Beginning with his early childhood spent exploring the vibrant surroundings of pre-war Shanghai, Ballard charts the course of his remarkable life from the deprivations and unexpected freedoms of the Lunghua Camp to his return to a Britain physically and psychologically crippled by war He explores his subsequent involvement in the dramatic social changes of the 1960s, and the adjustments to life following the premature death of his wife In prose displaying his characteristic precision and eye for detail, Ballard recounts the experiences which would fundamentally shape his writing, while simultaneously providing a striking social analysis of the fragmented post-war Britain that lies behind so many of his novels