A Planet of Viruses by Carl Zimmer

By PD Smith

What to Eat? 10 Chewy Questions About Food and Drink by Hattie Ellis – review

Food writer Hattie Ellis explains how to eat well and with a conscience, writes Mina Holland

Opium: Reality’s Dark Dream by Thomas Dormandy – review

A deft history of opium spans the personal and the political, writes John Gallagher

Susan Cain: ‘Society has a cultural bias towards extroverts’

Bestselling author Susan Cain tells Ian Tucker about on the cultural dominance of extroverts

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain – review

Susan Cain is worried that society is too keen to promote outgoing personalities. Miranda Sawyer and Sara Maitland take issue with her new book

Luck: What It Means and Why It Matters by Ed Smith – review

The ex-cricketer challenges the self-help evangelists who argue that we can always control our destiny. It's a fair knock, says Tim Lewis

Doonesbury strip on Texas abortion law dropped by some US newspapers

Several papers decline to use cartoon strip, which depicts state-required sonograms as Republican-approved rape

Was colonialism to blame for the spread of HIV in Africa?

A provocative new book argues that the late 19th-century 'scramble for Africa' may created the ideal conditions for the spread of HIV

Middle Age: A Natural History by David Bainbridge – review

Kathryn Hughes on why the years between 40 and 60 are the best, and evolutionary science agrees

Boredom: A Lively History by Peter Toohey – review

Helen Zaltzman is diverted by Peter Toohey's study of tedium and ennui