Bill Bryson’s “In a Sunburned Country” is a must-read for anyone headed to Australia. But, even if you aren’t headed Down Under, the story Bryson relates of the Aussie Prime Minister Harold Holt has some relevance this week.

Holt simply vanished into the surf in December 1967. His body was never recovered, and various wild speculations accompanied his loss, but Bryson remarked on how the Australians carried on without much fuss, even though the disappearance of the Number One was unprecedented.