Life Lessons

by Shaun Attwood

As seen worldwide on National Geographic Channel’s Banged-Up Abroad, Shaun Attwood moved from the UK to Arizona as a penniless graduate and became a millionaire. After getting heavily involved in club drugs, a SWAT team smashed his door down. In the harsh reality of Arizona’s penal system, Shaun was forced to reappraise his life. Reflective, philosophical, occasionally terrifying and darkly humorous, Shaun Attwood’s Life Lessons seeks to help young people put their lives into perspective as they wrestle with the trials of adulthood. These lessons are told through hard-hitting stories from Shaun’s life – from high-flying share trader and party animal to prisoner in Arizona’s deadliest jail and super-maximum security prison. In an age which sees an increasing weight of pressure fall upon young shoulders, teenagers and young twenty-somethings will find this book offers invaluable support and an array of tools they can use as they negotiate the pitfalls and hairpin bends of their own lives.

Genres: Nonfiction

154 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 25, 2015

About the author

In prison, I read over 1000 books in just under six years, including many literary classics. Books were the lifeblood of my rehabilitation.

As told on National Geographic Channel's Locked-Up/Banged-Up Abroad episode "Raving Arizona," I used a tiny pencil sharpened on a cell door to write the first prison blog, Jon’s Jail Journal. My writing, smuggled out of the jail with the highest rate of death in America, run by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, turned the international media spotlight on the human rights violations, including guards murdering mentally ill inmates, dead rats in the food, lack of medical care...

Raised in a small chemical-manufacturing town in northern England, I was the first from my family to go to university. As a penniless graduate, I took my business degree to Phoenix, and worked my way up to become a stock-market millionaire.

But I also led a double life. An early fan of the Manchester rave scene, I headed an organisation that threw raves and distributed Ecstasy. On May 16th 2002, a SWAT team knocked my door down.

Facing a life sentence, I entered a lengthy legal battle. After two years of being held unsentenced, I was convicted of drug offences. Sentenced to 9½ years, I served almost 6.

I had only read finance books prior to my arrest. While incarcerated, I submerged myself in literature. By studying original texts in psychology and philosophy, I sought to better understand myself and my past behaviour.

Released in December 2007, I continue to campaign against Sheriff Joe Arpaio. I keep my blog, Jon’s Jail Journal, going by posting stories mailed to me by my prison friends.

In July 2008, I won a Koestler award for a short story, which I read to an audience at the Royal Festival Hall.

I presently live near London, and talk to schools across the UK about my jail experience and the consequences of getting involved in drugs and crime.

Reviews

[Adakin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

Thank you Shaun. I hope to speak with you one day about all the things you’ve experienced. L and R brotha.

[Miranda Starmz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Attwood's life is pretty amazing, and whilst his advice is fairly standard, they serve as inspirational reminders told through entertaining anecdotes.

[Sarah Portsmouth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent follow up

Ensure you read the English Shaun trilogy before reading this book! I found it a good top up following on from the trilogy.

[Sunny Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic Book Shaun - Highly recommend x