THE LOST CONTINENT

On Sunday I was simply out of it. I could barely speak two words without going into a fit that would surely have bested Hillary Clinton in a one on one coughing contest. And remember, coughing is one of Hillary's best talents. (Is lying considered a 'talent'?)  I had intermittent chills interspersed with intermittent sweating. My fitbit tells the story, I accumulated 2031 steps over the course of the day. I suppose that 2000 steps is about what one can accomplish by walking to the refrigerator and bathroom over the course of one day. Yesterday was a day for reading. 

The first Bill Bryson book that I ever read was A Short History of Nearly Everything. This book should be read by everyone and then re-read. I can't remember much of that book, only that every page had information about...well... nearly everything.  Another Bryson book that I read some time ago, At Home: A Short History of Private Life.  A week or so ago, I finished reading Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States.  Every single page of this book was fascinating. Naturally, I can remember almost none of it. This book needs to be read and re-read as well.

Since I was completely incapacitated and barely able to speak on Sunday, I spent my time reading The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America. This book was endlessly fascinating to me as Bryson recounts his travels through small town America. This is the America that I know best.  

It was too easy to simply copy and paste the description of this book from wikipedia as the description was perfect. So here it is:

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America is a book by travel writer Bill Bryson, chronicling his 13,978 mile trip around the United States in the autumn of 1987 and spring 1988. It was Bryson's first travel book.

He begins his journey, made almost entirely by car, in his childhood hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, heading from there towards the Mississippi River, often reminiscing about his childhood in Iowa. The journey was made after his father's death, and so is in part a collection of memories of his father in Des Moines while he was growing up.

The book is split into two sections: 'East' and 'West', the former part being considerably longer than the latter. These sections correspond to two separate journeys made in the autumn of 1987 and spring of 1988. The first section covers the Midwest, the Deep South, the East Coast and New England, before returning to Des Moines. The second section focuses on the Great Plains, the South West, California and the Rocky Mountains.

Bryson's goal in this trip was generally to avoid tourist destinations, instead choosing to experience the real every-day America, stopping at small towns and forgotten points of interest. This book is an overview of the United States from Bryson's point of view. There is less focus on factual insight into the history, geography and culture of the destinations in this book than is found in some of Bryson's later books, focusing instead on observations made with the intention of being humorous.

Now that I have read four Bryson books, I realize that he is one of my favorite authors. Lucky me, Bill Bryson has written a bunch of books, and I am going to make a point to read them. This guy is insightful, interesting and often very funny. (And I can say this knowing that he is no Republican - what can I say? No one is perfect.)

.

Your Food Diary For:

Sunday, September 18, 2016

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal	450	81	8	12	0	3
	450	81	8	12	0	3
L U N C H
Hormel - Mary's Corned Beef Hash	340	22	22	15	900	1
Eggs - Grade A Large, 3 eggs	210	0	15	18	210	0
	550	22	37	33	1,110	1
D I N N E R
Cabbage Soup, Homemade	400	41	1	9	313	23
Roundy's - Center Cut Bacon	210	0	12	21	660	0
	610	41	13	30	973	23
S N A C K S
Oreos - Oreos, 9 cookies	480	75	21	3	420	42
Nestle - Dark Chocolate	400	42	23	5	0	0
	880	117	44	8	420	42
Totals	2,490	261	102	83	2,503	69
Your Daily Goal	2,017	252	67	101	2,300	75
Remaining	-473	-9	-35	18	-203	6
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
	*You've earned 87 extra calories from exercise today

.

.

Publication Order of Travel Books

The Palace Under the Alps	(1985)
The Lost Continent	(1989)
Neither Here Nor There	(1991)
Notes From a Small Island	(1995)
A Walk in the Woods	(1998)
I'm a Stranger Here Myself	(1999)
In a Sunburned Country	(2000)
Bill Bryson's African Diary	(2002)
The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes From a Small Island	(2015)

Publication Order of Language Books

Made in America	(1994)
The Mother Tongue	(1990)
Bryson's Dictionary for Troublesome Words	(2002)
Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors	(2008)

Publication Order of Science Books

A Short History of Nearly Everything	(2003)
A Really Short History of Nearly Everything	(2004)
Seeing Further	(2010)

Publication Order of History Books

Icons of England	(2008)
At Home: A Short History of Private Life	(2010)
One Summer: America, 1927	(2013)

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid	(2006)
Shakespeare: The World as Stage	(2007)

.