Rating: 
Summary: A hilarious stab at the American heartland?
Review: Perhaps so, but in a good natured "poke-in-the-ribs" sort of way.Born and raised in Iowa ("I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to."), Bryson left the plains to live in England. He returns to write about the land of his childhood. What results is an engagingly humorous look of the world he left behind through his (now) foreign perspective. In the great American tradition of the road trip, Bryson - sans screaming kids - decides to venture forth to document the America he knew and offer insight on what's changed. The book is divided into two trips. One going east, through Ohio, the deep south ("Welcome to Mississippi, we shoot to kill"), through New England back to Des Moines. The other going west to Nebraska, New Mexico, California etc. Through his trips, Bryson details his elusive search for Amalgam, the imaginary utopian American town comprising of hte desirable characteristics of the various towns visited. While offering some astute observations, he unashamedly resorts to harp on the stereotypical which while occasionally funny, gets tiresome after awhile. Admittedly, while Bryson is one of many who have attempted this sort of transcontinental travel writing (think "Travels with Charley" by Steinbeck), his brand of humor is immediately recognizable to an American audience. American readers who might be a tad offended by his travelogue might want to read his take on England as well. One of the better books in the humorous travel writing genre, if there's one.
Rating: 
Summary: Find the Lost Continent
Review: This is a very funny book. Bryson's two road trips, covering 38 of the 48 continental United States, wind through many famous sites and cities as well as many small towns and endless boring miles in the Midwest. He takes these routes in search of the idyllic small towns he remembers from his youth and imagines, but instead finds that the strip malls, fast food joints and cheap hotels that dominate larger towns have taken hold everywhere. His descriptions of the people and places he visits are hilarious and I think it is too bad some reviewers take his comments personally. He was certainly exaggerating and generalizing his statments for humor, but that makes it entertaining. Certainly he comes off a bit whiny and sometimes mean, but that is Bryson's style and the way he writes all of his books. This is the most enjoyable Bryson book I've read to this point and I think anyone who has ever taken a car trip will appreciate it. It is excellent summer vacation reading.
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Summary: Young Bryson Can't Match the Mature
Review: This is my third Bill Bryson book. Thank goodness this was not my first, for I probably would not have picked up "In a Sunburned Country," and "A Walk In The Woods." Where Bryson's latest books are droll, witty and endearing, "The Lost Continent" is frequently petty, forced and mean. In this book Bryson travels around 38 states in a beat up Chevette, often through small towns and out of the way places not usually visited by many. He didn't have a very good trip. Most of this book revolves around the author's put-downs of people he sees and caustic comments about places he visits. After a few hundred pages, the observations seem awfully gratuitous. Where disappointments, angst and difficult people were treated with amusement in his later books, here he often dismisses similar trials here with the brilliant and trenchant observation "FU". Not much authorship in those moments. Not to say that there aren't some funny passages. Several times on the train, I found myself reading out loud. However, I also found myself speed reading ahead several times, an unfortunate first for a Bryson Book. Bryson's later works also weave a good deal of interesting historical background and place descriptions into the book. That is almost totally missing in this effort. He occasionally comes up with some awfully good writing. For example, he described driving toward the mountains in Colorado as "driving into the opening credits of a Paramount Picture." (sic). Unfortunately, there are not enough of those moments and instead too many paragraphs describing how he had another bad meal in another bad town with too many ice cream and pizza parlors and not enough ambiance or fetching waitresses to suit his tastes. Bryson has produced much better. But don't let this book (or review) put you off an author whose books can be very satisfying companions. Just go for his more recent stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Quite funny, a bit of beating the horse
Review: I bought this because of the reviews, as I figured I'd be in pain from laughing so hard. I travel a lot, especially to National Parks and Battlefields.
I laughed a bit, even a few times out loud, but after the first few chapters it grew a bit weary on me. It unfortunately was the same tale at every place the author went. Fat women in bad shorts, ugly rowdy kids, and dull visitor's centers. Yes, we know tourist traps are full of chuncky women in tight Bermudas, but didn't Bryson see any hideous men with them?
Bryson seems almost content to head back to his flea motel and down a six-pack in bed. Not quite the type of guy to pick on everybody else for their looks.
