Growing Up in the 1950s: Bill Bryson's Nostalgic Memoir, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

Tams: This book made me yearn for a time period that I wasn’t even alive in. Of course it’s as funny as you’d expect a Bill Bryson book to be.

Canada on Nov 29, 2023

John Craske: I don't normally laugh out loud when I am reading. But then I bought The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson 30 years ago and have been laughing out loud at his writings ever since. This book may not be his best, but it's still a thoroughly enjoyable and informative read and portrays a world that is now, sadly, gone forever. Or, to be more exact, it's sad that some of it is gone forever.

United Kingdom on Aug 18, 2023

Bratty Ann: Bill Bryson has captured my life in 1950's America. Parents followed the same guide to raise their children. This book reminded me of those years, and the rules I was expected to follow, and getting caught when I didn't. I laughed until I cried, this is so hilarious. Loved this book so much, this is the 5th time I've ordered it to give to friends.

United States on Aug 03, 2023

misslisa: I have purchased and given away multiple copies of this book, and have read it several times. It is laugh out loud funny! Writing from the point of view of a boy growing up in Iowa, Bryson relates stories from his childhood against the backdrop of a changing and often confusing world. There is much in it that anyone can relate to.

United States on Jul 27, 2023

Mr. R. Barlow: As wonderful and humorous as his other books, makes one think of one's own childhood and all the things that have disappeared and been lost or discarded, have to admit it brought a lump to my throat on occasion and a feeling that was at once delightful and at the same time ineffably sad, it's a book that acknowledges that the past is indeed a foreign country.

United Kingdom on Jul 13, 2023

Linda Bristow: I love Bill Bryson’s books. I have read this one years ago but wanted to read it again and it’s lost none of its charm and humour. I chuckled most of the way through (except for the serious bits - and even then there were humorous bits). A great read for everyone.

United Kingdom on Mar 25, 2023

Linda: Six members of my senior book group read this, two of us loved it and enjoyed it immensely. One member of the group liked it and found the historical bits especially interesting. The other three women did not care for the book.
We noticed that if you were the mother of boys you were more inclined to enjoy the story. The three women who didn’t like the book all raised daughters. Many of us are the same age as Bill Bryson, the author, the majority of us are even older than him.
I loved the book and laughed a lot throughout it! Thanks Bill Bryson!

United States on Jan 19, 2023

Kevin Looser: If you grew up in the 50’s or 60’s this book is a must read. There are parts that are laugh out loud funny as story after story will remind one of your own life stories. If you did not not experience those decades as a youth then it is still a must read. If for no other reason than it will educate one to what life was like in those days. Bill Bryson was right when he states at the end that we will not see these life experiences again. A great book!

United States on Dec 22, 2022

Jim Bowen: This book follows Bill Bryson's life in Des Moines from the time he was born till the age he was 18 and left for college. That having been said, it isn't much of a biography, because it traces life in Middle America, as much as it traces his life.

In the main it was a funny book, but it was sad in places, especially when he traces the changes to the city in the 1960s as strip malls, McDonalds and Wal Mart changed the individuality of much of what is Mid-Western America.

The funniest parts were his early childhood. He catches the imagination of young children well. I found his later childhood a little more alien. I don't know him, but having read him, I don't see him as much of a swearer. I don't remember him swearing much in his other books, so was surprised (rather than shocked) to see him swear a few times here, when he was describing his teenage years. I imagine he was trying to communicate what he was like as a teenager, but I'm not sure it worked.

The other thing that surprised me about the book was quite how much of a typical teenager he was. As I said, I've read his other books, and I've always imagined he was dorkier than he's presented here, and that...

United Kingdom on Apr 17, 2011

David McCune: Seriously. I was up past bedtime, and I was reading Bryson's description of lame 1950's toys. I won't give it away, but imagine what he can do with the topic of "electric football". After a particularly vigorous episode of chortling, my wife trudged out of bed to decree that, if I insisted on continuing to read, I'd have to take it downstairs.

And that's what this book is, a laugh-out-loud remembrance of a simpler, sillier time. Bryson's travelogues are what made him famous, and he never would have made it without a fantastic memory for detail and an ability to convey a vivid mental picture of the topics he chooses. His descriptions of 1950's Des Moines are consistently evocative. It's like a travelogue unearthed from a 50 year old time capsule. I feel like I have visited there.

Still, readers of Bryson known that what truly sets him apart is his uncanny ability to attract and describe morons, as well as all manner of idiotic situations (generally self-inflicted). For a man who can do this on, say, a simple trip to Australia, imagine how much comedy gold can be mined from a childhood in the Midwest of the 50's. It is, as they say, a target-rich environment. His...

United States on Oct 19, 2006