I listened to the audio version, narrated by the author. Bryson is a great humorist but not a great narrator. His voice is soft and has an unusual accent, most likely due to his having lived in England for most of his adult life. Still, I recommend the book if you are a baby boomer in a nostalgic mood. Bryson gives a very humorous picture of growing up in the fifties.

What an enjoyable read. Brought back all the wonderful memories of childhood along with an adult slant about the world today. Every chapter a treat.

I have read several of Bryson's books, the most recent being his able essay on Shakespeare, but this one I found almost disturbing. The book is supposedly about growing up in Des Moines (Bryson was born in 1951) and part of the book is about that. But lots is not. There are hypercritical and one sided rants on US policy in the Cold War, on the anti-communist hysteria of the 1950's and a number of other aspects of life in the 1950's of which Bryson disapproves. Now some of these things are pretty soft targets and deserve some measure of abuse, but the rants are not relating the experience of the very young boy who experienced the times. They are the views of an adult evaluating the times and an angry adult at that.

Some of the parts that are about growing up in Des Moines are fairly funny, but they are just as frequently nasty and are often fueled by anger as well. Bryson is thoroughly unkind to many of the people that he describes in the book. The funny parts were not enough to me to counterbalance the nasty. Overall the book reeks of an arrogant superiority that I have not found in other Bryson books. His other books did not seem to me to be mean spirited. This one does.

I have read several of Bryson's books, the most recent being his able essay on Shakespeare, but this one I found almost disturbing. The book is supposedly about growing up in Des Moines (Bryson was born in 1951) and part of the book is about that. But lots is not. There are hypercritical and one sided rants on US policy in the Cold War, on the anti-communist hysteria of the 1950's and a number of other aspects of life in the 1950's of which Bryson disapproves. Now some of these things are pretty soft targets and deserve some measure of abuse, but the rants are not relating the experience of the very young boy who experienced the times. They are the views of an adult evaluating the times and an angry adult at that.

Some of the parts that are about growing up in Des Moines are fairly funny, but they are just as frequently nasty and are often fueled by anger as well. Bryson is thoroughly unkind to many of the people that he describes in the book. The funny parts were not enough to me to counterbalance the nasty. Overall the book reeks of an arrogant superiority that I have not found in other Bryson books. His other books did not seem to me to be mean spirited. This one does.

As a kid growing up in the Midwest in the 1950s, I totally related to Bill Bryson's recounting of his childhood in Iowa. He did all sorts of stuff kids today would never get away with - their mothers would be horrified. Of course, much of his recollections are exaggerated, but not so much so that they don't ring true to those who grew up in that post WWII era.

Bryson's knack for creatively recounting minor incidents from his life - like working on a scab for months, until it was 1 1/2 inches thick and you could stick a thumbtack in it and not feel a thing - had me laughing out loud again and again. His imagination turns a day at the beach, or dinner and a movie with his mom, into one hilarious event after another. His was an era where getting stitches more than once was not only common but a measurement of bravery...or guts.

I highly recommend this entertaining, feel-good, laugh-till-you-cry (complete with tears) experience, a baby boomer's delight and worthy of your time.
50 Ways to Leave Your Mother

Lots of great research (At least I can't remember that many details of my childhood from the same time period.) Not as good as the raving reviews but interesting and easy reading.

50's nostalgia has been done over and over, but Bill Bryson hits a home run with this reminiscence of his childhood years in Des Moines, Iowa. Despite the efforts of modern novelists and Hollywood to cast a dark shadow over the decade of the 50's, it does truly seem like it was the best of times after reading this book.

Being a "late boomer", born almost a decade after Bryson, I grew up with some remnants of this world myself, and I can personally vouch for the mayhem inside those movie theatres that showed Saturday matinees for the kids. If there's one chapter that made me laugh out loud it was the one entitled "Out and About". The theatres, the amusement park, the restaurants, the Iowa State Fair, hanging around a downtown full of stores, all of these places had stories which Bryson delights in sharing with us.

