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.

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!

Interesting Parts, Great Narration

Much of it sounded like a comedy stand-up routine, which was far from what I expected, given the title. I did enjoy the latter part of the book as it was more about his travels and experiences during his travels.

Read it in 1990s listened in 2022

Great book to read. Wonderful book to listen to as well. Performance excellent. Because of this book I have read all of Brysons books. He has the ability to make the common place and mundane interesting and funny. Be careful reading this book at night: you might keep others awake with your laughter! Loved listening to this!!!

A little less of the usual Bill

Interesting travels across the US, but with a slightly less funny, slightly darker and perhaps more arrogant Bill.

Down the road again

I know Mr Bryson has been writing a lot of American travelogues over the years, I've seen the name on many books. ;However this is the first time I have read one of his books, and to be honest, I was a little disappointed. Not with the content, it was very good. but I had trouble with some of his opinions. Of course, we all have them, and cant get away from our personal precognitions, but is a travelogue really the place to air these opinions, especially when they are negative? I think I will be looking elsewhere in the future.

Great writing, but needs Bill to read it

It’s always so much better when Bill Bryson reads his own work. This guy was good, but he’s no match for the author.

This author has a weird fixation

Can anyone explain to me what Bryson's fixation with peoples' weight is all about? Geez!

He is a great storyteller, His geographical descriptions are spot-on and make you feel like you are right there. Yes, he has some snark going here, but overall he tells a great story and his details are so vivid. Except when he is describing people. Almost everyone he deigns to describe is summarily dismissed as fat. Chubby. Plump. Overeater. Obese. You get the idea. Beyond his running comments about waitresses with beehive hairdos, almost all his other descriptions of people are one dimensional cracks about their weight. Not only is this rude and not at all descriptive, it is just plain lazy writing. I was so annoyed. I wanted to know more about the people he encountered than just their waist size.

I loved some of the geographical snark. I've lived in Carbondale Illinois, and he was spot-on about it being the most nothing place there is. I've visited many of the other eastern locations, and loved some of what he loved, and disliked some of what he disliked. It was fun to hear places I know come up in narration. Did he ever find that perfect town? He came close a couple of times.

However, If I had a dollar for every time he mentioned someone's weight in that nasty turn of phrase, well, I'd buy out a Dunkin Donuts and eat my fill.