Fasting facts: is the 5:2 diet too good to be true?

Amy Fleming looks at the scientific evidence for restricted eating

Doctors Dissected review – an eloquent case for consistent GP care

Britain’s GPs face the questions under Jane Haynes and Martin Scurr’s wonderfully humane examination, writes Kate Kellaway

The Wellness Syndrome by Carl Cederström & André Spicer – exploitation with a smiley face

People who fail to look after their bodies are now demonised as lazy, feeble or weak-willed, writes Steven Poole

The Three Things That Will Change Your Destiny Today! by Paul McKenna – digested read

John Crace resolves to follow McKenna’s instructions for a happier life, based on the latest neuro-scientific findings in the Journal of Applied Wishful Thinking

The Offering by Grace McCleen – a vivid insight into mental illness

A psychiatric patient rebels against the men who play God – with moving results. By John Burnside

Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole review – fascinating tales about the brain

Neurologist Allan Ropper’s journeys into the brain illuminate the number of strange ways it can go wrong, says Andrew Anthony

Why Grow Up? by Susan Neiman, and Juvenescence by Robert Pogue Harrison – review

We worship youth – and at the same time respond to idealism with the injunction: ‘Grow up!’ What do we really want?. By Josh Cohen

Ebooks at night won’t help you sleep tight, US study finds

Alison Flood: Harvard researchers say light-emitting ebooks negatively affect our sleep and lead to next-day grogginess

The best psychology books of 2014

From moving accounts of how we deal with dying and suffering to two brilliant takes on Freud. By Lisa Appignanesi

An Aviary of Small Birds review – a beautiful, painful, pitch-perfect debut

The stillbirth of Karen McCarthy Woolf’s son is the powerful emotional core of this deft, unsentimental collection, writes Kate Kellaway