The author describes Iowa as an idyllic place; smack dab in the middle of the country, with deep topsoil, huge stalks of corn, and frugal yet welcoming people who didn't worry too much about things they couldn't control. The world was a much bigger place then, and food items which seem pretty basic to us, such as "pasta, rice, cream cheese, sour cream, garlic, mayonnaise, onions.." etc. were somewhat exotic and to be viewed with suspicion back then.

Those of us who have received a much circulated e-mail about how things were different in our childhood, how we could be outside at all hours of the day and didn't flinch at the cuts and scrapes we acquired on a daily basis, will get more reminding by reading this book. Even childhood mischief is portrayed somewhat benignly as Bryson looks through the haze of nostalgia; chemistry sets setting houses on fire, petty thefts of beer and candy, and dangerous practices like hanging off the back of tailgates of moving cars. Not to mention the threat of the polio epidemic of the time, one wonders in today's age of over-supervised kids how we ever survived our own 50's and 60's childhoods.

Bryson looks at the 50's in the greater world as well, sometimes in a way that works, sometimes not. Bryson is at his best when talking about phenomena like comic books and TV becoming so big, and about publications of all kinds predicting various Doomsday scenarios (much like today actually). The chapter on the Red Scare doesn't fit too well into this book though, a bit of liberal preachiness creeps in that seems out of place here.

There are parts where it seems as if Bryson might be trying too hard to amuse us, but overall I enjoyed this book very much. His affection for his sportswriter father and absent-minded yet cheery mother are quite heartwarming. The chapter about his rural grandparent's home was drawn very nicely as well. Bryson does the inevitable comparison between the Des Moines of his childhood and today and sees all that was lost, never to return. Was the world a better place back then? Bryson implies strongly that it was, and I won't disagree.

For those fans of Bryson's books, or for those who are drawn to nostalgic remembrances, you will enjoy this.

I was very fortunate to grow up in this period in a small town. It was amazing that the kids in Iowa were doing the SAME dumb stuff as we did in Texas. I had the electric football game and never could figure out how to have fun with it. We went to the local fair and got into the stripper tent at age 15 (true). The stripper in Texas was probably on a circuit that went to Iowa. All in all, a fun book to read for anyone of that era. All the buildings are now gone, but the memories still remain. Bill did a great job bringing those back to life.

As I finished this amazing book Des Moines made the news by flooding today. Even though I have never been to Iowa, I felt sad due to having just read this memoir of Bill Bryson's who is from Des Moines. This is a wonderful valentine to Iowa and to Bill's childhood growing up in Des Moines. It is so funny that you will find yourself laughing so hard and so loud. I was born the same year as Bryson and could relate to everything he recalls while growing up in the strange world of the 1950's. He brings back what a very strange time the 50's were. How did we ever become such an interesting generation after a decade of jello,black and white westerns on TV,Dick and Jane books, sci-fi badly made movies and a long list of ridiculousness that our parents and government held up as rules for the good life in America. Bryson's talent of looking at things that at first seem funny(ha-ha) but underneath those events or things lie a lurking dark side of reality that is anything but funny.

There are over 200 reviews for this book that attest to really how good it is.

What's most enjoyable is that if you lived during the 50s, Bryson has brought back to you many of the memories all of us enjoyed. This book is laugh-out-loudable while tickling your memory. If you enoy Jean Sheppard and his tales (A Christmas Story), then you are guaranteed to enjoy the Thunderbolt Kid. I was there wish there was a sequal... there certainly was back in the day!!

Bill Bryson writes of bygone days during his middle-America, middle-class childhood in the 1950's. Many hilarious vignettes sparkle, including "the toidy jar," getting permission from the teacher to go to the bathroom (Number 1 or Number 2??) and his friend Willoughby who ran the scan involving bugs and pond water in his restaurant food to get free meals.

