BUILT DIFFERENT: Crime, prison and breaking the cycle

by Chris Baker

Chris Baker grew up surrounded by violence, instability and crime. By adulthood, the choices he was making were taking him towards prison — and eventually, that’s exactly where he ended up.

Then came the motorcycle crash that nearly killed him.

After waking from a coma, Chris faced injuries that would change his life forever, eventually resulting in the amputation of his right arm above the elbow. But surviving the crash didn’t suddenly change the man he had become.

There were still consequences to face, years in prison ahead of him, and battles with anger, shame and the beliefs he had carried since childhood.

Built Different is the unfiltered story of what happened next.

It is a story of crime, prison, loss and some of the darkest moments of Chris’s life — but also of responsibility, change and discovering that the person you have been doesn’t have to be the person you remain.

Today, Chris returns to prisons and works with young people, using his own experiences to help others recognise the choices and patterns he once couldn’t see in himself.

Raw, uncomfortable and ultimately hopeful, Built Different asks a powerful

WHAT IF THE THING THAT HAPPENED TO YOU ISN’T WHAT DEFINES YOU — BUT WHAT YOU CHOOSE TO DO NEXT DOES?

With a foreword by Katie Piper OBE.

206 pages, Paperback

Published September 23, 2026

About the author

Chris Baker is an independent scholar and long-term resident of Thailand.