Gerry was born in Tipperary, Ireland, and grew up in Belfast. In 1977 he undertook a life-changing journey through Afghanistan, Kashmir and the Himalayas. Returning home, he gave up his career in architecture to become a ‘spiritual seeker’. Wishing to do things properly, Thompson relocated to the USA, and immersed himself in the Californian hotbed of New-Ageism – doing every workshop, following every guru and consulting every psychic in sight before giving all this up and deciding to beccome a professional author, writing beautiful and humorous illustrated non-fiction books. After all, how hard can that be?