The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

Some say that the first hint that Bill Bryson was not of Planet Earth came when his mother sent him to school in lime-green Capri pants. Others think it all started with his discovery, at the age of six, of a woollen 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 peoples hands from a distance, and wear his underpants over his jeans in the manner of Superman.Bill Brysons first travel book opened with the immortal line, I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to. In his deeply funny new memoir, he travels back in time to explore the ordinary kid he once was, and the curious world of 1950s America. It was a happy time, when almost everything was good for you, including DDT, cigarettes and nuclear fallout. This is a book about growing up in a specific time and place. But in Brysons hands, it becomes everyones story, one that will speak volumes especially to anyone who has ever been young.About the AuthorBill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951. Settled in England for many years, he moved to America with his wife and four children for a few years ,but has since returned to live in the UK. His bestselling travel books, include The Lost Continent, Notes From a Small Island, A Walk in the Woods and Down Under. His mammoth work of popular science, A Short History of Nearly Everything, was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, and won the Aventis Prize and the Descartes Prize. His latest book is The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.