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 people's hands from a distance; and wear his underpants over his jeans in the manner of Superman. Bill Bryson's 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 Bryson's hands; it becomes everyone's story; one that will speak volumes - especially to anyone who has ever been young.