John Buck Buck itibaren Khori, Madhya Pradesh, India
I'm a big fan of Bill Bryson's writing, but this one was both uplifting and saddening at the same time. The premise of the book is how Bill learned to see a country be wooed by the siren song of prosperity through the guise of his own internal superhero persona, the Thunderbolt Kid. This is an engaging book which takes the reader back to simpler times, with plenty of Bryson's characteristic laugh-out-loud funny moments to go around. The Thunderbolt Kid persona is really a subtitle to the main idea of the book - a fond trip down memory lane to revisit America in a more innocent state. That was the saddening part of the book as well - the inevitable loss of innocence that prosperity and productivity brings makes one yearn for the days when going downtown was the highlight of the week, where people dressed up to go out, and where things were just more fun because people didn't know any better. Bryson's insightful commentary on how the American people used their newfound free time due to labor-saving devices to work ever harder in order to earn more money to buy yet more labor saving devices. The vicious cycle of not only keeping up with those cursed Joneses but rather outdoing them was born, and in the process simple pleasures like matinee movies, the corner drugstore with a soda fountain, and specialty stores were swept off of the face of North America. Reading this book is like sitting down with a grandparent or elder family member and just listening to them tell stories of the "good old days" and in Bryson's perspective, they really were good and we should all be sorry that they are gone forever. So take a read of this book, and see where we've been because it will put a whole new perspective on where we're going.