There were times I was doubled over in laughter. You may get a few belly laughs too, especially if you grew up in the 1950's.

Anyone born in the 50's can relate to the experiences of Bill Bryson. I began reading this book on an airplane and was laughing so hard, the people around me were smiling. Bill Bryson uses excellent humor to bring his story to life. You feel as though you know him or someone like him. Memories of my own childhood came flooding back. Excellent read. Never dull.

Every time I pick up a Bill Bryson book, whether it's this one or my other favorite A Walk in the Woods, I find myself giddy within seconds. Not in that "what a funny joke" sort of way, but in the "sitting around telling stories with your family until everyone is experiencing that intense kind of laughing where no sound comes out" sort of way.

For whatever duration I'm reading--one hour, two hours, etc. I have this sappy, silly, stupid, involuntary smile plastered on my face for almost every moment of that time. And I'm not an overly happy guy. I can honestly say there is only one other activity in my whole life experience that produces the same effect, and it lasts nowhere near an hour. I'll go no further with that.

He's a funny, funny man, and his stories ring so true to my life experience. I've even met one of the people he describes in A Walk in the Woods (Wes Wisson, the Appalachian Trail shuttler in Georgia). One of my very favorite authors. Buy this book.

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.

Having grown up in the UK in the seventies, and enjoyed Bryson's writing since the early 90's, I was concerned that his memoir about growing up in the American mid-west in the 50's was going to miss the mark for me.

Not at all.

Bryson draws on the universal aspects of childhood, weaves in his trademark humour and lightness of touch, and sets it all perfectly in the period using fascinating statisitical comparisons with today, and news clips that highlight some of the banalities of hindsight.

Often when a book has 'laugh out loud' on the cover, I'm sceptical. In this case it's true. And his lack of sentimentality, and any inclusion of an addiction story, make this a warm, funny and very entertaining light read.

Well written but I am seventeen years older so I have my rememberences in the forties. Very enjoyable to read.

I absolutely loved this book! I am from Des Moines and same age as writer- but I believe anybody with a love of nostalgia and sense of humor would adore this book!

The pages relating the story of the friend's dad who leaps from the impossibly high diving board may be the funniest ever written in English. What could anyone have been thinking to rate this lower than 5 stars? Thanks to Mr. Bryson for an outrageous look into a world now gone.

This was truly the worst. The attempt at humor falls flat. There were some things that ring true like electric football etc. The story is pure fiction with the author as the hero. The anti-american anti republican rant gets tiresome after awhile.The author misses no opportunity to denigrate the US.
From the cold war (Russia had a right to put warheads in Cuba because we had them in Europe)to George Bush being a draft dodger.What can you expect from a far left loon who hates this country so much that he moves to England. I got this book as a christmas present but never would have bought it and do not recommend it.;

Born in the 40s, I don't think I've ever laughed so hard reading a book. On the New York subways, where passengers give new meaning to the word "jaded," even they look at me as if I'm crazy as I cackle aloud. Bill Bryson has put me on the nostalgia express, somehow making every paragraph worth at least a chortle as he reminds me, who grew up on the East Coast, about life surprisingly so like mine in his Midwest. School, parents, cars, television, sexual mores and a raft of other subjects are the targets of his incisive and derisive wit. Not even having reached the sad day when I will finish this book, I couldn't wait to write my first Amazon review. I'm also personally recommending it to all my roughly Baby Boom friends. Don't fail to read this book, which, in case you missed my point, I loved unreservedly.

