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The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America by Bill Bryson  (65)  £6.99

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Amazon.co.uk Review

"Here's a fact for you. According to the latest "Abstract of the United States", every year more than 400,00 Americans suffer injuries involving beds, mattresses or pillows...That is more people than live in greater Coventry. That is almost 2,000 bed, mattress or pillow injuries a day. In the time it takes you to read this article, four Americans will somehow manage to be wounded by their bedding."

Fans of Bill Bryson will know by now that this is the kind of completely useless information that gets him excited. In fact, you are unlikely to read anyone else who derives quite so much pleasure from meaningless statistics. If those statistics are about the USA (Bryson's homeland) or his adopted England--or even better, comparing one to the other--then he is in heaven. And it is not only the uselessness of the information that interests him, but also the fact that Americans spend millions of dollars and hours each year collecting such data together.

Though not a match for his earlier success of Notes from a Small Island, Notes from a Big Country takes a good second place. It collects together more than 18 months worth of Mail on Sunday columns which Bryson wrote between October 1996 and May 1998 after he and his English wife and children returned to the US and settled in New England. The only thing that outshines his amazement--and sometimes, outright dismay--at the way American society has changed while he's been away, is his English-born family's instant embracing of transatlantic culture.

A word of warning: reading Bill Bryson is not a spectator sport...you are invited-- in fact, compelled--to marvel at how the nation that "has the largest economy, the most comfortably off people, the best research facilities, many of the finest universities and think-tanks, and more Nobel Prize winners than the rest of the world put together" could be the same nation where "13 per cent of women...cannot say whether they wear their tights under their knickers or over them. That's something like 12 million women walking around in a state of chronic foundation garment uncertainty." This is Bryson at his best, and though not every column inch hits the heady heights of underwear distribution, there are enough laugh-out-loud moments to keep you satisfied.

Detractors of Bryson's work complain all his books are the same, yet dedicated followers cite that very uniformity of style and subject as the reason they return, book after book. Anyone disappointed by A Walk in the Woods (Bryson's account of hiking the Appalachian Trail and not his best book) will have their faith restored by Notes from a Big Country-- here Bryson returns to his favourite subject and the simple, journalistic prose that makes his wacky facts and observations instantly accessible.

Bryson does not pretend to deliver an intellectual treatise on the state of mankind; instead he offers one man's take on how humanity lurches from one day to another--ironically through the kinds of details he mocks others for collecting. --Lucie Naylor

Book Description
The Best of Bill Bryson on the United States selected from his regular column in The Mail on Sunday.

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The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America by Bill Bryson  (65)  £6.99

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83 Reviews 5 star:  (55) 4 star:  (18) 3 star:  (6) 2 star:  (4) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review (83 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   17 of 17 people found the following review helpful: Laughed out loud on a plane!, 31 Aug 2005 By  "isidix" - See all my reviews This review is from: Notes from a Big Country (Paperback) I read this book on holiday and finished it on the way home on the airplane. I wonder what the guy in the seat next to me must have thought because I just couldn't help myself laughing out loud every few minutes. Once I even had tears running down my cheek, I was laughing so hard. This is definitely one of the funniest books I have ever read. It captures the US mentality and way of life so well and with such enormous humour. If you haven't read it, you've deprived yourself of a treat! Well done, Mr Bryson!!!  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   9 of 9 people found the following review helpful: It's Bill Bryson: read it, enjoy it!, 22 Jul 2000 By A Customer This review is from: Notes from a Big Country (Paperback) Bill Bryson is not only a witty travel writer, a deep connoisseur of the peculiarities of American English and one of the greatest homour writers of our age; he is also an acute and dispassionate observer of the defects and the petty follies of our fellow humans. In "Notes from a Big Country" he shows once more this ability of his in its full glory: after living in Britain for almost 20 years, he decided to go back to his native country with his whole family. So, whereas his wife and children are fascinated and charmed by their new life in the USA, he sets to criticize his fellow Americans with unquenchable humour and deep understanding of their inner worlds. Some of the columns collected in this book will be regarded as outstanding specimens of Bryson's best prose: the columns on Xmas decorations, on plane travels, on computerand on the maddening tax system in the USA are small masterpieces that one can't read without feeling the urge to laugh out loudly, regardless of where one is. My favoutite column is the one concerning seaside vacations; it chanced that I read it on a crowded noisy beach of the Adriatic Sea, amid busloads of German tourists and Italian holidaymakers. Needless to say, in Bill Bryson's witty pages I found something familiar...  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   8 of 8 people found the following review helpful: Its just a bunch of news articles stuck together, and yet, 7 Oct 2003 By  Darren Simons (Middlesex, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews       This review is from: Notes from a Big Country (Paperback) Much as I find myself trying to convince myself otherwise, I'm rather a fan of Bill Bryson books, his style of writing, his choice of places to visit. Notes from a Big Country is a little different to his other books as it's not really a book with a story at all - it's a collection of articles Bryson has written for a national newspaper. Bill Bryson was born in Iowa, USA, moved to England in the late 70s and then returned "home" with his new family in tow. On his return, he wrote a weekly column for the Mail on Sunday's Night and Day magazine, about, well, pretty much whatever he wanted, and has now put them into a book. Generally Bryson writes about things he missed from Britain, or things he cannot understand how he managed without - a same selection of topics include TV advert breaks, visiting a movie theater (cinema to you and me), weather and friendliness. Everything is written in the quite unique style of Bill Bryson which means that at times you feel rather sorry for him, and at times even more sorry for his wife! I chose to read the book continuously which in hindsight I regret - far better to read a bunch of his articles, leave the book for a few weeks, read a few more and so on. Definitely a recommended read - Bryson at his irrelevant best!  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) › See all 83 customer reviews...		Most Recent Customer Reviews One of our fave honorary Brits goes home for a bit ... Another tome of brilliantly sparkling gems from Bill Bryson. What I found funniest was that his wife and family, all born and raised in England, appeared to find American life... Read more Published 1 month ago by Annabel Gaskell