GREAT AND UNFORTUNATE THINGS

An inspiring memoir by the youngest Black person ever appointed to a professorship at Cambridge. This is the underdog story of how one non-verbal boy on the spectrum, who society had all but given up on, became the fourth youngest professor at Cambridge, put himself in a position to give back by running marathons for charity, and inspired millions around the world.

Jason Arday was born the second youngest of three boys to West African immigrant parents living in public housing in a rough area of South London. At 3 years old, he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Early on, experts had told his parents that he would never be able to speak, write, or live independently.

But his extraordinary mother, Giff, fiercely dedicated herself to helping her son realize a potential that, too often, she alone believed was possible. Together they set an audacious goal: Jason will earn a PhD and become a professor before the age of 40. In Great and Unfortunate Things, Jason Arday details how at 11 he was speaking, at 18 he was writing, and at 37 years-old, he was appointed to a professorship at the University of Cambridge, becoming the youngest Black scholar there.

Professor Jason Arday is a social commentator, presenter, and public speaker. He is currently the Professorial Chair of Education (Sociology of Education) at the University of Cambridge, making him the youngest-ever Black academic to hold a Professorship at Cambridge and one of the youngest academics ever appointed to a Professorial Chair in Oxbridge's one-thousand year history.