Reading this for a book discussion group, I thought it would be lighter than some we read and having been born in '53 I thought I could relate. Well after half the book it gets pretty old. I mean who couldn't write such a book? I was there, I watched Batman and Sea Hunt, too, so what's so entertaining about reading about someone else who did, too but decided to put it down on paper? The hyperbole is what makes it funny at times, and at other times the exaggeration catches you off guard. And what's the point of using the "F" word out of the blue??? Pretty strange to find this in a book about one's youth, and I'm no prude; it's one of my favorites; I just find it totally out of place here! The thing about romanticizing about the past is, you know it's all BS, that things are being looked at with rose-colored glasses and they weren't really as good as you remember them. Ok, it's supposed to be light, but there's a certain phony character about such superficial treatment of an era like the 50s, and families weren't really all like Donna Reed and Father Knows Best. Remember, I was there, too. The Thunderbolt Kid is a truly minor character, too, to the point of it being invented just for the sake of having a cutesy title.

This was such a good laugh, I fell out of my chair....I also decided to buy a copy for my brother who was born the same year as Bryson. Although we weren't born in Iowa, our grandparents were from there, and there are definitely cultural attributes that came down to us from them! But even better, it isn't just funny. Bryson shares poignant reflections on some of what we've lost along the way since the 50's, as nuts as they were.

After reading some of the positive reviews, and even the negative ones, I regret that this was my first go at Bill Bryson's oeuvre; this one has put me so far off of him I'm unlikely to pick up another of his books, ever.

The further into the book I got, the more the endless stream of exaggerations piled up to the point that it led me to doubt every single word he has written here, except when quoting his father ("the defense fiddled while Burns roamed" - now that's brilliant). His total abuse of the reader's trust completely undermines even the truly humorous passages of the book (there are about 3).

Like other readers, I found the use of profanity gratuitous and completely out-of-touch with the age. (It would have been truly funny to read the repertoire of the actual swear words people did use as they repressed the really nasty ones). Also offensive is his racial stereotyping as he over-protests against any racial awareness at the time (except the black kids were all cool, exceptional athletes while the white ones were all lame, lumpy doofuses). And did a black pre-teen in the 1960s from a hardworking respectable family really use the kind of street slang you might hear in a gang-infested slum today as he beats in some kid's face in the lunch line? Or was this just a convenient stab at humor likely to play on his audience's own unconscious prejudices?

A sad book, because there is promise in that writing, but the boredom (leading to fabrication) and rage (leading to spite and diatribe) that seeps in at all corners saps the book of all its strength.

I wound up reading this book because, well, I was forced. It was required reading for a class I took and otherwise I would have likely never touched it. Of all the books to be tasked with reading, I must tip my hat to my professors for choosing such a great one to read. I was literally finished with it in 24 hours which were chalked full of full on laughter. My big mistake was to attempt to read this book in a public place, which for me was at a dog park in sunny Florida while sipping sweet tea. It was during the bit about toys in the 1950s that sent sweet tea squirting through my nose as I broke out in uncontrollable laughter complete with tears in the middle of a crowd of strangers. Despite being born in 1986, I found this book to be hilarious and interesting, even more so since my father, who was raised in the 60's, is from Iowa. Bryson brilliantly calls upon the collective memory of society that has been formed by "I love Lucy", Elvis, retro ads, and the shared experience of childhood and pairs it with detailed hyperbole which shouts "it's funny because it's true" for all generations.

This was the funniest book I have read in ages that didn't have crime, gore and blood! Bill takes us back to the 50's when lifes pleasures were so simple- I can just see the toys, streets, drive-in movies come to life. His attempt to go to the State Fair to see the "risky ladies" was so funny-each year they raised the age limit!

Do you remember when there used to be air-raid drills in school? Or when you first realized your parents had sex?

Gotta read it!

Bill Bryson's "Thunderbolt Kid" is one of the funniest, best-crafted memoirs ever written. This zany and yet thought-provoking book will resonate with any American over 45, okay, 50. And the dusting of pathos at the end, the disappearance of splendid old theaters and family-owned businesses, could have been about any city anywhere in the country.

Roger L. Conlee, author of "Counterclockwise" and "Every Shape, Every Shadow"

The boyhood memories and antics are spot on
and hilarious. All wasted as author tries
to inject political views ,eg A Bomb and
other subtle partisan views..Read the the first
half of book,then put it down.

