The Lost Continent

Travels In Small Town America

By: Bill Bryson

Narrated by: William Roberts

Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Hardly anyone ever leaves Des Moines, Iowa. But Bill Bryson did, and after 10 years in England he decided to go home, to a foreign country.

In an ageing Chevrolet Chevette, he drove nearly 14,000 miles through 38 states to compile this hilarious and perceptive state-of-the-nation report on small-town America.

From the Deep South to the Wild West, from Elvis' birthplace through to Custer's Last Stand, Bryson visits places he re-named Dullard, Coma, and Doldrum (so the residents don't sue or come after him with baseball bats). But his hopes of finding the American dream end in a nightmare of greed, ignorance, and pollution. This is a wickedly witty and savagely funny assessment of a country lost to itself, and to him.

©1989 Bill Bryson (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

the narrator overdoes it a bit

Bill Bryson is a fantastic writer, though this may not be his strongest example. He offers a very negative analysis of happenings that don't come close to warranting any attention at all. In his masterpiece "A Brief History of Nearly Everything" he manages to be critical, reasonable, insightful, funny and charming. Here, though, he doesn't stray too far from merely being cruel to each of his subjects.

My negative review is at least party impacted by the narrator. He hits every emotion squarely on the head, leaving no room for ambiguity. When a character may be naive, the narrator uses a voice that is too naive. It's not very subtle. I'd like to see more performances with less intonation, less differences between characters. In a sprawling travel book like this, you don't need a distinct voice for every new character. It's too much.


But still, there were moments of brilliance.

Full of laughs!

I loved the wit and stereotypes portrayed in this book. I've been to several places in this book and I have to agree with Bill's assessment.

Bryson travels on this side of the pond

Bryson has a unique ability to capture the spirit of the open road in his writing. Though not the most thrilling, edge-of-your-seat story, it's nonetheless a fun look at small-town America through a semi-foreigner's eyes.

The narration is very well done, though I will confess that I was disappointed that Bryson himself didn't narrate. With a book like this, I think the author can bring a unique angle to the narration that's lost on a third party.

Good book

Like a cross between his Notes From a big Country and his The Thunderbolt Kid. Classic Bryson humor. Love the narrator. Perfect choice.

Not one of my favorites

This is one of Bryson's earliest books, published in the late 80's. As such, it lacks much of the humor that balances his snarkiness, leaving a book that seems to have been written by a curmudgeon. Americans have a lot of issues, but I found the book mean spirited. I also couldn't figure why he chose to travel during the cold, rainy season when some of the prettiest parts of the west weren't accessible. Maybe he wanted a better comparison with life in England.

A Bryson Road Trip

. And we're off, again with a most favored travel companion as he criss-crosses the American landscape for all the sights and sounds, highways and bi-ways, tasting the fare and describing his adventure. What is different in this work is that Bryson avoids for the most part all the large cities and tourist traps in search for the more quaint and less dense populations to get the feel of small town America and the people who reside there. Not as jovial as he later works were to come it's never the less entertaining and informative and I heartily recommend.

Great American outdoors

This Book reminded me of my road trip to Colorado and it touched on certain elements that can relate to during that trip. The book is very similar to Blue highways and on the road on describing the adventures on the American roads.

Overall I love road trip books and the little adventures around the way

Pompous Narrator

I am a huge Bill Bryson fan and I am perplexed as to why he isn’t the narrator of all of his books. Other narrators struggle to convey the humor and charm that makes Bryson one of the most captivating authors on audible.
Though the narrator can be a bit over the top the story is still great and worth a listen.

Not his best book

I’m glad this wasn’t my first B.B. book. It would have been my last. He is negative and cynical. Occasionally, he would reverse himself and say someplace or someone wasn’t as bad as he had originally thought. Now I feel I must return to other B.B. books to see if I was just overly defensive about the country I love. By the way, my daughter did not agree with my assessment, so maybe I am ok with his humorous put downs of other places, and just not when it comes to the country I love. Take my review with a grain of salt.

Delightful, Funny, Poignant

Although written in 1987 & 1988, almost all of the vignettes from Bryson’s wonderful travels around the US still ring true, some more than ever. Any reader that enjoys Bryson’s work, or has read Blue Highways by the late William Least Heat Moon will be sure to enjoy this excellent story. Perfect narration by William Robert’s too. Highly recommended!