Norma Meras Swenson obituary

Sociologist and women’s health activist who was a co-author of the groundbreaking book Our Bodies, Ourselves

Pathemata by Maggie Nelson review – a writer’s attempt to describe chronic pain

Woolf said language ‘runs dry’ when it comes to convey the reality of illness. Here is an impressive effort to do just that

Moral Ambition by Rutger Bregman review – why you quit your job to make the world a better place

A bracingly hopeful call for high-flyers to ditch corporate drudgery in favour of something far more ambitious

Who Wants Normal? The Disabled Girls’ Guide to Life by Frances Ryan review – countering the stereotypes

The journalist’s second book offers positivity in the face of the obstacles confronting disabled girls and women

‘A case study in groupthink’: were liberals wrong about the pandemic?

US political scientists’ book argues aggressive Covid policies such as mask mandates were in some cases misguided

Maybe I’m Amazed by John Harris review – with a little help from John, Paul, George and Ringo

The Guardian journalist’s tender account of how music became a bridge between him and his autistic son, James, is full of wit and wisdom

The Life, Old Age and Death of a Working-Class Woman review – a son confronts his mother’s decline

Didier Eribon’s guilt and shame fuels an angry and eloquent meditation on our attitudes towards the elderly and the end of life

The Sleep Room by Jon Stock review – haunting accounts of horrific medical abuse

A book about psychiatrist William Sargant’s unethical treatments at a London hospital in the 1960s is all the more powerful for its vivid patient testimonies

Alive: An Alternative Anatomy by Gabriel Weston review – our bodies in an eye-opening new light

A surgeon (and TV host) encourages us to take a fresh look at our organs in a smart and forceful study

Maternity Service by Emma Barnett review – a tour of duty in early motherhood

In this valuable, brutally honest guide, the broadcaster argues that a supposedly joyful time is often steeped in drudgery and social isolation