The most redeeming thing about the book was that the chapters/articles were perfectly bite-sized – just right for reading in small incraments without losing story-line momentum. This would make a great book to have on hand in the bathroom.

Entertaining to a degree, Bryson strikes me as guy who does a lot of puttering around, making observations about every day inconveniences and searching for statistics that back up his opinion. He sort of reminds me of my dad, shaking his fist at those darn kids and their new-fangled garage door openers.

I’m a semi-Bryson fan. I enjoyed “A Walk in the Woods” and “Neither Here Nor There” but would pass on “The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid” if presented the opportunity to read it again. This is definitely not his best work and I would advise those new to Bryson to pick up another one of his books before moving forward with this one.