Michael Lewis: ‘We were incentivised to have a bad pandemic response’

In his new book, the author of The Big Short has turned his attention to Covid and the people who could have prevented it sweeping the US – had they been allowed to

Not Even This by Jack Underwood review – fatherhood, philosophy and fear

A poet confronts his anxieties about becoming a parent in this free-wheeling meditation on the theme of uncertainty

Doom by Niall Ferguson review – how to make sense of catastrophe

A study of horrible afflictions, from famines to pandemics, and our failure to learn from past mistakes

Yoga, karate, skiing … Alison Bechdel on her lifelong obsession with exercise

Ever since she was a child, the Fun Home cartoonist has been fascinated by fitness. The cartoonist talks about the ‘salvation’ of running, polyamory and being seduced by a fan

The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel review – no pain, all gain

The author of Fun Home reflects on self-improvement, death and her lifelong obsession with exercise in an extraordinarily generous memoir

The Sleeping Beauties by Suzanne O’Sullivan review – 21st century health mysteries

Sleeping sickness, strange behaviour and mass hysteria ... a neurologist makes sense of ‘psychosomatic’ illness

First thing I turn to in a book? The thank yous at the back

From a food bank to a pal, I love seeing who gets the nod in a book’s acknowledgments

My rock’n’roll friendship with Lindy Morrison

She was in the Go-Betweens, Tracey Thorn was in the Marine Girls, their 30-year friendship enhanced both their lives

‘We will have to choose our apocalypse’: the cost of freedom after the pandemic

To remake society after the pandemic, we must swap Insta self‑improvement for something more radical, argues author Sam Byers

In brief: Unsettled Ground; Genesis; Inferno – reviews

Twins unravel their family history when their mother dies; myths, science and the origins of the universe; and a harrowing account of postpartum psychosis