Nasty to be nice

Elizabeth Pisani's The Wisdom of Whores, a critique of the UN's policy on Aids, suggests a pragmatic alternative. By Michael Fitzpatrick

Atrocity exhibition

Two new interrogations of torture, Philip Gourevitch and Errol Morris' Standard Operating Procedure and Philippe Sands' Torture Team, will help justice be done, writes Michael Byers

Come on in, the water’s lovely

Swimming outdoors can be chilly, but it's very good for the soul. Margaret Drabble introduces our guide to the best spots for a dip in Britain

I’m still Mr Angry

The famously irascible novelist Irvine Welsh has rules about rage. Here, in typically forthright language, he tells how to get furious - and survive

When the only way was down

Stephanie Merritt's The Devil Within is a memoir of a devastating mental illness, says Anushka Asthana

The need to blow up sheds

The Creative Feminine and Her Discontents, by Juliet Miller, packs a powerful and joyful punch and makes provocative reading, says Michèle Roberts

Here’s looking at you

On reading Raymond Tallis' The Kingdom of Infinite Space, Jane O'Grady is reminded of what a glorious thing it is to be human

Quacks on the rack

Rose Shapiro's Suckers and Trick or Treatment by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst explore the actual worth of alternative medicine and its practitioners, says Olivia Laing