Your guide to a happy new year… by Dawn, Eddie and other celebrity self-help gurus
Famous faces, including many comedians with tales of recovery from their own traumas, are dispensing life lessons in the latest publishing trend
How architecture shapes our cities – and our lives
Communities which design their own buildings are more likely to be happy and healthy, says Lily Bernheimer
Prescribed reading: Five of the best books by doctors
As Adam Kay’s This Is Going to Hurt wins a readers’ choice award, we recommend five other author physicians. Please add to our notes
The spray’s the thing: how actors use perfumes to get into character
Playing Thatcher? Dab on Bluebell. Got a part in Hairspray? Reach for the Madame Rochas. We lift the lid on how actors use smells – from the finest fragrances to cheap tinned mackerel – to nail a role
How to Stay Alive by Bear Grylls – digested read
‘Nipping out for milk? Take a 12-inch knife, a defibrillator, three chicken tikka masalas and a solar-powered microwave oven’
Why Nancy Friday’s 1970s collection of women’s sexual fantasies still matters
The author of My Secret Garden – a shocking and deeply sexy work – has died, leaving a legacy to inspire younger generations
Men or mice: is masculinity in crisis?
With his criticism of ‘dysfunctional’ unmarried men, Iain Duncan Smith added to the clamour of concern over the male psyche. From football fans to ‘feminised’ workplaces, Ross Raisin asks if men really do have a problem with modern life
‘Sleep should be prescribed’: what those late nights out could be costing you
Leading neuroscientist Matthew Walker on why sleep deprivation is increasing our risk of cancer, heart attack and Alzheimer’s – and what you can do about it
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker review – how more sleep can save your life
A neuroscientist has found a revolutionary way of being cleverer, more attractive, slimmer, happier, healthier and of warding off cancer – a good night’s shut-eye