THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE THUNDERBOLT KID

By Bill Bryson

Synopsis

Bill Bryson’s nostalgic and hilarious memoir of growing up in an eccentric, but loving, family in 1950s Middle America.

Sample Player

Narrator	Bill Bryson
Length	7hrs 30mins
Catalogue No.	7701
Publisher	BBC/ Chivers Audio

Other audiobooks by Bill Bryson

AT HOME: A SHORT HISTORY OF PRIVATE LIFE

Bill Bryson takes an inwards look at all human life through a domestic telescope. Because, as Bryson says, our homes aren't refuges from history. They are where history begins and ends.

DOWN UNDER

When he realised that Australia, huge as it is, doesn't rank very highly on the world stage, particularly with Americans, Bill Bryson decided to change this view. On his vist Down Under he fell in love with Australia and here persuades us to do the same.

THE LOST CONTINENT

Bill Bryson, native of Ohio, returns from ten years in England to wander across the heartland of America in search of the perfect small town. He travels around 38 states and discovers that he has become a stranger in his own land.

MADE IN AMERICA

In his own inimitable style, Bill Bryson attempts to explain how American language, culture and society developed. Of course he illustrates his serious points with very funny anecdotes.

NEITHER HERE NOR THERE

Bill Bryson backpacks around Europe from its northernmost tip to its southernmost point, describing both people and places with his trademark brand of humour. In his visit to Amsterdam there are sexual references and language some people may find offensive.

NOTES FROM A BIG COUNTRY

After nearly two decades in England, Bryson returns to America with his family, from where he writes affectionately about the world's richest country. The only thing that outshines his amazement--and sometimes, outright dismay--at the way American society has changed, is his English-born family's instant embracing of transatlantic culture.

NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND

An American writer turns a laconic and affectionate eye over Britain - his adopted country.

ONE SUMMER; AMERICA 1927

Bill Bryson travels back in time to summer 1927, the year America stepped out onto the world stage. A gripping narrative featuring a handful of larger-than-life characters, including Charles Lindbergh, Al Capone, Herbert Hoover, Babe Ruth, Ernest Hemingway and Henry Ford.

THE ROAD TO LITTLE DRIBBLING: MORE NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND

Following (but not too closely) a route he dubs the Bryson Line, from Bognor Regis to Cape Wrath, by way of places that many people never get to at all, Bryson sets out to rediscover the wondrously beautiful, magnificently eccentric, endearingly unique country that he thought he knew but doesn’t altogether recognize any more.

SHAKESPEARE

Examining centuries of myths, half-truths and downright lies, Bill Bryson makes sense of the man behind the masterpieces. As he leads us through the crowded streets of Elizabethan England, he brings to life the places and characters that inspired Shakespeare’s work.

A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING

In his attempt to understand everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilisation, Bill Bryson has looked at complex scientific theories and made them comprehensible to everyone. He has also revealed the world in a way most of us have never seen before.

A WALK IN THE WOODS

The author and a friend hike the 2,200 miles of the Appalachian Trail, the longest continuous footpath in the world which stretches along the East Coast of the United States through some of the most arresting landscapes in America. Their experiences are told in the author's hilarious style.