I Swear: My life with Tourette's

by John Davidson

From the remarkable man whose life inspired the heartstopping film, ‘I Swear’, a book that offers extraordinary insight into what it’s like to live with a severe form of Tourette’s syndrome: a fascinating, complex condition that’s more common than most of us think ( 1 in 100 schoolchildren have the condition) , and yet is chronically misunderstood.

Born in the 1970s on the Scottish Borders, John’s was ten when his tics first arrived, as if from nowhere. Previously a happy, popular, football-mad boy he was labelled disruptive, rude, and even mad. As his condition progressed, from blinks and jerks to involuntary rude and obscene shouting, John was bullied, rejected - alienated from his family and a society that had no idea what to make of him.

Hospitalized and drugged for months, it was only an extraordinary and transformative friendship, and John’s dogged optimism, that turned his life around, making I Swear an inspirational story of triumph over adversity.

Through John’s eyes, we see Tourette’s not just as a medical condition, but as a lens through which we can all better understand the importance of human connection. And how essential, as well as ultimately rewarding, it can be to keep going and never give up.

304 pages, Hardcover

Published August 21, 2025

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

John Davidson has been a lifelong educator. He is an avid outdoorsman and Internet entrepreneur running online businesses since 2001. He has more than 200 websites and has written or published more than 1000 books. His books include:

• Health Learning series
• Amazing Animal Books for Young Readers series
• Learn to Draw series
• Learn to Airbrush series
• Learn to Paint with Pastels series
• How to Build series
• Entrepreneur Book series

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Watched the film first, then read the book, brilliant, easy to read, funny and sad - heartwarming. I also now understand much more about Tourette's

[Joe Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this book.

[Alan Wightman · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's informative to read a narrative from the point of view of someone with Tourette's. The telling of the tale is simple and straightforward. I still laughed, even at the vocal tics I guess I'm not supposed to laugh at.