Rating: 
Summary: Early Bryson Effort has a Biting Edge
Review: Those who have become familiar with Bill Bryson from his massively popular "A Walk in the Woods," might be a bit taken aback by "The Lost Continent." While "Woods" is a typical Bryson book, well-researched, opinionated and, of course, first rate travel writing, Bryson smoothed the edges of his biting humor ever so slightly. That is most decidedly NOT the case with "The Lost Continent," in which Bryson heaps out much his trademark satire and humor which is at times decidely not good-natured. The book takes Bryon on an automobile journey across America and back, mostly through small towns and historical sights. He brings an intersting perspective in that he had spent the previous decade living in Great Britain, and this journey helped reacquaint him with America. In this, he is a perfect commentator, combining his native Midwestern sensibilities with an adult perspective in which much of what he sees he does not expect because of his long absence from his native soil. Throughout the book, Bryson make references to his father and the family trips taken across the U.S. when he was a child. In this, "The Lost Continent" is a very personal work for him. He dedicated the book to his late father and even though dad is a constance source of (very funny) satire, it also manages to be quite touching. Overall, this is an excellent work from a first rate travel writer and humorist. But if you don't like an edge to your humor, you should probably pass.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointment
Review: I was so disappointed. I have read other Bill Bryson books and loved them. This one is terribly boring. It just goes over boring stereo-types of different regions of the U.S. I had to struggle to finish it. I kept hoping it would get more interesting, but it never does. However, Down Under (In a Sunburned Country) is hysterical, and has tons of interesting facts.
Rating:
Summary: I laughed so hard it hurt!
Review: One of my absolute favorite travel books . . . period. Every few pages I'd put the book down, wipe my tears, call to my wife and say, "You gotta read this." Funny! Funny! Funny!
Rating:
Summary: Not one of his better books
Review: In recounting his journeys through small-town U.S.A., Bryson provides some hilarious episodes and some insights - particularly about the over-commercialization of the landscape and careless destruction of natural and historical treasures. But this book is marred by too many complaints about bad food and lodging as well as careless generalizations, especially about the South. He also appears to have made almost no meaningful contacts with the locals in his travels. Compare this book to William Least Heat Moon's "Blue Highways," and you will see that Moon is much, much better.
Rating: 
Summary: A Crank Insults People and Places Nationwide
Review: It seems that Bill Bryson is into the same things as me. In "A Walk in the Woods" he tackled my top hobby, hiking ridiculously long distances. In this book, he covers my other hobby, driving ridiculously long distances. Bryson's travelogue through small towns in 38 states is very observant and often hysterically funny. He's got good insights into the attitudes and friendliness (or lack thereof) of people in different regions of the country, and he writes thoughtfully on the destruction of America's small town charm by never-ending stretches of strip malls and fast food joints. But even though Bryson is very thoughtful and funny, this book can really get on your nerves at times. This is because Bryson is an extremely arrogant and tactless man. He dislikes everybody with different backgrounds than him, and every place that is different from his home area. He calls people and even entire groups of people obscene names throughout the book. He's got a serious problem with fat jokes, obsessively ripping on overweight people in extremely cruel ways. (By the way, look at the picture of Bryson on the back cover. You can only see his head and shoulders, but he still doesn't look like the skinniest guy in the world). Bryson demeans people who choose to live in big cities, which he can't understand, and he demeans people who live in the countryside, which he also can't understand. He hates people who can't follow directions, but gets lost several times in the book himself. At the lowest points of the book, Bryson mentions how he wants to punch an old lady in the head for cutting in line, how he wants to whack a panhandler with a stick, and how he would like to slap a little boy in Vermont just for being ugly. And he's going to get in a lot of trouble if he doesn't tone down his descriptions of poor black people in the South. Bryson also can't stand any of the places he visits. Through most of the book, he obnoxiously rolls into a location expecting simplistic stereotypes, then criticizes each place for not living up to his unrealistic expectations (a major problem in the section covering New England). He calls almost every small town backwards and boring without taking the time to explore, and passes judgment on large cities (Cleveland and Detroit) after driving right through without stopping. He even finds a way to hate the tremendous national parks out west, like Yosemite for having road signs that aren't descriptive enough, or Sequoia because he couldn't drive his car through a tree (and manages to insult the trees in the process). So I can sort of enjoy Bryson's books on a general level, but I sure was glad when he got back home and brought this book to a close.
