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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:
 Unhappy traveler December 21, 2007
This was a trip the author could have missed. He finds mostly small ugly towns without good motels, surly waittresses and mediocre meals. On the way he seems to somehow miss towns in the area that are unique and well rounded.
I got tired of reading about his misfortunes and rude treatment. This should have been a short story. JEF
 Hey, Feller! I Resemble that Remark! October 30, 2007
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
In keepin' with some 'o the otha remarks on this hear review page, I'd jus' like ta say that Mr. Bill Bryson is condasendin' of 'Merica, condasendin' of 'Merican values, and - above all - condasendin' of 'Merican small towns and the fine folk and farm animals who inhibit them. How he could live on some depressin', foggy lil' island like England (which we dun saved durin' WWII and protected during the Cold War, lessin' it become some Soviet satellite) for two whole decades and then return to the good ol' US of A and NOT APPRECIATE the value of strip malls. clogged highways, and fried chicken joints is beyond me. This book may be funny to them there thinkin' folks, but what Mr. Bryson's got to realize is that thinkin' folks like him is the overwhelming minority, and to that I say good riddance. An' heck, if someone actually listened to his whinin' and criticizin', then 'Merica might actually start changin'; it might start listenin' to the people, and imagine what where that might lead. The glasses in England may be half empty Mr. Bryson (and I reckon they's plenty smudgy, too), but the ones hear in the Land of the Free are ALWAYS half full. So, why don't you saddle on up and ride on back across the Pacific to yer' beloved Britain. What's that? You did? Well, good!
PS: I really enjoyed your 'A Short History of Nearly Everything.' 'Mother Tongue' was enlightening too.
Billy-Joe Barndoor, author
The usual October 24, 2007
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Like most of Bryson's books, especially "In A Sunburned Country" which is his exhaustive book about Australia, he could have had the same effect in 100 fewer pages. I, as someone who has also published a travel book and numerous articles, love the history and culture of these places, but it rambles. And Bryson is, as usual, condescending. As someone who moved from the coastal elite towns of LA and DC to the Heartland or "Nowheresville," Bryson should not mock places like Des Moines so much. Iowa's capital city, like the rest of America's heart, is a great place to live and visit. That he spent time in London, where Muslim Jihadists threaten to take over each day, and loved it, is telling. Nonetheless, even a pompous liberal elite like Bryson, when talented, can be entertaining.
You'll laugh, you'll cry. You'll laugh until you cry!!! September 13, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is absolutely hilarious, and Bill Bryson, is, in my opinion, the best writer the planet ever produced. I'm a writer at an ad agency, and I swear, his writing is so superb that MY writing actually gets markedly better after I read him. But only for about a week. Then it's like Flowers for Algernon...I get all average again!
Boy oh boy do I envy anyone who has not read Bill Bryson's books, because you still have all that pleasure in front of you!
Non Fiction September 3, 2007
I read this after having been through and in a few of the places Bill Bryson mentions in The Lost Continent : Travels in Small-town America, so at the time I found parts of it highly entertaining. Accounts of Nowheresville, USA are not going to be too interesting if you get lots and lots and lots of them, though.
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