The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson grew up in the Des Moines, Iowa in the 1950s. His dad was a sports journalist who extensively covered baseball (and liked to wear just a shirt to bed.) Things were "safer" in the 1950s, with kids roaming around without safety gear. The family also had a trip to New York where they stayed at a cheap hotel in Harlem, and even had the cops ask them to leave. (They stayed.) Bill had a friend who would always get the rap for getting in trouble, such as nearly burning down the house. For drinking, they started making fake ids out of old checks. Then the friend discovered it was easier to just steal from the grocery store and then grab pallets worth from the distributor. The book title refers to his superhero alter-ego.  The book is a funny, short tale of growing up in a different time.