Autistic scholar Temple Grandin: ‘The education system is screening out visual thinkers’

By favouring verbal thinkers, says the author and animal scientist, essential skills are being lost. Her new book aims to demonstrate the power of processing information in different ways

Strangers to Ourselves by Rachel Aviv review – rewriting the language of mental illness

The New Yorker writer tries to redefine attitudes through a quintet of studies of troubled people from around the world

The big idea: why the maternal instinct is a myth

The ‘parental brain’ is something that develops with experience – and anyone can get one

Oliver Jeffers grew up in Belfast hating violence. Now he wants children to see how futile it is

The children’s author, who lived through the Troubles, believes that kids should be taught to seek peace from an early age. By Donna Ferguson

The big idea: do we all experience the world in the same way?

Every human brain is different – it’s time to embrace the diversity of our experiences

Landlines by Raynor Winn review – back on the trail

The author of The Salt Path returns with another heartwarming odyssey, this time on one of the wildest walks in Britain

The big idea: should we drop the distinction between mental and physical health?

The current false dichotomy holds back research and stigmatises patients

And Finally: Matters of Life and Death review – humility lessons from Henry Marsh

The ever candid neurosurgeon reflects on his own mortality, as well as the failings of his profession, in this enthralling third volume of memoirs

‘I just go into my head and enjoy it’: the people who can’t stop daydreaming

Psychiatrists may soon recognise ‘maladaptive daydreaming’ as a clinical disorder. But what is it, and how can it be treated?

And Finally by Henry Marsh review – from doctor to patient

Fearlessly frank and endearingly geeky reflections on life and death by a neurosurgeon diagnosed with cancer