Rating: 
Summary: THE LAW OF RETURN
Review: The fact that Bryson recently returned to his native Country, after so many years in the UK, speaks for itself: homesickness and masochism. I always enjoy a good Bryson travelogue, and this one is no exception. I feel his feelings, I get upset as he gets upset, I laugh when he laughs. He always creates empathy, while never forgetting the funny side of life. In the end, I do like travelling with him!
Rating: 
Summary: Due Reverence for the Dear Departed
Review: America is a strange place. In one oversized country it is possible to find both the best and the worst imaginable of people, places, and things. Mr. Bryson's quest to develop an entire and coherent picture is a daunting one, filled with both humor and pathos. In the end, his report from the road is one of mixed feelings. He finds humor in the irony and incongruity of America, yet at the same time he laments the disappearance of the America he once knew or at least believed to exist. Certainly, this is not the rollicking tale of humor interspersed with serious observations that was found in A Walk in the Woods or Notes from a Small Island. The Lost Continent is more somber. It is not devoid of humor, quite the opposite. Mr. Bryson is able to elicit a good laugh from the reader in some of the most serious passages. It is simply that between reflections on his father and the lost world of his childhood, and the state of present day America and all we have lost over the past twenty years, the reader is left with a book far more serious than they may have expected. To say that this is not Mr. Bryson's best work would be somewhat neglectful of the fact that it contains many laudable and well formed critiques of a variety of topics, from hospital care to the interstate system. Perhaps we too hastily seek to put Mr. Bryson into that cadre of writers of domestic and pedestrian humor; to expect from his work the same thing we expect of, say, Mr. Dave Barry. This is a disservice to Mr. Bryson. He is an intelligent and reflective writer. His humor is never without cause and he rejoices in lampooning the ridiculous wherever he observes it. In sum, he is not easily put into a box. As with all of Mr. Bryson's works, save I'm a Stranger Here Myself (the painfully Americanized version of his vastly superior English edition titled Notes from a Big Country), The Lost Continent is recommended. However, the reader should be in the spirit to both laugh and ponder his way through the book. It is more complex that it seems or than it is advertised by the publisher. Read it with the expectation that you will not be entertained without paying for it with a few moments of pause and contemplation.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfully readable over and over!
Review: An absolute gem of a travelogue! The author effectively weaves his early memories of traveling across the U.S. with the journey described in this book. The narrative is informative, witty, and peppered with an occasional sarcasm that is an absolute joy to read. This is one of those rare books that makes you laugh out loud. Sort of Monty Python, Groucho Marx, and William Least Heat Moon all together!
Rating:
Summary: Wicked humour
Review: Bryson was born in Des Moines, and moved to England in his early twenties, marrying and settling down there. This book documents a trip by car around America, starting and ending in Des Moines, after many years in the UK. The ostensible theme of the book is a search for the perfect small town; a sort of Ray Bradbury idealization of fifties America. There's no such town, of course, but Bryson just uses the theme as a springboard for some of the funniest descriptions, stories, and digressions I have ever read. When I started reading this book, I laughed so much my wife wouldn't let me read it in bed. Then she picked it up and discovered how funny it was, and wanted to read it before me. Eventually we compromised, and kept it in the car; the rule was that whoever was driving had to read it to the driver. Several times, however, the reader was laughing so hard that they couldn't get comprehensible words out, and the driver had to pull over to the hard shoulder and grab the book for themselves. Yes, he's a curmudgeon, as other reviewers here have noticed. That's just his style. He's not deep, either; his occasional ruminations aren't negligible, but he's no Mark Twain. But he has an acidly sharp eye for inanity and stupidity, and his anecdotal technique is flawless. His other travel books are along much the same lines, but to me this is the funniest, though "A Walk in the Woods" does show he is capable of good introspective writing. "The Lost Continent" is sharp, satirical, acute, and unkind--wickedly funny in every sense of the word.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: After spending most of my life seeing the rest of the world, I just completed a spectacular 11-month drive on the two-lane roads of America. Although I agree there are plenty of warts, such as fast-food restaurants in embarrassing numbers, I chalked those up to "progress" in a country that is otherwise truly magnificent, and I'll never stop being grateful that it's mine. Am just glad I didn't depend on Bryson's opinion before the trip, or I'd never have realized the dream of a lifetime! His writing style is clever and witty - too bad America-bashing is how he employs it.
Rating:
Summary: Bill, Will You Marry Me?
Review: I love Bill Bryson. I really do. He's quite possibly the funniest and wittiest writer out there. This was a wonderful book and second only to Neither Here nor There. I am greatly anticipating the release of I'm a Stranger Here Myself on paperback. What's interesting is his worldwide appeal--I was introduced to him when I lived in London and took his book with me when I, too, traveled all over Europe. Keep 'em coming Bill!
Rating: 
Summary: mean spirited
Review: While I have enjoyed other books by Bryson, especially Made in America, I found this one to me more mean spirited than funny. I, like some of the other reviewers, have been to many of the places written about here and do not recognize them from Bryson's descriptions.
Rating:
Summary: The Lost Continent
Review: I found this book to be a real disappointment. I was excited to read a book by someone who had done what I've done a number of times - driving cross country and stopping to learn about the land and people - as much as you can in a brief travel. Mr.Bryson seems to have given a cursory look wherever he went. His appraisals seemed to reside, for the most part (okay - a few exceptions) in preconceived notions. It was disappointing - very few insights and a lot of maintaining the sterotypes that are so easily applied to small towns. I'd suggest on his next trip he get out of the car and talk to the people a bit more. The book made me want to go out on my own so that this wasn't the last picture in my mind - it's not much of a picture.
Rating:
Summary: Memo to Bill: Get over it!
Review: Bill Bryson is a wonderfully gifted, clever, witty writer. At his best, he can be utterly charming and/or side-splittingly funny. Much of Lost Continent, however, is not his best. Indeed, much of it is just plain mean-spirited. His targets here are so easy. He seeks out the tacky places, then lampoons them as tacky. Well, yes. At times, he displays a mean-spiritedness that is almost scary, such as when, while listening to a banal conversation among a few Georgia ladies about birthdays that they or family members share w Presidents. Innocuous enough, if banal, right? I mean, most of my conversations & Bryson's I would venture, are equally banal, if eavesdropped upon. Bryson's reaction: "I toyed for a moment with the idea of grabbing the woman by both ears & driving her forehead into my knee." Whoa, Bill! Go straight to anger management class, do not pass go, do not collect $200. And the unresolved issues with the father! Get a shrink! There are enough honest laughs here that I can't rate it less than 3 stars. But lighten up, big guy! At least he did in Walk in the Woods. I look forward to his new travelogue in Australia, if firm hopes that he has now exorcised all his demons.
Rating:
Summary: The Lost Continent-not so great
Review: This is a poor book, for the most part. Bill Bryson is a good writer, as his other books prove. However, I found myself quickly tiring of his whining and negative attitude as he recounts his travels through America. This book is repetitious and a little too cynical for my taste. I much preferred A Walk in the Woods. Though Bryson has a lot of amusing tales, for the most part, the attitude of his writing made me feel a little dark, soiled and depressed at the book's end. I'm glad I only borrowed this book from the library and didn't waste my money on it.
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