When first reading this title, I had no interest in the story, but this is a wonderful book, very entertaining and insightful. It's only fault is a weak title. Bill Bryson reminded me very much of my childhood in America and the loss of a certain quality of life which now exists only in our memories. American once had something special and dynamic, a uniqueness and individuality, an optimism and positive can-do attitude that has been replaced by a McShopping obsessed society, the numbing sameness of the mall culture of a consumer society. The Thunderbolt Kid is in reality the story of the death of America, the death of all the qualities that made America special, before it became The Empire. Through his own recollections, Bryson paints a portrait of his America and contrasts this vision against the conformity of America today. It ultimately becomes a tragic vision of loss.

Highly entertaining story. No wonder he changed identities of his buddies: they got into some pretty wild stuff. And the Kid's views and observations are high comedy. Just a bit of obvious stretching the facts is my only complaint.

Bill has done it again! 3 of my family has read this book - and we all laughed so hard sometimes we cried! Brought back a lot of memories of the 50's and 60's growing up. Not recommended for kids under the age of 18 cause they just might try some of this stuff! What a hoot!

Being from Iowa and about the age of Bill Bryson this book brought back many memories and situations that I went through growing up in rural Iowa.
I have read most of Bill Bryson's books and enjoyed all of them

I have read all of Bill Bryson's books. Some I have enjoyed immensely, others I have grown tired of approximately three-quarters of the way through. With the exception of 'A Short History of Nearly Everything,' there's a detectable pattern to his writing - a neatness or cadence that can prove familiar or monotonous, depending on the reader's mood. I liked 'Thunderbolt Kid': it lends great insight into who Bill Bryson is and what shaped him, and it also serves as a solid post-war history lesson of life in middle America. Perhaps not a good read for anyone who isn't a sucker for nostalgia, but certainly a proud addition to the Bryson section of any true fan's library. Aside from using more adverbs than any author I know, Bryson's writing can elicit belly laughs - how many authors can claim that?

I always enjoy Bill Bryson's travel books (NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND, A WALK IN THE WOODS) and his books on language (THE MOTHER TONGUE).

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE THUNDERBOLT KID is a memoir, and since Bryson and I grew up in the same decades, I found a lot to like in this book. His writing is always funniest when it's personal and self-deprecating, and his stories of himself as a child are vastly entertaining.

But this book is more than memoir or a string of funny stories about his childhood. Bryson captures the time and place -- 50's small-town America -- and serves those "simpler times" up with affection. In those pre-minivan days a bicycle was a kid's ticket to ride; the movies were a gateway to the world; and a costume, whether the Thunderbolt Kid or Annie Oakley (am I saying too much?), was the passport to bravery and adventure.

I thoroughly enjoyed THE THUNDERBOLT KID, and probably would have enjoyed it no matter which decades were mine. Maybe it's a book of particular interest to the first wave of Baby Boomers, but the humor and whimsy of its presentation are wonderful counterpoint to its well-researched social context.

You're bound to laugh out loud at this book. If you like laughing out loud, then by all means read THE THUNDERBOLT KID.

My husband and I listened to this book on cd while on a long car trip. It was great. We laughed so much, I had to keep turning it off so we didn't crash the car. A must read for anyone who grew up in the mid-west in the 1950's. We didn't and stiil loved it. Bryson has a great delivery and makes it so real. My favorite Bryson book, so far. We gave our copy to a friend and bought another for a co-worker.

I read this specifically for the historic recollections of the 50's era, and the fact that the jacket reviews indicated "snort-root-beer-out-your-nose funny". I don't often laugh out loud while reading, and I did several times through this book. It reminds me of a print version of "The Christmas Story" movie, without the BB gun and with a lot more detail. Bryson's command of language is engaging and quite intelligent, the book was an easy read and wasn't boring. This is surprising given Bryson's admission that he wasn't a great student. My only complaint was that I wanted more. I plan to read his other works asap.

