The tooth, the whole tooth…

From the biting satire of Swift to Martin Amis's morbid fascination, writers have long been obsessed with pearlies, writes Peter Conrad. Now there's a comic but graphic tale of dentistry showing at a cinema near you. Open wide ...

Do mention the ‘C’ word

What do you do when you receive the most devastating news of your life? Deborah Hutton decided to write a book full of practical ideas about how friends can help. Here, with contributions from Ruby Wax, Alastair Campbell, Sam Taylor-Wood and many others, she reveals how to cope with cancer.

Life after birth

Jools Oliver has written a book about motherhood - and she certainly hasn't skimped on the detail, says Emily Wilson.

‘I live in a little cloud’

When Christine Bryden was diagnosed with dementia she was told she would be dead within eight years - that was 10 years ago. Here she tells Juliet Rix how she has survived.

A boy like Dan

Danny Mardell's world was turned upside down when his first son was born with Down's syndrome. But, as his ghost writer Sally Weale records in Danny's Challenge, published tomorrow, the shock and shame of those first few months gradually gave way to acceptance - and love.

Measure happiness? It’s not that simple

David Aaronovitch:In Richard (Lord) Layard's much-discussed new book Happiness, Lessons from a New Science, it transpires that happiness is as measurable as lentils.

Seeing double

As a boy in London, Oliver Sacks helped his surgeon mother do dissections at home. He later qualified as a neurologist and moved to the US. A friend of the poets Thom Gunn and WH Auden, he began to write himself, and his stories - describing the often bizarre case histories of patients suffering from brain disorders - have been acclaimed bestsellers.