In brief: The Good Drinker; The Blue Flames; Exit Stage Left – reviews

Adrian Chiles gives entertaining advice on moderation, AM Burrage’s spooky short stories get their dues and Nick Duerden tells of the tolls of pop stardom

‘I’m eternally fascinated’: confessions of a ghost writer

Storyteller, nosy neighbour, bad therapist… a friendly ghost must be all these things, says Alexandra Heminsley

In brief: Motherthing; Night Terrors; Looking for Trouble – review

A gripping, darkly humorous horror novel; the strange world of sleep; and the reissue of a dazzling wartime memoir

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