I am a Bryson fan and have been since his first book. This one is good, mind you -- funny, well written - but NOT as good as his some of his others. I was a tad disappointed, but still think the book is worth buying. So, buy it.

For a child of the 40s and 50s, this book will serve to recall better times. Bryson gets a little 60s' preachy in spots, but they are not overwhelming. When you put this book down, you are left with a slightly sad feeling that life as experienced in the 50s will not be seen again and that today's kids are missing a lot.

Any book by Bill Bryson is a treat, and this one is no exception. It explains a lot about the origins of his strangely skewed viewpoint, and being of approximately the same vintage, I enjoyed revisiting the 50's with him. Of particular interest to me was the account of his beginning friendship with the unlikely character Stephen Katz (from "A Walk in the Woods"). The only problem I have with Bryson's books is that I have to read them at home. Can't take them with me to read in, for instance, the doctor's office because I laugh so long and so loud that it creates too much of a public spectacle, and consternation in onlookers.

To say that Bill Bryson's memoir is about growing up in the 1950s in Iowa is both true and misleading - misleading in the fact that he uses his story to tell a greater story, that of the end of an era in the U.S.A. The 1950s were fun and carefree, and looked upon with great nostalgia, at least for those of the white middle classes. Prosperity was high, the world was relatively safe, and there was great optimism that the U.S. was achieving its "manifold destiny" as the greatest country in the world. This is the world in which the young Billy (as he was known then) Bryson was raised. If the book focusses on Des Moines and Iowa, it's because that's where Bryson grew up. But it could have been set in any midwestern, New England, or western state (i.e. those with predominantly white populations).



Such an analysis is overly dry, as readers of Bryson well know. As a travel writer, he writes as much about the human condition as about the places he visits. In the same way, this book can be seen as a travelogue through the 1950s and through the ages of 0 to ~14. He lovingly paints the scene and then inserts his characters - his father who never wore pajama bottoms, his mother who made Billy "go toity" in a jar if she was in a hurry, his friends both smart and dim, etc. The heart of the book is in the specific tales of these friends and family members. And the stories are very, very funny!



I grew up in the 1970s, so have no personal memory of the time about which Bryson writes. I've gained such knowledge as I have of the era through such "reliable" sources as "Happy Days" and "Grease". But such is Bryson's storytelling that I can easily recognise the universal human condition, even though he's writing of a specific time and place. Thus, this book is accessible to all, and if I find it laugh-out-loud funny (which it is, in many places), I'm sure anyone old enough to have passed through the ages of 0 to 14 will as well.

To say that Bill Bryson's memoir is about growing up in the 1950s in Iowa is both true and misleading - misleading in the fact that he uses his story to tell a greater story, that of the end of an era in the U.S.A. The 1950s were fun and carefree, and looked upon with great nostalgia, at least for those of the white middle classes. Prosperity was high, the world was relatively safe, and there was great optimism that the U.S. was achieving its "manifold destiny" as the greatest country in the world. This is the world in which the young Billy (as he was known then) Bryson was raised. If the book focusses on Des Moines and Iowa, it's because that's where Bryson grew up. But it could have been set in any midwestern, New England, or western state (i.e. those with predominantly white populations).

Such an analysis is overly dry, as readers of Bryson well know. As a travel writer, he writes as much about the human condition as about the places he visits. In the same way, this book can be seen as a travelogue through the 1950s and through the ages of 0 to ~14. He lovingly paints the scene and then inserts his characters - his father who never wore pajama bottoms, his mother who made Billy "go toity" in a jar if she was in a hurry, his friends both smart and dim, etc. The heart of the book is in the specific tales of these friends and family members. And the stories are very, very funny!

