The Lost Continent cover art

The Lost Continent

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Lost Continent

By: Bill Bryson
Narrated by: Kerry Shale
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

 Hardly anyone ever leaves Des Moines, Iowa. But Bill Bryson did, and after 10 years in England he decided to go home...to a foreign country.

In an ageing Chevrolet Chevette, he drove nearly 14,000 miles through 38 states to compile this hilarious and perceptive state-of-the-nation report on small-town America.

From the Deep South to the Wild West, from Elvis' birthplace through to Custer's Last Stand, Bryson visits places he re-named Dullard, Coma, and Doldrum (so the residents don't sue or come after him with baseball bats). But his hopes of finding the American dream end in a nightmare of greed, ignorance, and pollution. This is a wickedly witty and savagely funny assessment of a country lost to itself, and to him.

Travel through small-town America with Kerry Shale's popular BBC Radio 4 reading of Bill Bryson's comic travelogue.

©1993, 2003 BBC Audiobooks Ltd (P)1993, 2003 BBC Audiobooks Ltd Travel Writing & Commentary Funny Witty

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Bill Bryson BBC Radio Collection cover art
The Lost Continent cover art
Icons of England cover art
Abroad in Japan cover art
The Full English cover art
My Family and Other Animals cover art

Critic reviews

"Hilarious....He can be suave, sarcastic and very funny..not your typical travel writer." ( Sunday Telegraph)
All stars
Most relevant  
Bill's writing struggles to shine through the narrator. It is very unusual for me to write a review after such a short time listening. In fact it's a first..... I'm not sure I can force myself to go on. Plenty of the usual observational humour but the narrator has a party to go to and rushes along to finish early. Will he run out of steam or be pulled up by an editor... I doubt it.
I am stuck now between "you bought it, so listen" and " you'll never know if you don't finish it".
After such a poor start it can only get better......

Will I finish it ?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I enjoyed listening to this while reading another (print) book. Its an easy listen and its quite amusing at times - maybe not outright 'laugh out loud' material but it certainly made me smile a number of times. The narrator I didn't really like, as he seemed to rush through the book a bit. I checked and it was on 1.0 speed, yet it sounded like they were rushing through reading each page, which is a shame. I imagine some people may be (somewhat?) offended by the perhaps somewhat over exaggerated southern 'drawl' type accents featured. I'd say more but it'd count as spoilers, so I won't. Its not a total piss take, I know the author did live in the UK for some time and I found it interesting to hear his reaction to being back in his childhood 'home country', seeing what had changed. An interesting, informative and sometimes somewhat amusing listen, I'd recommend this.

Amusing listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved this book when it first came out but now it is absolutely hideous. sarcastic and unpleasant. also the narration is read it breakneck speed making it almost impossible to follow in any detail.

casual racism

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I like all of Bryson and love most. Unfortunately as others have remarked, this version is read simply far too fast. Articulately and well pronounced, easy to understand if your first language is English, yes. But.
Shame because it does spoil it. Audiobooks are for relaxation. I'm afraid I shall probably think twice if I notice this narrator and I want a relaxing listen.

This version isn't great

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Listened to this on radio 4 in the car back in the day and remembered it as being extremely funny and erudite. Still in the car now with my son splitting his sides with laughter seems to have not lost any of it's charm. Kerry Shale is a star narrator!

Just as funny as I remember

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love Bill Bryson. I have read and listened to his books so often I can tell that this version has been edited down slightly. It isn't indicated as abridged but it is not the full work. I'll stick with the William Robert narration.

Abridged for no good reason

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Have read this book, twice. It is excellent. All his books at. A walk in the woods, is my favourite,, it's the top of my dessert island discs list. 5 star

Fabulous

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Like all Bill Bryson writing this is witty, dry and very entertaining. I'm not convinced that Kerry Shale is the best choice of reader. The writing stands on its own, it doesn't need the heavy stresses that Shale uses.

Bill'd Be Better

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is the only Bill Bryson book I can find here read by Kerry Shales. When I Was younger we used to listen to Bryson in the car - and all were read by Kerry Shales. His delivery, and his character voices are superb and really make me laugh and listen.

I haven't listened to the other narrator but I'm worried it won't live up to the superb Shales.


Audible PLEASE FIND THE OTHER BOOKS HE'S NARRATED!

Kerry Shales is the best

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I remember listening to this with my mum when we were on a long car journey, and for some strange reason I tried to find it, I had given up until I thought I would try the previews, and there was Kerry Shale's familiar voice!!
Kerry Shale is a great narrator, and could make the phonebook sound funny, so added to Bill Bryson' s wit it makes a good 2 hours pastime!

Blast from the past

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews