The survival specialist
After a difficult upbringing, Martha Beck went on to have a child with Down's syndrome, marry a gay man and realise that she, too, was gay. As she tells Emine Saner, who better to write self-help books?
‘I was never about boo hoo hoo’
Dave Pelzer, who single-handedly launched the 'misery lit' genre with his horrific memoir of childhood abuse, is now publishing his fourth self-help book. In it, he insists that happiness is all about 'moving on'. So why does he continue to obsessively trawl through his own past? Decca Aitkenhead meets him
Karachi calling
When novelist Mohammed Hanif told friends he was returning to Pakistan after 12 years in Britain, they were aghast. Why would he and his young family swap London for a city with daily power cuts and rampant gun crime? The answer proved surprisingly simple ...
The man who gave help to the helpless
The MSF doctor James Orbinski offers chilling truths from the front line, says Edward Marriott
Love’s alchemy
Rebecca Abrams delights in the psychologist Charles Fernyhough's tender account of his daughter's first three years, The Baby in the Mirror
Drop that spoon!
Britain is one of the world's largest consumers of puffed, flaked and sugared breakfast cereals. How did that happen when many were said to contain less nutrition than the boxes they come in? Felicity Lawrence investigates
I’m only doing this to save my marriage
Thanks to a new self-help book, When Good People Have Affairs, we now know that there might be all sorts of reasonable excuses for adultery. Zoe Williams has even come up with a few more of her own ...
Pain is inevitable, suffering optional
Author Haruki Murakami loves the loneliness of the long-distance run. Which is how he found himself tackling his 24th marathon. But what about his dodgy knee? Has he trained enough?
Could you make 28 meals from this?
A new book claims it can save you time and money and reduce your eco impact - with its seasonal shopping and cooking plans. Zoe Williams gives it a go
Right all along
On reading Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson's Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me), David Newnham warns on the dangers of relying on one's memory