The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir Features

Additional The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir Information

From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language, a vivid, nostalgic, and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the 1950s

Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century—1951—in the middle of the United States—Des Moines, Iowa—in the middle of the largest generation in American history—the baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, he is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero. In his case, he ran around his house and neighborhood with an old football jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a towel about his neck that served as his cape, leaping tall buildings in a single bound and vanquishing awful evildoers (and morons)—in his head—as "The Thunderbolt Kid."

Using this persona as a springboard, Bill Bryson re-creates the life of his family and his native city in the 1950s in all its transcendent normality—a life at once completely familiar to us all and as far away and unreachable as another galaxy. It was, he reminds us, a happy time, when automobiles and televisions and appliances (not to mention nuclear weapons) grew larger and more numerous with each passing year, and DDT, cigarettes, and the fallout from atmospheric testing were considered harmless or even good for you. He brings us into the life of his loving but eccentric family, including affectionate portraits of his father, a gifted sportswriter for the local paper and dedicated practitioner of isometric exercises, and OF his mother, whose job as the home furnishing editor for the same paper left her little time for practicing the domestic arts at home. The many readers of Bill Bryson’s earlier classic, A Walk in the Woods, will greet the reappearance in these pages of the immortal Stephen Katz, seen hijacking literally boxcar loads of beer. He is joined in the Bryson gallery of immortal characters by the demonically clever Willoughby brothers, who apply their scientific skills and can-do attitude to gleefully destructive ends.

Warm and laugh-out-loud funny, and full of his inimitable, pitch-perfect observations, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is as wondrous a book as Bill Bryson has ever written. It will enchant anyone who has ever been young.

What Customers Say About The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir:

I loved his bits of factual information providing references of where he was and what was going on around him. I read this book after receiving some devastating personal news. It was a life saver for me. I consider this book ingeniously funny, and I smile just looking at the cover. I grew up at a later time than Mr. Bryson, and in a different part of the country, but I found myself laughing hysterically and relating very well to his accounts of growing up in America.

Detected radioactivity was especially high in eight counties in Iowa and one county each in Nebraska, South Dakota and Illinois. A large amount of nuclear fallout was dropped along the way, narrowly dispersed in a relatively small number of United States counties. The two plumes headed northeast and then east in roughly parallel paths towards the Atlantic Ocean.

TV was new on the scene, and so was the threat of nuclear annialation. Did Bryson get exposed to nuclear fallout from the testing in Nevada:"The Sedan shot resulted in a radioactive cloud that separated into two plumes, rising to 3 km (10,000 ft). The 1950s were a different time in America.

and 4.9 km (16,000 ft). Most heavily affected counties were Howard, Mitchell and Worth counties in Iowa." from Wikipedia, Sedan (nuclear test) All this is put in hilarious perspective by Mr.

Bryson.One thing does concern me.

Interesting to read how world was seen with child's eyes in 50' and what happened in the world, when Bryson was small kid. And once again Bryson has very interesting and funny story for readers. After reading his first bestselling books, I decided to read other Brysons' books as well. This was third book of Bryson, which I read.

It not only offers insightful nuggets of wisdom into the American psyche, but also reveals, via his personal anecdotes, our common foibles. I always laugh WITH Bill Bryson. Love Bryson's stuff. Elucidation through laughter. Read it if you want to get a feel for living and growing up in America. I really got fits of belly-shaking laughter when I read this book -- not only because it is (entertainingly). true and I can identify with it (the paper route, the anecdote with the little girl he wanted to be his girlfriend)-- but because it enlightens.

[http://ritastories.wordpress.com/2010/02/09/bill-bryson-and-the-thunderbolt-kid-hit-the-mark/]While the story is not unique, the way it is told makes this a must read book. From a writer's point of view, Thunderbolt is a master's course in how to capture readers and keep them wanting more.