The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

There are many theories on how the Thunderbolt Kid came to attain his fantastic powers, and turned the world into a dangerous place for morons.

Some say that the first hints that Bill Bryson was not of Planet Earth came from his discovery, at the age of six, of a woolen jersey of rare fineness. Across the moth-holed chest was a golden thunderbolt. It may have looked like an old college football sweater, but young Bryson knew better. It was obviously the Sacred Jersey of Zap, and proved that he had been placed with this innocuous family in the middle of America to fly, become invisible, shoot guns out of people's hands from a distance, and wear his underpants over his jeans in the manner of Superman.

Bill Bryson's first travel book opened with the immortal line, 'I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.' In this hilarious new memoir, he travels back to explore the kid he once was and the weird and wonderful world of 1950s America. He modestly claims that this is a book about not very much: about being small and getting much larger slowly. But for the rest of us, it is a laugh-out-loud book that will speak volumes - especially to anyone who has ever been young.

BILL BRYSON was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951. He settled in England in 1977, where he lived for many years with his English wife and four children before moving with his family to America. In 2003 the Brysons came back to England where they intend to remain. He is the bestselling author of 'The Lost Continent', 'Mother Tongue', 'Neither Here Nor There', 'Made In America', 'Notes From A Small Island', 'A Walk In The Woods', 'Notes From A Big Country' and 'Down Under', as well as, most recently, 'A Short History Of Nearly Everything', which won the Aventis Prize 2004 and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize.

Random House Australia
Author: Bill Bryson
ISBN: 0385608268 / 9780385608268
RRP: $49.95