Bath-based author Andy Laker, who spent his early years in Wickwar, will publish Careering Off Course in September, a book that leans into decades of wrong turns, stalled jobs and abandoned ventures rather than glossing over them. Instead of explaining how he reached the top, Laker looks at how ambition met hesitation, misplaced optimism and a tendency to confuse activity with progress. Rather than removing the embarrassing episodes, poor decisions and unsuccessful ventures, Laker has deliberately placed them at the centre of the book. “I spent years assuming everyone else had a proper plan,” said Laker. He said: “The boy who used to bounce on his bed to avoid reading has somehow written a book.