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Lonely Boy
  • Published: 17 October 2026
  • ISBN: 9781804965443
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $29.99
Categories:

Lonely Boy

Tales from a Sex Pistol

Formats & editions
Paperback
17 Oct 2026
EBook
17 Nov 2016
Paperback
15 Oct 2017
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  • Published: 17 October 2026
  • ISBN: 9781804965443
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $29.99
Categories:

About the author

Steve Jones

Jones is Professor of Genetics at University College London and has worked at universities in the USA, Australia and Africa. He gave the BBC Reith Lectures in 1991, and presented a successful BBC TV series on human genetics and evolution in 1996. He is a regular columnist for the Daily Telegraph and frequently appears on radio and television. His previous books include The Language of the Genes (which won the 1994 Rhône-Poulenc Science Book Prize) and In the Blood (shortlisted for the 1997 Rhône-Poulenc). He won the 1997 Royal Society Faraday Medal for the Public Understanding of Science.
portrait photo of Steve Jones

Also by Steve Jones

The Last Laugh Club
Terminally Kill
Call Time
Almost Like A Whale
See all

Praise for Lonely Boy

Lonely Boy is often eye-wateringly funny … Jones is good at puncturing myth … His book’s a delight.

Observer, 'Music Book of the Day'

It can be harrowing, hilarious, and often touching, but above all, Lonely Boy is life-affirming. Thank you, Steve Jones.

Sex-pistols.net

The Pistols’ story, retold refreshingly and with added rumpage … What’s special about this book is its story arc, which will make the most hardened punk well up … A poignant, honest, drily humorous rump-fest from a lost soul found.

Mojo

The Sex Pistols guitarist details his life – an impoverished Sixties childhood, sexual abuse and dalliances with crime – in a way that is both moving and candid.

Telegraph, 'Top 50 Books of the Year'

[An] absolute riot of revelation…[Jones] owns up to his failings with a colourful candour that is moving.

Neil McCormick, Telegraph

[A] bloody good story … Though ghosted, Steve Jones’ own voice speaks loud and clear throughout Lonely Boy, a brutally honest … and level-headed memoir.

Record Collector

Raucously funny.

Uncut

A classic tale made fresh.

Ransom Note

Lonely Boy is unique amongst rock star memoirs: Jones is the real deal.

Esquire

Gem.

The Spectator

Frank and engaging.

The Beat

Perhaps I've been biased by a forty-year devotion to the Pistols, but having just turned its final page, Lonely Boy only seems like the best book since The Bible.

Classic Rock

An enthralling, engaging human story: harrowing, hilarious and often touching, but above all, life-affirming.

Vive Le Rock

Eminently readable.

TeamRock

One of the best autobiographies I have ever read

On: Yorkshire Magazine

This first-hand account from the band’s guitarist captures the significance of the band through his own eyes, but also delves deep into his difficult childhood. Jones is a one-off: hilarious, eccentric, painfully honest and 100% Lahndahn.

TeamRock