I would still recommend it for frequent travelers, but be prepared for the dislocated American (he moved to England many years back) to be really critical of people he sees along his kind of dull trip.
Rating:
Summary: laugh you way through this one
Review: I loved this book. He does whine, he does offend but nonetheless he's terriby funny. His observations are uniquely his own with a mix of American brash and British dry wit. We should all laugh more. Be forewarned on the whining part and have a good laugh.
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Summary: Come on now....
Review: Let me start by saying that shortly prior to 30 miles on the AT I read A Walk in the Woods and loved it. Couldn't put it down and thought Bryson was not only funny but his book was chock full of tidbits of information that I still quote four years later. I was hoping that Lost Continent would be a similar experience. I was disappointed.
The problem with the book is really one of missed opportunity. I don't think that he took the time that he should have. I was amazed. One foggy and snow bound day in Yellowstone. A couple minutes in front of a giant sequoia with a crowd of people. A review of Cleveland from a bridge as he blasted through. He missed so many chances to be impressed, to see the things that make the US great. At this point, most of us know that the typical American town is not really a notable experience. We know there are too many strip malls and fast food joints. Bill should have got that out of the way early and gotten on to the rest of what was out there.
The best parts of this book, for me, were his recollections of vacationing with his dad. These vacations were the inspiration for the book and in the end BB does a great job making you see how nutty, but great his dad really was.
The rest of the book just sets him up to return to Iowa and realize that it is much better that he ever gave it credit for being.
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Summary: Bryson's best: a fast, informative and entertaining read
Review: I spent this last summer reading the entire collection of Bryson's books and after much thought and energy give THE LOST CONTINENT: TRAVELS IN SMALL TOWN AMERICA the prize for being his finest work to date.
As a writer, Bryson combines the genres of travelouge with personal memoir and in LOST CONTINENT achieves that unique voice that is all his. Always able to deftly combine erudite scholarship with personal insight and extremely salty humour, Bryson leads his audience through a personal journey of not only the American landscape but also his spititual topography as well.
As he journeys across small town America- in a search for "Anytown USA" (an amalgam of all those MGM/Capraesque bygone hamlets), he wistfully searches to reclaim all the memories of his father. His father, a sportswriter, apparently led the Bryson brood on a multitude of spendthrift odysseys. As Bryson retraces the journeys of his childhood he relives so many rich memories that alternate between the comical and the honestly nostalgic without resorting to cheap sentimentality.
Bryson constantly reveals little known histories and local color all the while criticizing and celebrating the subtle nuances that make up the American landscape. He takes shots at the obvious- strip malls, over commericalization and cheap tourist traps in ways that both raise the reader's ire and appeals to the sense of whimsy as well.
Probably Bryson's greatest trick lies in his ability to inspire his reader to undertake similar journeys.
A great read.
Rating: 
Summary: Just like so many previous reviewers,
Review: I didn't like this book at all. I've been many of the places that Bryson visits in the book. I grew up in the same part of the country that he comes from. I hoped that this book would be a funny and light-hearted look at a side of America that I call home. While it is somewhat humorous, I found that his constant sarcasm and cynisism negated most of the laughs.
Plain and simple, he pokes fun at America as a foreigner. I was hoping for a book that read like a buddy joking with me. Instead, reading this book is like listening to a girlfriend pointing out all that is wrong with me.
Rating:
Summary: funny has hell
Review: I can't tell how much I laughed while reading this book. I discovered this book by accident in a B&N store, just after reading 2 pages I had to get it. Don't listen to all the -ve reviews here. Obviously these people couldn't laugh at themselves. Trust me I lived in a small town in Illinois and I know what it is like. I do agree that sometimes he is little too frank, but thats his style and thats the beauty of the book. He not only makes fun of small town America, but he laughs at himself. This is the first book I have read by him, and I am already reading his other book on Europe. Just give this rib-tickler a read within an open mind.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but not his best.
Review: Bryson's one of my favorite travel writers. Hilarious. A Walk in the Woods is my favorite of his. This one is about his travels around small-town America, which isn't as interesting for someone who knows what small-town America is like. And I thought Bryson's sarcasm was a little snotty and mean in places, but pretty enjoyable.
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