Rating:
Summary: A fun read, but occasionally just full of complaints
Review: Bryson's book is full of fun observations, though some are a bit dated, taking place 15 years ago. But he turns a cynical eye on the american highways and byways and is not afraid to tell it like he see it. Having lived in England for years, yet having grown up in the midwest, he brings a certain inside-outsider view on things. But as other reviewers have pointed out, he can get a bit cranky. Part of it, yes, can be attributed to the fact that the country of ourse is so vast, and what we are used to in our area may be very different from other areas and lifestyles - witness the differences between cities and the Montana / Dakotas that he writes about. I'm a bit disappointed also that a lot of his writing is not about what he saw or how it made him feel but rather was "I saw A, then drove to B" and so on. Still, there were many times when he put observations together and made me laugh out loud. I guess part of my feelings is that the book was uneven. He writes of trying to find the Sequoia tree that you can drive through, and upon figuring that it was in northern rather than central California, he just turns it into another whine and complaint. He was let down from perception not meshing with reality, but he really had no one to blame for this, hence he just is pissy. Overall - Light. Frothy. Enjoyable reading definitely. A good chance for those of us who are in one area to see under the veneer of the rest of the country.
Rating:
Summary: Funny but a bit negative
Review: This is the second Bryson book I have read and I honestly need to take a break. He's funny and his observations are usually correct (though he could use some tact in sharing them), but as my boyfriend said (who was reading over my shoulder), "Man, he's cranky." That about sums it up, he's cranky and this is a cranky account of the US. Granted, he went 6,000+ miles in 34 days or some ridiculous thing like that and subsisted on junk food for most of it. That would make most of us pretty cranky. But I think that America gets the shaft in this book. There are plenty of wonderful things about being country folk, about family values, even about capitalism (though I agree with him, the Strip Mall is out of control). I also think that his quest is a bit misguided as he skipped some of the best "little towns" out there, such as Santa Barbara (which he probably would have said was too "rich"), Ithaca, NY (too "hippy"), New Canaan, CT (again, too "hoity toity") and Chapel Hill, NC (well, it's just about perfect). Maybe he should do this again, and we could help him out?! And why stop in NYC at all? Why not Boston? It had no rhyme or reason and PLEASE someone tell him that Columbus Day is not the time to go to Cape Cod. Every other weekend it is a beautiful, idyllic place. Ok, I'm rambling. Final word: funny in parts, but way too critical and perhaps I am just feeling a bit patriotic these days, but I love America.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful trip through America
Review: Bill Bryson again gave us a wonderful travel log filled with humor and insight into out of the way spots. I can never put down any of his books and I recommend this book as well as his others very highly.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm Better Than Everyone in the MidWest
Review: This book was practically forced into my hands by someone who knows I am from the MidWest, not far from Kankakee, which Bryson mentions on page 42....and my daughters went to school in DeKalb, the very name of which Bryson finds unpleasant. I consider myself somewhat "cosmopolitan," having grown up in Chicago and now living in San Jose, but I spent 25 years in the middle of my life in one of those sleepy little farm towns with the grain elevators. Those people he depicts as dumb, uneducated, totally uninformed, etc. are really the backbone of America, the people who keep her fed, working, taxes paid, etc. It's also very odd to me that we all know it is politically incorrect to point out people's differences or features or disabilities and make fun of them. We can't make ethnic jokes or "gimp jokes" without being thought insensitive. Yet in page after page, he makes disparaging remarks about any overweight person he encounters, even if he thinks he is being clever by calling them "clammy" or "meaty." He makes an automatic judgement that each of those overweight persons (usually a woman is his target) is somehow unworthy, not interesting, not entirely clean, sloppily dressed, and not a good wife or mother. If you think this is an exaggeration, re-read those paragraphs. Apparently to him, being fat is the number one sin in mid-America.
Yes, some towns have only a gas station and a Dairy Queen and their idea of a good time is the annual summer all-town picnic. But that's their life. The idea of traveling is to observe and to enjoy the culture, food, scenery, and ideas of others, not to laugh at it and go away smugly congratulating yourself on being "better than them."
I tried, but I could not finish this book.
Rating:
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.
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