As a top-flight foreign correspondent, John Passmore was at the pinnacle of his career: the Chief Correspondent of the London Evening Standard. Then, at the age of 45, he announced that he was bored and resigned. It would not be until he was 68 that this made any sense. At a time when most people are taking stock of their lives, Passmore was told that he had ADHD. In fact, he was in the 1% of the most severe cases.

Suddenly, everything made sense the chronic search for excitement, the chaotic relationships, the poor school reports, bad driving… It was a crushing emotional experience. Passmore dealt with it the only way he knew how. He wrote about it.

He wrote about it with all the urgency and passion he brought to his newspaper dispatches. He filled it with the humour that had been his trademark.

Over a period of seven years of re-writing that same long and enthralling life story, from farmworker and door-do-door salesman to commodity trader and singlehanded sailor, he not only came to terms with a mental kink that affects 5% of the world's population, but he learned to embrace it.

If you are one of the 1.5 billion people in the world with ADHD or if you live with one of them you need this book.

If you just want to laugh out loud at the story of the Load of Straw, you need this book.

John Passmore now lives on his boat and sails where he pleases, writing about it as he goes. He has no plans to do anything else.

This book was first published with a different subtitle and, quite frankly, a depressing front cover. It did not sell very well. However, it attracted several enthusiastic reviews.