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 enlarge | Author: Bill Bryson
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $1.00
You Save: $13.95 (93%)
New (65) Used (137) Collectible (11) from $1.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  286 reviews
Sales Rank: 6339
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0060920084
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.30492
EAN: 9780060920081
ASIN: 0060920084
Publication Date: September 12, 1990
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: used-remainder mark on page edges-pages 155-170 have corner torn off-cover and some pages are creased-back cover and last few pages have large slices from unpacking
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| Customer Reviews:
 Enough with the complaining February 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am a Bill Bryson fan but this book got old very quickly. Older middle aged readers might relate, as I did, to the endless car trips we took when we were young, in my case from Pittsburgh to Miami Beach in the summer without air conditioning. We loved the Burma Shave signs.
The book did have a touch of Bryson's droll humor, but complaining is not funny and endlessly finding fault left me a bit defensive about small town America. I think younger readers would find it hard to connect with this book at all, other than as a history lesson, and the story of small towns in America is much more pleasant than depicted by Bryson. Maybe his writing can be better appreciated when his target is not so close to home.
 Delightfully funny with a dark side... February 14, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson is a delightful and funny book about his 38-state road trip throughout the United States. In many respects, Bryson reminds me of Tony Horowitz (Confederates in the Attic, Baghdad without a Map), although with more of a dark side.
Bryson grew up in Iowa, but then moved to England after graduating from college. Twenty years later, "I became quietly seized with the nostalgia that overcomes you when you have reached the middle of your life and your father has recently died and it dawns on you that when he went he took some of you with him. I wanted to go back to the magic places of my youth." Having lost my own dad two months ago, I can certainly identify with this sentiment. The other purpose of his trip was to discover the perfect small town. He was looking for "a place of harmony and industry, a place without shopping malls and oceanic parking lots, without factories and drive-in churches." Borrowing his mother's Chevette, he sets out across America.
Bryson visits cities and small towns, national parks and local curiosities. Throughout his travels, he regales us with his observations and witticisms. He gets sidetracked from some intended destinations due to the weather, road closures, etc. He decides to skip the Biltmore Estate when he discovers that the entrance fee is $17.50 (and this is in 1990). He bails out on Beaufort, SC when he comes upon a sign prohibiting just about everything--"I don't know what sort of mini-Stalins they have running the council in Beaufort." He is disappointed in a number of towns including Holcomb, Kansas (site of the famous Clutter murders from In Cold Blood) and Mark Twain's hometown, Hannibal, Missouri. Some places are a pleasant surprise including Philadelphia, although "No other city in American pursues the twin ideals of corruption and incompetence with quite the same enthusiasm." And then there are the places that he finds just awesome. The mansions in Newport, RI are "a cross between a wedding cake and a state capital building" and as for the Grand Canyon, "no matter how many times you read about it or see it pictured, it still takes you breath away."
Bryson's road trip also provides him with a chance to reminisce about his family vacations. I had tears rolling down my cheeks reading about the "bombs" he and his siblings lobbed out the window made up of Ohio Blue Tip matches stuck into apples and oranges. He also reflects on all the changes since he grew up in the US, including billboards and RVs. "RVs are like life-support on wheels. Astronauts go to the moon with less backup."
My only complaint is that Bryson didn't always get his facts quite right. Lucy Mercer was not FDR's secretary, but Eleanor's social secretary and it's doubtful that they did any "rustic bonking" at Warm Springs, GA. But overall, I truly enjoyed The Lost Continent and will definitely be reading more of Bryson in the future.
 Condescending and uninformed February 5, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I was very disappointed in, and angered by, this book. Having lived in a couple of the small towns that Bryson skewers I was unpleasantly surprised at the arrogant, belittling tone he takes. If all you know about small towns is what you read in this book, you'd assume that all small-town residents fit the stereotype of being backward, country bumpkins who are a bit slow on the uptake and clearly can't match wits with such a pithy author. He insults both the towns and the residents. He mocked one town for being in his drive-thru view little more than a series of strip malls. Having lived in that particular town, it's obvious that he didn't venture a block or two off the main street, where beautiful scenery is plentiful. And I would also add that this town is the friendliest place I've ever lived. If Bryson's intention was to come off as a big city elitist he succeeded.
 Funniest book I have ever read! January 3, 2008
This is without a doubt the funniest book I have ever read. One of the kind that tears are streaming from your eyes so that you can't see the page funny. This is a fantastic read for anyone that endured car trips with their parents when they were young.
a long, dull complaint of a book January 1, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I usually like Bill Bryson's books - Notes from a Small Island, a Walk in the Woods, I'm a Stranger Here Myself, A Short History of Nearly Everything, all made me laugh. But not The Lost Continent. This one was one long complaint of a roadtrip; Bryson doesn't seem to find anything he enjoys until he gets to Yellowstone. There's no detail of his travels, just a repetitive litany of how bad the food is, how horrible the motel, how fat the tourists, and how dull the road. It's not worth the read.
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