men need is a complete change. Mrs. Harris looks in to remind them about the children, and the friends turn to the real problem. How do two married men and one bachelor leave home without looking selfish?
George suggests business, and the narrator answers with the story of a young engineer who told his wife he was going to Vienna to inspect mines. She simply came along, and he spent ten summer days writing reports that nobody wanted. The friends decide that frankness is the better plan, but each tries to pin the idea on someone else.
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What is Three Men on the Bummel about?
It follows three friends, the narrator, Harris and George, on a bicycle tour from Hamburg through Germany and the Black Forest. The trip is a thin frame for comic anecdotes about family life, gadgets, language and German habits.
What does the word bummel mean in the title?
The narrator explains it near the end as a journey, long or short, with no particular destination. Its only limit is the need to be back at the starting point by a set time.
Is Three Men on the Bummel a sequel to Three Men in a Boat?
Yes, it brings back the same three friends, but it stands on its own. Here they swap the Thames for bicycles and a trip abroad. You do not need to know the first book to follow the jokes.
The author
Jerome K. Jerome
1859–1927 · English humorist
Jerome K. Jerome was an English writer and humorist whose Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog), the account of a bumbling boating holiday on the Thames, has never been out of print since it appeared in 1889.
More by Jerome K. Jerome
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