The Best Minds by Jonathan Rosen review – when hope fails
A remarkable meditation on friendship, success, madness and violence that refuses to oversimplify
The big idea: should doctors be able to prescribe psychedelics?
A move to allow Australian psychiatrists to treat depression with psilocybin may herald a new era
Friendaholic by Elizabeth Day review – friends with benefits
A candid examination of the difference between being good at friendships and being a good friend
Good Girls by Hadley Freeman review – anorexia from within
The journalist and former in-patient offers a clear-eyed view of a debilitating and misunderstood illness
‘We’re in a golden age for microbes’: the man rewriting history from the perspective of germs
Forget ‘great men’ – infection and disease are the really important forces in the development of humankind, believes public health specialist Jonathan Kennedy
The links between pollution and miscarriage: ‘This is the stuff nightmares are made of’
Journalist Isabelle Oderberg has spent years researching the links between pollution and early pregnancy loss. What she has learned keeps her up at night
Travellers to Unimaginable Lands by Dasha Kiper review – how dementia changes lives
A clinical psychologist turns the spotlight on caregivers in this profoundly compassionate study
The People’s Hospital: why public healthcare can be successful in the US
A physician’s book details the success of a Houston hospital that treats uninsured Americans stranded by the system
The Art of the Straight Line review – how tai chi brought out Lou Reed’s mild side
The singer-songwriter transformed his later life practising the martial art, as this compilation of writing, edited by his widow Laurie Anderson, shows
Weathering by Arline Geronimus review – how discrimination makes you sick
A public health expert charts the cumulative effect of prejudice on peoples’ bodies, from heart disease to cancer