I grew up in the 1970s, so have no personal memory of the time about which Bryson writes. I've gained such knowledge as I have of the era through such "reliable" sources as "Happy Days" and "Grease". But such is Bryson's storytelling that I can easily recognise the universal human condition, even though he's writing of a specific time and place. Thus, this book is accessible to all, and if I find it laugh-out-loud funny (which it is, in many places), I'm sure anyone old enough to have passed through the ages of 0 to 14 will as well.

I thought Bill Bryson's Walk in the Woods book would go down as my all time favorite books but his new book The life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is giving walk in the woods a run for the money. Thunderbolt Kid is a must for anyone growing up in the 50's 60's. Hilarious reading. I also recommend getting his audio tapes as he narrates the stories with his wit and sarcasm and a dash of his unique accent. Highly recommended and great entertainment.

In this delightful memoir, Bill Bryson recounts what it was like to grow up in Des Moines, Iowa, in the fifties and early sixties. In retrospect it was a time when Americans reached the zenith of consumer happiness, the peak time of family farming, the fear of communism, and the beginning of the end for small towns and small town businesses. And, while he portrays the period as a more innocent time, it was also a time of great foolishness, insane and fleeting enthusiasms, dangerous pranks and close calls, and the author's first tentative explorations of his sexuality.

Author Bryson writes in an easy, conversational style, ranging from personal anecdotes to social commentary to occasional flights of magic realism. And, he can make you laugh. When he was rhapsodizing about the Dick and Jane readers, I laughed so hard I couldn't catch my breath. Then again, he can also be satirical, cynical, or sad. Beneath the humor he conveys a great sense of loss--for a time of innocence that was not appreciated and will never return.

Thunderbolt Kid is not great literature, but it will certainly make you think and definitely make you laugh. For what it is, I recommend it highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I too grew up in Iowa in the Fifties. Memories came rushing back. I too wondered how ducking under my school desk would save me when 'The Bomb' went off. I even forgive Bryson for changing Waterloo TV station KWWL into KWWI... This is my second excursion into Bryson's mind. "A Short History of Nearly Everything" being my first ride. I am on my way to the rest of his books and a full tour. Thank you Bill Bryson.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book, particularly since we share the same hometown, High school and familiar places, but in addition to that, the book is hilariously funny and well written.

Bill Bryson is a brilliant writer but I just wish he would grow up a little. I've read several of his previous books, such as 'Mother Tongue', and `A Walk in the Woods' and the only thing I can't stand about him is his insistent references to what goes on in the bathroom, mucus, and other yucky stuff, as well as some limited use of seedy language (s-word, f-word, mf-word, etc.). Aside from that, I like everything he writes. Call me a prude if you wish, and tell me to read someone else, and I'd probably agree with you both times. In fact, I broke a (soft) promise to myself by reading this book.

Anyway, that aside, `The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid' was a fun read. It brought back the ambience of the 1950's and early 1960's, when post-War optimism knew no limits. The guys were back from soldering and were happily starting families, the economy was booming, new ideas for commercial products to make our lives easier seemed endless, and there were a super abundance of kids running around. Bryson was born in 1951 and was able to soak up much of this environment, and was able to express it about as well as it could be expressed. He laments the changes that have taken place since those more innocent times; it was similar to his lamenting the gradual disappearance of English hedge rows in one of his previous books. He mixes some humorous, personal tall tales with actual facts about the era; it's actually surprising how much research he does for each of his books.

I would have given him 5-stars if he had toned it down a bit.

As an American living overseas, I was naturally drawn to Bill Bryson's earlier books, and I became a Bryson addict in short order. So even when he veered out into new territory, as with A Short History of Nearly Everything, I happily went along for the ride. In this book, he returns to "travel" as his theme, but it's time travel--he writes of his childhood, reminding us that the past is, indeed, another country.

While he may not have actually had any superpowers when he was a child, today he is capable of inducing crippling laughter at least once per chapter. Long live the Thunderbolt Kid!