The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir

Don't buy it unless you were born in Iowa in the 50s and 60s. Otherwise, you won't understand a single chapter, and there is not too much fun in it.

humorously brought back so many memories i didn't know i had of that time in my life. like me, bryson was born in the midwest (this occurs in des moines, IA) and in the 1950's.

my husband & i found it hilarious.

The book didn't hold my interest at all. Perhaps if I'd grown up in the era of the book, it would have made all the difference in the world! I gave the book to my grandfather.

Has he met an overused simile or metaphor that he did not include in this book?

It was horrible. I am no writer, but then, neither is he!

I'm a big fan of Bill Bryson and have read nine of his eleven books. However, I didn't rush out and buy this one the instant it hit the shelves because, to be honest, it sounded a little odd. I mean, here was a man who'd written about Australia and "nearly everything" in his previous two books, but was now penning anecdotes about his Des Moines, Iowa childhood. I wondered if Bill weren't suffering from a bout of excessive sentimentality. I am happy to say I was completely wrong.

Many of those childhood anecdotes are hysterically funny. I don't think I have ever - ever, mind you - laughed so hard with a book as I did with this book. And when not making you almost wet yourself chuckling, Bryson, of course, expertly and engagingly describes what has to have been America's most whacky and optimistic decade. His historical tangents are always interesting and well-researched and he does a wonderful job of balancing these with accounts of growing up. A jaunt through Bryson's childhood should certainly encourage you to recall your own. This is an outstanding book. Six and a half stars.