‘Guaranteed to be devoid of excitement’: the book that wants to bore you to sleep

With its short chapters on railway gauges, Belgian politics and roundabouts, This Book Will Send You To Sleep promises to knock you out after a few pages. But tedium can prove addictive …

Dean Burnett: ‘Happiness shouldn’t be the default state in the human brain’

The neuroscientist and author of The Idiot Brain on the difficulty of trying to explain happiness and what he learned from Charlotte Church

Natural Causes by Barbara Ehrenreich review – wise words on real wellness

The author and activist’s sharp critique of what she calls an ‘epidemic of overdiagnosis’ is a joyous celebration of life

Tony Parsons: ‘The first half of my 20s was screaming madness’

The author, 64, talks about how yoga is intimidating for men, why everyone needs a personal trainer and how his 40s brought him more stability

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore: ‘It is, strangely, acceptable to mock and demonise teenagers’

The neuroscientist, who has written a book on the teenage brain, on the turmoil of adolescence and whether mindfulness can help

Brainstorm: Detective Stories from the World of Neurology; Unthinkable: The World’s Strangest Brains – review

Books by Suzanne O’Sullivan and Helen Thomson offer fascinating insights into the ‘maverick brain’ and rare mental conditions

Time for change: Anne Enright on Ireland’s abortion referendum

In the coming weeks, voters in Ireland will have the chance to repeal the eighth amendment, which recognises the equal rights to life of a foetus and the mother during pregnancy. We must send a message to the world, the author declares

What can we learn about our wellbeing from memoirs of ill health?

Simon Gray, Christopher Hitchens, Joan Didion ... some of the most vivid memoirs have been accounts of illness. But what can they teach us about being well?

Female-dominated Wellcome book prize shortlist spans Victorian surgery and modern Nigeria

Titles vying for £30,000 award for books on health and medicine include Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀’s novel Stay With Me and Sigrid Rausing’s memoir Mayhem

Epitaph for the Ash by Lisa Samson – review

Lisa Samson’s reflections on Britain’s dying ash trees at a time of her own illness is a remarkable labour of love

OurChemist

Our Chemist – Health