Learning to Think.

byTracy King

A memoir about hardship, education, hellfire, family, finding a way to break free

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When you have nothing, you cling to whatever gives you hope ...

Put yourself in Tracy King’s shoes. Growing up on an ordinary council estate outside Birmingham, in a house filled with creativity, curiosity and love, but marked by her father’s alcoholism and her mother’s agoraphobia.

By the time she turns twelve, her father has been killed, her sister taken into care and her mother ensnared by the promises of born-again Christianity.

This isn’t the stuff of cult documentaries; It is the story of an ordinary family trapped in a broken system. One that could happen to anyone without the tools to transform their circumstances. And it’s the story of how Tracy found her way out.

A shocking, inspiring and ultimately hopeful memoir that holds up a mirror to the everyday realities of living in poverty, it is also a testament to the power of books and of learning to think for yourself.
An astonishing account of a father’s violent death, exorcism and religious superstition….
Learning to Think is, in many ways, a book about demons: the addiction, violence, mental health struggles and, yes, superstition, that so often accompany poverty. But it’s also the story of an extraordinary family, full of energy and joie de vivre. It’s a story that brims with life and hard-won hope… Well structured and punchily told.
Christina Patterson, Sunday Times

About Tracy King

Tracy King is a writer, producer and science communicator based in England. She has contributed to media on subjects ranging from science and technology to politics and video games, for the BBC and in the Guardian, Telegraph, the New Statesman, Stylist and the New European, amongst others. She was a columnist for Custom PC magazine for over ten years. Her science and critical-thinking animations include a collaboration with Tim Minchin, Storm, which has over five million views on YouTube and was adapted into a bestselling graphic novel. Her television and radio credits include Sky News, Newsnight, Good Morning Britain and BBC Sounds. She is writer in residence at the Royal Institution, one of Britain's oldest scientific organizations.
Details
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • ISBN: 9781473583764
  • Length: 336 pages
  • Price: £8.99
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