The Lost Continent - Bill Bryson Reviews

Before he became an established travel writer and the household name he is today, Bill Bryson returned to America to go on a journey of nearly 14,000 miles where he would visit many intriguing towns. His aim - to find the ideal community he was led to believe existed while growing up. But 'The Lost Continent' is more varied and interesting ...

I travel lots and one of the reasons is that I have nothing to tie me down. At the stage in my life where I am at present, I don’t have work or friends or family commitments to stop me taking off whenever mood and finances allow. Bill Bryson is not me, however. He has a wife and for most of his books, a handful of kids, and you do begin to ...

What makes Bryson's novel about small-town America all the more interesting is that Bryson writes as if he is an outsider, a foreigner. His mentions of coming from Iowa and other memories of his childhood remind you that he is actually American - born and bred! Bryson wrote the book after living in the U.K for 20 years, and it shows. ...

Right from the very start of the novel, “I come from Des Moines. Somebody has to,” you get the distinct impression that Bill Bryson is someone who has ambition which extends further than just settling down into what he suggests by that short opening phrase, is a mundane lifestyle within Des Moines. He suggests this by his desire to ...

As the man says,i come from Des Moines Iowa,someone has to,and coming from Northampton,I can seriously relate to that.Yet again the master of travel writing delivers,and in this case,his definitive book about his own country of birth. The Americans were up in arms when this came out as the read is a very cynical take on Brysons home ...

Have you been introduced to Bill Bryson yet? If you have, skip this paragraph; but if you haven’t, let me assure you you are in for a treat. Simply put, Bryson (or Bill as you refer to him after reading a couple of his books) is the most popular travel writer of his, or indeed any other generation. I am not just making sweeping statements; ...

By the time I read this book, I had pretty much read all of the other Bryson books and I wasn't disappointed. The elements are all there: the huge amounts of information, the personal perspective, the wit and humor all in a nostalgic journey through the USA. I have travelled throughout the USA, not as much as Bill himself but enough ...

As far as I am aware, this 1989 title was the first Bryson travel book, and although I have put somewhere else on this site that I don't like to rank Bill Bryson books in terms of preference this probably is the one I enjoyed most. The Lost Continent was written when Bill had been based in Britain for 10 years. His father had passed ...