From experiencing homelessness as a teenager to attaining the most senior rank in the British fire service, Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton has lived a life defined by adversity – and by the remarkable capacity to turn it into strength. As a neuroscientist, she has spent her career trying to understand why.

In this book, Cohen-Hatton draws on cutting-edge brain science and her own extraordinary story to explore how adversity shapes the way we think, feel and perceive the world around us. She shows how we misjudge others based on limited perspectives, why we so often internalise our setbacks as personal failures, and how unconscious bias – in ourselves as much as in those around us – can quietly determine the limits we place on our own lives. Each chapter takes a relatable experience of adversity and pairs it with science-backed strategies for moving through it.

Compassionate and deeply practical, The Adversity Advantage shows us that our worst experiences need not define us – they can, with the right tools, become our greatest source of strength.